“The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain
(sort of—Twain didn’t exactly say this. After his obituary was accidently printed in the paper he did state: “I have even heard on good authority that I was dead… The report of my death was an exaggeration.” In my case, the reports of my death were exaggerated, but not greatly. Brenda and I are closer. My family is closer—and we have always been close. Here’s the story: First of all, it’s important to know I went into this week healthy. I had been spending 30 to 50 minutes on the elliptical machine and lifting weights 3 days a week prior to surgery as I believe it’s important to come into body trauma healthy. I had an EKG the prior week which was normal. I found out later that an EKG will only tell you if you’re having a heart attack at that moment. They would have to do a stress test to predict risk of heart attack. A stress test wasn’t done since I didn’t meet the risk factors. Here are the faces that helped me survive a tough weekend:
January 25, 2021 I had rotator cuff surgery. I had a torn muscle in my right shoulder and the tendon had become partially detached from the bone. In addition, a bone spur was removed which was pinching a nerve in the shoulder. A pain pump was inserted in my body which lasted for 3 days. In addition, I was prescribed Oxycodone to help address the pain. I have an immobilizing brace which holds my right arm against my body that I have to wear for 6 weeks.
January 29, 2021 I began experiencing what I thought was severe heartburn. I was home alone, and initially laid down for a bit. It seemed to dissipate some, so I returned to doing some paperwork. The pain returned so I called Brenda and asked her to drive me to St. Cloud Hospital. People tell me a heart attack is the worst pain you’ve ever had, but it wasn’t. What alerted me was that I felt like throwing up and I was yawning frequently (2 other signs of heart issues).
January 29 continued… I wanted to go to St. Cloud Hospital because I’ve read great things about their cardiology unit. I’m always harping on my students that you need to pay attention to empirical evidence—legitimate unbiased evidence. It’s hard to find good unbiased news these days, but the U.S. News & World Report is pretty good. The U.S. News & World Report evaluated 5,000 hospitals nationwide and ranked CentraCare – St. Cloud Hospital as one of the top hospitals in the nation for Cardiology & Heart surgery. They ranked St. Cloud as 41st in the nation.
Once Brenda and I arrived at the hospital my chest pain was severe. They wheeled me in and a nurse immediately gave me an EKG. Shortly after she had stuck the monitors to my skin, she went to the phone and told them to get a surgical team together as she has a man who was having a severe heart attack. “Part of his heart is no longer receiving blood.” Before Brenda had the car parked, I was being wheeled into surgery. I would later learn that the St. Cloud Hospital averages 15 life-saving heart surgeries every day and this is why they have a team ready for it. I was able to tell them on the way into surgery I’m allergic to contrast dye, which would be needed in my angiogram. So, they gave me steroids and Benadryl to counter the allergy, allowing them to use the necessary contrast dye. If I hadn’t been aware of this allergy, things wouldn’t have gone well. It was discovered that I had two 100% blockages in my arteries, along a “T” formation rather than just a straight segment, making the surgery a little more complicated. Stents were inserted. They also saw I had an 85% blockage along the left anterior descending artery (LAD). Since it wasn’t 100% blocked, and the other 2 arteries had already taken 1 ½ hours to repair, they decided to address this blockage in surgery later. (But that surgery would need to occur soon—certainly within 30 days.)
Fortunately, Brenda was allowed to remain at the hospital until my surgery was completed. (1 week earlier she would not have been able to because of COVID restrictions.) But she had to leave after the surgery was finished. As I lay in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) after surgery by myself, wide awake and alone for the night, I thought about all of the people who died from COVID all alone in ICUs this past year. (The steroids fought off the allergy, but also denied me sleep.)
The major concern about when to have my 2nd surgery was body trauma, since I had a major shoulder surgery Monday, and now again on Friday had 2 stents placed in my heart. But, the remaining partially blocked artery is the most dangerous risk for death and is referred to by heart specialists as “the Widow Maker.” The Widow Maker is a massive heart attack that occurs when the left anterior descending artery (LAD) is totally or almost completely blocked. A blockage in this area of the heart is called the Widow Maker because the survival rate is only 12%.
So I spent the weekend in the hospital with tubes and wires attached, with only the use of my left hand because of the shoulder surgery. My body had also taken on its own weird form of graphic art. Monday, when they did my shoulder surgery, they shaved from my chin to the top of my stomach. Friday, when they did my heart surgery, they shaved from my belt to my knees as the surgery is done through the femoral artery in the groin. This gives the surgeon access to the largest artery in your body so it’s the best place to insert the stents through. So my body looks like someone took 2 large sections of tape and pulled hair off my body in 2 foot stripes. And you let go of all sense of humility, when staff come in every hour (day and night) for 3 days to check your groin for bleeding or any sign of infection. It was essential as this would also be the entry point for the next surgery. With this said, the staff were always very professional.
On Saturday, I spent time speaking with a Catholic Minister, Deb, who was very helpful. As we addressed life we talked about the lost time with family and friends over the past year because of COVID. She reminded me of how enjoyable my book presentations had been, and they have all been cancelled because of COVID. We shared thoughts about the importance of family, friends and being a decent person every day. She was able to serve communion and pray with me before she left. Brenda spent some time in the Chapel when I was sleeping.
On Monday morning the cardiac team met and there wasn’t a consensus on performing the surgery. The follow up surgery would be the 3rd body trauma in a week. But my vitals were all very good, so it was decided to go forward with the final surgery on Monday afternoon.
The surgery was a success and I have now returned home. I have 3 months of rehabilitation before everything will be back to normal, but this is truly amazing. The St. Cloud Hospital Cardiac team saved my life. The care was professional and every person was kind and helpful. They took time to listen. I couldn’t have been treated better. Plus, I had some great conversations on the Telemetry unit with staff on my True Crime thrillers. Telemetry works closely with ICU monitoring physiological responses to surgeries and treatments. I am fortunate to be in a place and time where I have access to resources that can save my life. And it warms my heart to know there are so many wonderful and helpful, intelligent people working in the medical field. And now I want to spend the rest of my life being kind to all of the people who have been so kind to me. Thanks for listening, Frank
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AuthorFrank F. Weber is a forensic psychologist specializing in homicide and sexual and physical assault cases. He uses his unique understanding of how predator’s think, knowledge of victim trauma, actual court cases, and passion for writing true crime thrillers. His Award Winning books include "Murder Book" (2017) "The I-94 Murders" (2018) "Last Call" (2019) and "Lying Close" (September 2020). Archives
April 2024
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