Jim's medical condition in a nutshell

My heart problems started four years ago when I went to the emergency room with extremely high blood pressure — and was admitted into the hospital for emergency care to lower the blood pressure, then undergo extensive testing.  Four days later, I was released from the hospital, with the numerous tests showing no obvious problems.  I was put on blood pressure medications — like millions of others.

Everything fine — meds seemed to be doing the trick — until Sunday, July 27th.  While doing some work  (coincidentally, at Pickle Compound) I experienced some pain in the chest.  It wasn't as severe as when I had the high blood pressure incident four years previous -- so, in denial, I ignored it.  Three days later, when the pain had diminished, but things still weren't right — I finally saw my cardiologist.  He took an ECG, and after bitching at me for 15 minutes — informed me that I had suffered a myocardial infarction — doctor-speak for a garden variety heart attack. No health insurance — card-carrying member of the working poor — another sad tale.

Doc tells me that a certain amount of heart tissue has died from lack of blood flow past the arterial blockage.  This heart muscle will not come back — so there will be some amount  (yet to be determined) of disability as concerns the heart function.  I will probably have to curtail at least some amount of physical activity in the future.

I am about 2/3's through a recovery period.  In about a month I should be ready to resume activities, minus whatever heart impairment there is.  My doctor will then want to do some further tests on me, most likely an angiogram — where they pump some dye into your heart to get a 3D picture, in real-time, of how the heart is functioning, and try to gauge the impairment.  It is possible, determined by what they see  (any suspicious areas of further blockage?), that further procedures might be done — such as an angioplast — where they place a balloon in the affected artery to open it up, perhaps with a stint to keep it open.

Until then, the best thing I can do is relax, try to lose some weight, and walk every day for light-to-moderate exercise.  My mantra is " eat less — move more".