Remember my 84-yr-old Dad I told you about with the stents? Well he had quadruple bypass about 15 years ago and he's still going strong. Just make sure she does all the things the doctors tell her, as others have said.
And don't feel bad about not going to the hospital all day. You know where I was when my Dad had his bypass? Out shopping with my mother, because if she had stayed in the waiting room all those hours, she would have been a terrible mess (and I wouldn't have been in such great shape either). But we were there when he needed us.
I will keep you and your mom in my prayers.
Take care hun,
Deb
I've read about chelation therapy, nonsurgical way to clean out arteries. Used by some alternative docs. Anyone else heard of it?
Jan
[QUOTE=Jan Lucinda]
I've read about chelation therapy, nonsurgical way to clean out arteries. Used by some alternative docs. Anyone else heard of it?
Jan
[/QUOTE]
Many studies are inconclusive; even if it did work, there are instances (such as 5 blocked arteries) where you simply don't have the luxury of waiting for a pharmacological approach to work. Bypass surgery fixes the issue in 6 hours. Chelation therapy, diet, exercise, medications, etc take months or years to reverse artherosclerosis.
How great it would be if we had good PREVENTIVE care. CHelation therapy can be taken as an oral syrup I know, or infused. I've read good reports about it. Something to think about for the future.
Jan
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3000843Have scientists ever done a study on chelation therapy?
In the 1960s scientists started a small-scale study involving 30
patients. However, after two patients died and the others showed no
signs of improvement, it was stopped.
Also, a recent study of chelation therapy, using currently approved
scientific methodology, was done on people with intermittent
claudication. (This is peripheral artery disease [fatty buildups] in
leg arteries.) This study found that EDTA chelation therapy was no more
effective than a placebo (sugar pill).
Finally, a recent study entitled "Chelation therapy for ischemic heart disease” was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA
2002;287:481-486). The authors followed 84 patients for 27 weeks. All
of the patients had coronary artery disease. One-half of the patients
received intravenous chelation therapy during the study period and the
other one-half received intravenous placebo (fluid with no drug).
Neither the physicians nor the patients knew whether they were
receiving chelation or placebo. Patients were given exercise tests to
see how long they could exercise before their electrocardiogram (ECG)
showed changes indicating ischemia. They also answered quality-of-life
questionnaires. At the end of the 27 weeks, the patients who received
chelation were no better than the patients who received placebo. The
authors concluded that "Based on exercise time to ischemia, exercise
capacity and quality-of-life measurements, there is no evidence to
support a beneficial effect of chelation therapy in patients with
ischemic heart disease, stable angina, and a positive treadmill test
for ischemia."
Thus, there’s still no scientific evidence that demonstrates any benefit from chelation therapy.
I had chelation once for suspected chronic fatigue. Unfortunatley, it made me feel worse.
Joonie, still praying for ya!
Quintuple by=pass for my dad years ago.. He is still doing great and very active!! (just had hip replacement!)
my best to your mom!!
I will pray also Joonie. My BIL just had open heart and is doing fine.Joonie-
Has she made her decision yet?
Prayers and hugs Joonie/lots of prayers and hugs to you and your family.I heard chelation recommended by a doctor I respect alot. So again, it is who is doing the research, why? I don't have time to do alot of research now. Maybe sometime.
Anyway, good luck to your mom, Joonie.
Jan
Thanks for the prayers everyone. Greatly apperciated.
My sister called me at 7:30 this morning to tell me that my mom signed the papers to get the surgery done and to give me her room #.
I had to look up the hospital # because my sister did not know it. Took me a few tries to find it. I could not remember exactly what hospital she said.
Then I called my mom and talked to her. She asked about the my appt to the nuerologist went, so I told her. Then she told me she was going to have the bypass done and everything my sister already told me.
I told her I just did not understand how her Dr could have missed her having 5 blockages. She said she was wondering that too. She told me she went back to her GP because she was getting out of breath. I told that was her same symptoms she had when they told her it was asthma or her lack of lung function and they gave her oxygen & nebulier for breathing treatments. I told her the way I see it is that when they told her it was asthma and lack of lung functioin was actually her veins telling her something, but her Dr did not get the message apparently. She said she thought that too.
So... she was to go in and have it done some time between 12pm & 1pm.
I was on the phone with her for about 30 mins and my other sister told her she might want to get off the phone with me. My mom asked her why, and she said because she was setting off her monitor holding the phone. Then she says "She sure does talk alot!" My mom replied back with "Because I am the only person she has to talks to. She does not have friends or anyone else like that to talk to." Then our oldest sister said "Yeah, when was the last time you called to just talk to, June?" Other sister replied, I do call her, she never answers the phone or calls back.
SO... I was on the phone with my mom for 1 hr 3mins and 54seconds.
She was laughing about the heart Dr telling her her heart was in good shape, just the plumbing is clogged up right now.
I have not talked to anyone since I got off the phone with her. She was going to get a shower before surgery, so I had to let her go. I told her I probably would not call back in time to talk to her before she went into surgery and she said ok.
I am just going to wait for my sister to call me. I do not know how long it was to be.
thanks for the prayers everyone.
joonie2008-07-02 13:52:52Oh and when I asked her about how her Dr could have missed the blockages and her having the same symptoms. I asked her if the breathing treatments they had her doing at home were helping her, and she said not really. Well... that should have been a CLUE to them. Joonie, this is where last night I typed a huge pm to you and lost it as your box was full.
You, your Mother, and your sisters are in my thoughts and prayers.
PS Jan - you can get oral chelation powders stirred into water that work great.
Joonie
Just able to get back on since early today- your mom must have had the surgery by now. How did she make out? Hope all is well as to be expected. I continue to pray for your mom, you and your family.
Bump for Joonie and her Mom....hope all has gone well.
Thinking of you both
Lyn
hey Joonie!
My prayers and thoughts are with you, your mom, and family.
My mom had open heart surgery last June and is like a new person. Has your mom had the surgery yet?
Please, keep us posted, we care!
take care
Joonie, I'm just now seeing this thread, and wanted you to know that I was thinking about you and your mom, and praying that everything came out okay with her surgery. Please update us whenever you can.
{{hugs}}
Joonie-
Please let us know how she's doing when you can. We're all rooting for a positive outcome!
I just saw this.. my Dad went through a quintuple bypass after a heart attack. He came out fine. The first 4 weeks hurt alot but then the recovery went full speed ahead. It gave me back the Dad I had when I was a teen. He felt great. I hope it goes the same for your Mom.
{{{{{JOOONIIEE}}}}}} {{{{{{WHERE ARE YOU???}}}} Please come back and let us know how everything is!
Joonie, I'm worried, where are you? We want to know how everything is going. Lindy
Hello Everyone... your prayers must have helped because she is doing good. They took the tube out of her around 4:30am Thursday morning and she was breathing on her own.
My sisters said she was a little cocky with them earlier Thursday... so she seems to be doing good.
She is not out of the "woods" yet. Her decreased lung function is of a main concern right now. They have her on 20% oxygen, they did have her on 60% because everytime she would try to talk her oxygen level would go down. Her blood pressure is a little high, but had come down quite a lot in between visits with her.
She will be in the CVU for 2 days, then ICU for a few days, and then a regular room for 4 days, then after that she is going home with my oldest sister.
My sisters were told our mom had some light heart attacks and did not even know she was having them, because when women have heart attacks they get them in the back in between the shoulder blades. So... she had one the day she went to the Dr and they ran all those tests on her. She went to the Dr because of that pain in between her shoulder blades.
The respitory (sp?) Dr said that her weezing and shortness of breath was from her bloackages, that is why the breathing treatments were not helping her. I was right! See there.
My sister told me about when they told her she was going to have to have bypass surgery. Mom replied with "Tell do it today if they can... because I am not going to pay another 0 deductible!"
My brother from California is here, he got in about 9pm Wednesday night. He is here until Sunday then he goes back home.
I got to visit with her twice today. The first time she asked me how I was doing, and I did not think before I spoke and told her my pulse was up. Which it was I was standing there and I could feel the vein in my neck pumping away. My sister said "SHHH!" Then I changed the subject. I am just so use to her asking me that, that I answered without thinking. When I call her on the phone it goes like this we say hello and then the 2nd thing she says is how are you feeling or doing today.
I will not be able to go back and see her until she gets into a regular room, because she is 80 miles away from us and it takes a lot of gas and we are having some car problems too.
Wednsday night, I went and laid down around 8pm and when I woke up at 10pm to go to the bathroom I was flaring REALLY REALLY bad. My whole body was swelling and stiff. My hubby had to pull me to sitting position on the bed and put my legs over the edge of the bed. Then it felt like it took me FOREVER to get to the bathroom, which is not even 5 steps from my room. I almost fell like 4 times, because I was top heavy from being hunched over while walking. I was walking like baby steps. It felt like my ankles were tied together, but no it was stiffness and swelling every where. I could hardly move and my hubby had to do a lot of things for me. Like help me in & out of bed, getting my meds to my mouth for me, and cover me up and getting the heating pad for me. My fingers were swelled I could not bend them or touch anything without pain. I am still swelled now, but not as bad as last night and early this morning.
I think the stress from worrying about my mom caused it, or the rain, or sleeping with a fan on me, or all of the above! I have not been that bad off since starting biologicals. It was so bad... I thought I missed taking my prednisone, but nope I took it. Everyone was worried about me because my RA was very apparent. They kept asking when I go back to the Dr and if I took my meds, and when was I to get my next infusion. I told them... you should have seen me last night, and you think today is bad. LOL!
Well, I am going to head to bed. It is almost 1am. I am tired.
joonie2008-07-03 23:01:24I forgot that I did not mention what all they done. They fixed everything. The vein that was at 75% and too small for a stint, they just rerouted a vein next to that vein in its place. I do not know how long her surgery was, but I am guessing more than 5 hrs, because my sister called me around 7pm to let me know she done well and what all they fixed and all that stuff.
Welp, I am going to bed for real this time. I was waiting for the meds to kick in before I went to lay down. Oh the pain!
Oh Joonie sweetie, you sound absolutely miserable. You may need to go to the local emergency room at this rate for a good ole shot in the hiney. You cannot go on like this for a couple of more weeks. Does your rheumy know how bad you are doing right now? I wish there was something more I could do. It sounds like Mom is in good hands and everything went well. Thanks for the update. It's probably just as well you can't make that long drive. Maybe you can get the kids to draw special pictures to cheer Grandma up! Take care and keep us posted. I'm worried about you kiddo...
deb
Joonie, I am so happy that everything looks so good. Your mom sounds like a real sweet person.
So glad your mom is doing well Joonie. Now you can relax a bit and un-flare yourself before you go back and see her.(((((hugs))))))Good news! That's wonderful! Hope you can relax a little now and get your own health under control. Keep us posted with the progress.joonie, good news about your Mother - take care of yourself and your family - your husband sounds like a good man the way he is helping you. CathyMy sweet Joonie, I'm so sorry your Mom had to go through all that and that you had to go through it, too.
It's a blessing that they caught the problem when they did and were able to do the surgery, though. I know she'll feel sooo much better after her recovery and therapy are complete.
Try to take good care of yourself, Sweetie. As you know, stress is so bad for us.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.
Big hugs and Much love, Nini
This is great news. I hope you can get through this flare quickly. Take care and let your husband help you out. Lindy
Joonie, sorry I'm late to this.
Please take care of you.. go to ER if you need to..
I am so glad things went well for your mommy.. she is in my prayers
YAY!! for Joonie's mom!!! Hope you feel better Joonie. :)
Hello Everyone! Thanks for all the prayers! They seem to still be needed.
I went and visited my mom tonight, my siblings came and got me so I could see her again, otherwise it would have been a week before I would get to see her again, when they are suppose to move her to a regular room.
She is still in the CVU, but not on the 24hr nurses watch side.
She is having a lot of trouble breathing. She is struggling to breath and they said if her oxygen level did not go up by tomorrow they were putting the breathing tube back down her. She breaths good for a little while after a breathing treatment, but I guess after a while she does not.
She has to sleep with a c-pap? on to help force oxygen in her to get her chest moving and to help get good oxygen in her.
Her blood sugar was 223.
When we came in she was just a fussing about all the tangles with the wires and tubes. Then she was fussing about her meal... they gave her potatoes and peas, which are not good for a diabetic. SO... she did not get much.
She was quite irritated and fussy. Never seen her so fussy in my LIFE! But It was because her sugar was up. I knew it was up because her eyes had that look they get when her sugar is up. PLUS she was really irritable and fussy.
They will not let her move down to ICU until she can walk without getting out of breath. She has to walk before they bump her down to ICU.
I almost did not go to see her tonight, because I know I was doing bad and they said she was very coherant, unlike the other time I got to see her. I knew she would notice I was not doing well. But when I got there I slipped in behind one of my sisters and sat down in the chair before she knew I was there. I just stayed seated the whole time so she did not notice anything wrong with me.
My right knee and hip are warm to the touch and my knee is swelled with the hard swell. I am in pain and I took 2 Ultracets and they still did not take away my pain yet.
My oldest brother said "Hey Man... I get bad like you." I said "BULLsh*t!" Then I told him about the other night then last night how I could not even get out of the bed and all. Then he said "I have been like that." I was like "Whatever." Then he stopped comparing his problems to mine.
I mean I have been in so much pain and not doing so well that I have been carrying my ultracet bottle around with me where ever I go. I made sure I took the bottle with me when I went to go see my mom tonight, an 1hr 30min drive. The drive home about killed me. They had the AC on and I was sitting in the front seat, since I had such a hard time getting out of the backseat.
So... please continue to pray for my mommy. She is still not doing well. If she can get her oxygen level to stay up then she will be doing much better.
She just looked so pittiful laying there and gasping for air. And she could not talk but a couple of words before she had to breath in again. But aftr her breathing treatment she was able to talk almost a whole sentance before needing to inhale again.
I slept all day friday... I missed the fireworks. It felt good to sleep for hours and hours.
I am going to go lay down with my heating pad and see if that will take this pain away if not in 2 hrs I am taking 2 more ultracets. It will only be my 5 & 6th ultracet for this 24hrs, I can take up to 8 of them in 24hrs.
joonie2008-07-05 22:15:08Hang in there, woman - it will all work out.
Perhaps you should take the Ultracet every 6 hours (total of 8 per day) for a couple days in order to get control over the pain. I can't remember - are there any NSAIDs you can take, that can perhaps help with the swelling until your next Remicade?
Also - what about a bath with Epsom salts? That always helps me.
Joonie,
Glad you got to see your mom. Don't worry- she's been through quite an operation, it will take some time for her to get better. I will definitely keep her in my prayers.
Don't you hate it when people don't understand the extent of your illness? What's up with your brother? What does he have that he's comparing to you? My husband is like that. He brings it up then I just defend myself and then he'll say OK you win! Win what? I can't stand him at that point.
I'm sorry you and your mom are still struggling. I think the worst is over now that the surgery is complete. She'll need time to heal and you need time to de-stress from all of this. No doubt all of this urgency has made your own health issues worse. I'm glad you were able to get some sleep. Take everything one day at a time, slowly and carefully. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your mom. Joonie - I am sending prayers your way for you and your mom. This is quite an ordeal for you especially when you are flaring. I am so sorry you are having such pain and swelling. You are so thoughtful to try and not make your mom worry about you. You hang in there. I hope your mom's breathing is improved soon and that you begin to get some relief as well.
I had been asking for the first couple of days after my mom had her surgery how do they keep they put her sturnum back together. Finally, I asked someone who knew, my oldest sister. She said they wire it back together.
Well... now I get a call from my oldest sister, she was crying and freaking out just a little. My mom's wires that were holding her sturnum together are no longer holding it together. She has to go back into surgery today at 3pm for them to fix the wires and hope her sturnum can take the pressure again.
They said she has brittle bones, and where the wires were cracked the bone and pulled loose.
Now she has to go back into surgery.
I was just starting to get over this flare and being able to do things myself and now I am probably going to go back into a flare.
My poor mommy she is in so much pain.
She already cannot breathe good.
I just feel so bad for her. I keep thinking maybe she should have tried the alternative of taking medicines, that why she would not have been in the pain she is in now.
I miss my mommy.
I called to talk to her, and my other sister that is staying there with her, told me not to be talking to her for very long. Well, DUH! She is a bit dense all the time. LOL!
So please pray for my mommy still.
I have sent prayers and hugs your way!!!!!
Oh, goodness, Joonie.... I will certainly continue praying for your mom....it sure sounds like she's going through a tough recovery. I hope this 2nd surgery to close her sternum is successful and helps her breathing to improve. I can imagine how tough it is for you...I live 900 miles away from my parents, who are in their 70's, and it worries me much to think if something happened to one of them......it's a 15 hour drive!
Try to relax and know that your mom is in good hands, and keep focused on that so you hopefully won't flare so badly again. Please continue to keep us posted on how both of you are doing. (I'll say a little prayer for compassion and understanding for your brother, as well) ::wink::
Joonie,
I am sending up a special prayer for you and for your mom. Take care of yourself.
Sent up some prayers before I responded. Poor thing- having to go through another surgery so soon to fix a spot so sore!
Hang in there and try to keep yourself well too!
so sorry your mother has to have more surgery...prayers sent for a nice recovery.
I'm sorry Joonie. Hang in there. Are you still taking Ibu? Be sure not to miss a dose. I think the nsaids do more for a flare than a pain pill.
Put a hot pack on that knee and hip.
I will keep the prayers coming joonie. I'm sorry your mom is having to go through a second surgery, but she's in good hands.
Make sure to take care of yourself sweetie!
Joonie, We are all here for you with all the prayers your Mom needs.
((Big Hugs))
Thinkthinn2008-07-07 14:48:39Mommy's are so special and I will certainly keep the prayers and healing thoughts heading your way. Be good to yourself too Joonie.
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