Kept this to myself and a small circle of homies, but I guess I should rip the band-aid off and share with the class.
Caveat - not looking for sympathy, my mom told me where to find it when I was a youngster: right between sh
it and syphilis in the dictionary. All my years of bragging I was healthy and didn't take meds have come back to bite me on the ass.
Won't bore you with the long story, this started over 2 months ago, I have an artery leaving the heart that is 80% blocked and it braches off downstream and both of those branches don't look good, either. Had a heart cath on the 5th that found the trouble, as everything else they did was inconclusive.
Appointment set for Tuesday the 19th for a stent to be placed. Best case 1 stent if he can clear those branches. Worst case 3 of 'em. If all goes according to plan I go in on the 19th and go home on the 20th.
I'll have to take blood thinners for 6-12 months... and cholesterol meds until the Good Lord says it's my time.
Fortunately for me I have Tricare and the VA to cover all the expenses (except copays). Also very fortunate that I did everything through Tricare but the VA knew (because of the ER visit) so I saw 2 cardiologists... the VA Doc is retired from the Mankato, MN Mayo Clinic.
He agrees with the process. If you're gonna get a second opinion, that's prolly the one ya want.