Todd's Heart Attack

Tuesday afternoon I was startled when I received a text from my nephew, Thomas, notifying me that my brother, Todd had a heart attack and had been admitted into the hospital. I couldn't believe it--he's only 47!

I was able to talk to him that night. He was still in pain and was waiting for a room. I told him I'd visit him first thing in the morning. Well, the next morning I got up early and headed to Rite Aid to pick up some magazines because Todd said he was bored in the hospital. Rite Aid was closed. I called the hospital and found out that visiting hours are from noon-8pm so I decided to go to work and I figured I'd leave early and visit Todd before I had my own doctor's appointment (chiropractic).

When I left work I asked Thomas if he was at the hospital and he notified me that Todd was transferred to a hospital in West Los Angeles. I work in L.A. so I decided to drive there and see him. I didn't want him to be alone for his procedure. Unfortunately, I just missed him before he was brought into the procedure room in the Cath Lab. In order for the doctors to find out how many blockages he had, they had to do a cardiac catherization, which is where they put a teeny tiny tube through an artery in the groin all the way towards the heart. He only had one blockage which meant that he was given an angioplasty (that's where they blow a balloon up in the artery to stretch it out so that there is more space for blood to flow) and a drug-eluding stent was put in (it's a wire mesh tube that is placed in the artery that helps the artery stay open).

I was able to see Todd shortly after his procedure, along with one of Todd's coworkers, Ray, who has worked with Todd for over 20 years. Todd looked really good and was in a pretty good mood considering the ordeal he went through.

Ray and I stayed with Todd for a few hours before he had some transitional medical stuff to deal with. Here is a picture of him recuperating:

The following day he was discharged and he is now at home resting. Yay!

Having one of my siblings go through such a scary thing (and at such a young age--he's only 10 years older than I am!) puts some perspective on life. You can't help but evaluate your life. I definitely don't want to go through that procedure!