CARLYLE — Life was going reasonably well for me.
At the age of 70, I have a wife, six children,12 grandchildren and two dogs. The year 2024 ended with an unexplained episode that, now thinking back on, was a sign that I wasn't as fit and healthy as I always thought.
One evening in December, I proceeded to cook hamburger at the stove and became quite dizzy. I turned off the stove and took a seat to let it pass. My daughter had stopped by and insisted a visit to the Arcola emergency room since my blood pressure at 208/72 was not acceptable.
Blood tests, an electrocardiogram and more blood pressure tests did not disclose anything that would explain what had happened. I was feeling fine and was sent home.
But Dr. Osakponmwen Amayo thought something just wasn’t right and wanted more tests and referred me to a cardiologist. My wife and I made the trip to Regina to see Dr. Wladyslaw Wojcik on May 14. I had an echocardiogram in the morning and met Wojcik in the afternoon. It was this day that I learned that I needed heart surgery. More tests were scheduled for May 21, and I proceeded to head home.
I received a call that evening from Wojcik, who had taken a second look at my test results from earlier that day and felt my case was very serious. He requested I return to Regina General the next day.
May 15 was the beginning of my first-ever hospital stay. More tests were done, and my condition was confirmed- I had an aortic aneurysm and a severely leaky value. Surgery was scheduled for May 22,, and I was advised to stay in the hospital until then as a safety precaution. My surgeon, Dr. Ahmed Moustapha, informed me this was the fourth largest aneurysm he'd seen in 22 years.
Surgery came and went without complications. It was a five-hour operation where they repaired a seven-centimetre aneurysm on the aorta and replaced the defective value. Papa was fixed!
Rest and recovery were suggested. Sounds reasonable, right? On May 23, I was moved out of the intensive care unit, recovery went well, just nauseated. A few days later progress was slow, and I was eager to get home.
There had been some fluid around my lungs that was keeping my oxygen levels lower than the doctor would like. The cardiologists had given me the options to either stay another week in the hospital to let my body absorb the fluid, or they could insert a catheter to drain the fluid. I opted for the catheter. All was well, my oxygen level climbed after 48 hours with the catheter.
On May 29, my sister Glenda visited, and it was assumed I would head home the next day.
I had the catheter removed from my right lung on May 30. Later that day, my blood pressure dropped and I lost consciousness. It was a code blue! Emergency! Cardiologists were alerted, as were a variety of other professionals.
"Get this man into the operating room stat".
My clothing was cut off, I received one unit of blood in the room to try to stabilize me so they could get me to the OR. The team miraculously managed to keep me alive long enough to get to the OR. However, poor Papa had no clue what was going on. I felt like I was dangling around in no-man's land awaiting my fate.
When the doctors had removed the catheter from my right lung, a vein was nicked and I had been bleeding internally most of that day, but it wasn't known until my blood pressure had dropped that it was recognized. Over four litres had drained from my body; needless to say, I was given another three units of blood to keep me alive.
Each cardiologist at individual times expressed how lucky I was to walk out of the hospital and not leave in a body bag.
I want to thank Amayo for following your instincts by referring me to a cardiologist.To the doctors, nurses and other staff at Regina General for such excellent care to keep me alive and on the mend. A special thank you to my family and friends for being there for me and my wife. This took an extra special kind of love and caring so that I would be alive and back home.
