I ended my blog on a good note. I figured that I would fade away. Hopefully, continue on with good health and a heavy dose of optimism. Pretty short lived, I must say.
A few months ago, May of 2024, I began feeling tired. Shortness of breath and shoulder pain were becoming more and more prevalent. I had planned a trip to Miami as a Christmas gift to my boys where the Formula 1 Gran Prix was running. The night before we were leaving, I decided to take a quick trip to the ER at Doylestown Hospital. The advice from the doctor was to see a Cardiologist immediately and forgo my trip. That wasn’t happening. Needless to say, the amount of walking and climbing at the race venue really took a toll on me. When I got back, five days later, I saw the Cardiologist who then scheduled me for a cardiac catherization procedure.
I had undergone a previous catherization seven years prior and was given a clean bill of health. “I was good for a long time” as per the attending surgeon. Not this time. The attending doctor performing this procedure said “Pull it out” after five minutes in. “Mr. Keenan, you need a triple bypass…immediately”. Wow! I was dumbfounded! How could this possibly happen? Well, I’ll tell you. Tasigna, my newer Leukemia medication, was very powerful. Thirty five times more potent than Gleevec, my last drug. It had been five years since I began taking Tasigna. Tasigna was also a drug that causes PAD in fifteen to twenty percent of patients. Peripheral Artery Disease. I had three arteries that were 92%, 85% and 74% blocked. Wonderful. The drug that keeps me alive can also kill me. Screw me…again.
Lori and I met with the cardiac surgeon a few days later, Dr. Matthew Thomas. He was designated to me through the Cardiology group at Doylestown. I liked him. Pretty straightforward, he explained how he would open up my chest, remove my heart, and remove veins from my leg and chest to Graft from my aorta to my heart. It would be a seven and a half hour operation with a lengthy recovery period. Dr. Thomas wanted to operate in three days. “I’ll see you Friday morning at 5 am”, He said. To that I said “No way”! I had a wedding that Sunday of one of Joey’s best friends and I had to make sure that Belaggio Jewelers was ready for me to leave for six weeks! He laughed and left the room. The new date would be May 31st, Friday morning, 5 am.
If you know me, you know that 5 am is never in my wheelhouse. But here we were. It was going to be a long day. Dr. Thomas came in to greet me and go over the final instructions as well as signing the obligatory hold harmless paperwork. As I faded off in the OR, I left my life in the hands of a person that I barely knew and a crew of strangers. Not very comforting, but I had no other choice. When I woke up, nine hours later, the breathing tube that was in my throat was killing me! I was writing air sentences on my bed…”I can’t breathe!” It was awful! Finally, the doctor removed the tube. It was a rough five days until I was released. The next day, “Did I go to the store”? Yes, I did! Anyways…I was there for about an hour to check on things. That was enough.
While I was recuperating, I was wishing that the beautiful, amazing trip that I had planned for Lori’s 60th birthday was a reality. Nope. It was going to come and go without us. Two weeks in Italy. Lake Como, Belaggio, Venice and Milan. Our first European trip together. Oh well, there is always next year. Two weeks out from the operation, on a Monday night, I was feeling short of breath. This wasn’t good. Lori took me to the ER at 11 pm. Unfortunately, I had a buildup of fluid, post operative, pushing on my heart. A very dangerous, one in one hundred occurance, the fluid would have to be removed by inserting a large needle into the heart cavity and draining it. They would perform the operation the next day. Here we go again. The next afternoon, I was taken to the cath lab, signed the obligatory releases, and went under again. I woke up later with a drain coming out of my chest that would remain for three days. Three more glorious days in the post heart surgery unit. That night, I kind of lost it. Laying in the hospital bed, 3 am, can’t get comfortable, I freaking lost it. I was just so tired of all of the crap. Twenty eight years of shit. Hospital after hospital. Operations, procedures, pain, suffering, burdening my wife, my kids, my family…etc. I had enough. I called my wife and just laid it out. Thankfully, she just listened and let me vent. I’m sure this wasn’t the first time. I left the hospital intact and with more new drugs to take…freedom. Of course, I landed myself back in the ER a few times for overdoing it. I never listen. The pain in my sternum was relentless. It was going to take at least a year to fully resolve itself. I needed to rest and use my head. Not push it. We’ll see!
Well, that is my Epiblog. An unanticipated addition to my story. Hopefully, the next update will be about our trip to Italy…