Taking a Blogging Break This Week

I’m taking a Blogging Break because Family Comes 1st

My Dad is going to have open heart surgery tomorrow, so this week will be just a bit hectic for me. Blogging will not be on my list of “To Do” this week, and maybe not even next.  Trying to keep up with my job while at the hospital is all I’m going to attempt and that will be hard enough.

Dad is 82 years old and has never had heart problems, that we knew of.  But shortness of breath recently made him talk to his Doctor. What we thought was going to be a consult with a cardiologist last Friday ended up being a series of test done immediately. The cardiac cath showed calcification in his heart and 3 blockages. One was 99.9% blocked, another 85% and another 40%.   They were unable to do stints because of the calcification.

You always hear of heart disease being the silent killer. We are very lucky that Dad didn’t have a full blown heart attack. We aren’t looking forward to the open heart and (at least) double bypass, and the recovery – but we are so very thankful that we got this chance.  So many people never have the chance because they ignore  the very sudle symptoms. One of them we didn’t realize was increased belching. Dad thought he was just having stomach problems because for the last several week he had much more belching than usual. This is a sign of a blockage.

Here are a couple good places to start if you have any concern for yourself or a loved one.

Heart Issues for Woman can be different 

Heart Disease Guide from Web MD