Category: Hamburger Heart
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Hamburger Heart: Part 10
Toward the end of 2019 I felt well enough to try to tackle a long put off visit to the old country. With two stents installed and most of the known arterial blockages in my heart held open, after three and a half years, I was working full time even though I had to use…
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Hamburger Heart: Part 9
My first appointment with my cardiologist couldn’t happen soon enough, but their case loads tend to be formidable. Heart disease is the number one killer of Americans after all. I was figuratively and literally dying to know what was next…
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Hamburger Heart: Part 8
I tried to open my eyes but they were welded shut with clotted blood. I tried to sit up but my body completely ignored my will and refused to budge. I felt a brief rush of relief as I drew another breath, knowing that I had made it through the night…
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Hamburger Heart: Part 7
A week after I left, the shelter manager called me to let me know that Marcie did well at the vet and her cough had improved. I returned to the shelter to pay for the vet and pay Marcie a visit. This time the shelter was full of dogs…
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Hamburger Heart: Part 6
The very first thing I noticed when I got home was how cold I was. An overwhelming numbness had shielded me from any sense of tremendous injury, dysfunction, or pain, but that wore away in stages over a few days. The cold was oppressive and unrelenting and saw me shivering while huddled under my blankets…
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Hamburger Heart: Part 5
From the cath lab I was wheeled directly to the ICU. A collagen plug was holding my femoral artery closed with its anchor stabbed through a major nerve. I was gritting my teeth through incredible pain while being told that I shouldn’t move at all, not even to turn my head, and that I should…