unforgettableFOXfire
I serve MacPhisto
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2001
- Messages
- 2,053
Weren't supposed to happen 
(he says, pretending to be naive)
Well, I think last time I posted this in my journal... or maybe it was Zoo Confessionals... but since I've closed my journal and have no intention of reopenning it and can't search archives, I'm not sure where this ought to go... words don't really fit the way I'm feeling at the moment, as you might soon understand.
Okay, well, I'll recap. Sometime in November or December, my brother Ryan (the oldest of my 2 younger brothers, he has just turned 18 within the past month) was standing up to get out of a chair, passed out, fell, hit his head on our basement floor - which, thankfully, is carpetted, but that doesn't soften the blow too much; he still got a concussion.
Seeking medical advice to try and figure out why a young man such as him would simply pass out from standing up, he's gone through a bunch of doctors and a bunch of tests... First doctor, and first echo cardiograph and some sort of chest scan all read out something like 'he's got a valve that isn't working 100% properly, and maybe a hole in his heart'.
Not to worry, I was reassured, this thing is fairly common, many people live long lives without ever having it fixed; sometimes it needs to be fixed, but even that isn't a huge deal.
Fair enough, says I.
Doctors, never being content with one round of evidence, sent him in for another round of tests. Second doctor, one with naturopathic leanings, but still a fully certified medical doctor in all rights (he went to university and everything), based simply on my brother's youth and diet and so on said 'there's nothing wrong with him, don't worry about it', sent him for a second ECG (which, as it turns out, he instructed the operator to execute improperly because he was so certain that it was a pointless exercise). The he gave back the results, clean bill of health, etc.
Not a big deal.
My mother, convinced more that this second doctor was a complete quack than that he actually provided any useful information, persued our family doctor to see if they could do another test as sort of a tie-breaker, since the most recent opinion in any case might also fail to be the right one (same logic as undertaking a second set of tests, except in this case to provide a precedence of 2-1 in favour of either healthy or unhealthy). So, my brother had another test or two done, etc. This time the doctors confirmed the first result. Adding to it, now, that his heart arythmia that they noticed could be slightly more serious than they anticipated - maybe its not simply a valve not functioning properly. Well, not bad, necessarily? No, apparently they've changed their mind something to the tune of 'we want to fix this as soon as possible, because any moment between now and getting it fixed you might suffer sudden cardiac death.'
So evidently he's been lucky to be alive for the past few months while they've squabbled about what the results were?
Sudden cardiac death.
Not something I hear every day, and not something that makes for welcome news, really.
So, to the people who helped me out before with the whole heart issue thing... This seems to me to be a slightly bigger deal. Am I right?
Anyone have any useful advice?
(he says, pretending to be naive)Well, I think last time I posted this in my journal... or maybe it was Zoo Confessionals... but since I've closed my journal and have no intention of reopenning it and can't search archives, I'm not sure where this ought to go... words don't really fit the way I'm feeling at the moment, as you might soon understand.
Okay, well, I'll recap. Sometime in November or December, my brother Ryan (the oldest of my 2 younger brothers, he has just turned 18 within the past month) was standing up to get out of a chair, passed out, fell, hit his head on our basement floor - which, thankfully, is carpetted, but that doesn't soften the blow too much; he still got a concussion.
Seeking medical advice to try and figure out why a young man such as him would simply pass out from standing up, he's gone through a bunch of doctors and a bunch of tests... First doctor, and first echo cardiograph and some sort of chest scan all read out something like 'he's got a valve that isn't working 100% properly, and maybe a hole in his heart'.
Not to worry, I was reassured, this thing is fairly common, many people live long lives without ever having it fixed; sometimes it needs to be fixed, but even that isn't a huge deal.
Fair enough, says I.
Doctors, never being content with one round of evidence, sent him in for another round of tests. Second doctor, one with naturopathic leanings, but still a fully certified medical doctor in all rights (he went to university and everything), based simply on my brother's youth and diet and so on said 'there's nothing wrong with him, don't worry about it', sent him for a second ECG (which, as it turns out, he instructed the operator to execute improperly because he was so certain that it was a pointless exercise). The he gave back the results, clean bill of health, etc.
Not a big deal.
My mother, convinced more that this second doctor was a complete quack than that he actually provided any useful information, persued our family doctor to see if they could do another test as sort of a tie-breaker, since the most recent opinion in any case might also fail to be the right one (same logic as undertaking a second set of tests, except in this case to provide a precedence of 2-1 in favour of either healthy or unhealthy). So, my brother had another test or two done, etc. This time the doctors confirmed the first result. Adding to it, now, that his heart arythmia that they noticed could be slightly more serious than they anticipated - maybe its not simply a valve not functioning properly. Well, not bad, necessarily? No, apparently they've changed their mind something to the tune of 'we want to fix this as soon as possible, because any moment between now and getting it fixed you might suffer sudden cardiac death.'
So evidently he's been lucky to be alive for the past few months while they've squabbled about what the results were?
Sudden cardiac death.
Not something I hear every day, and not something that makes for welcome news, really.
So, to the people who helped me out before with the whole heart issue thing... This seems to me to be a slightly bigger deal. Am I right?
Anyone have any useful advice?
