A week ago Thursday, I realized I was developing an upper respatory problem, likely bhronchitis, or maybe pneumoina. I have suffered with this and asthma all my life since I was 2 years old. However, after my heart attack in May, I dreaded this happening, as the reduced oxygen can mess up an already weak heart. I went through a terrible fever and sweats, etc. until Sunday ... and felt real good by Monday ... relapsed some by Teusday ... so, I stopped by the Outpatient Clinic about 8 in the evening to see if I could get some antibiotics ... and mentioned my heart too ... yikes !!!
They took me to Emergency, and then started poking, picking, and x-raying ... and then they took my keys tomy car and my cloths ... and invited me to stay a while ... then the ER doctor came in and said, "Mr. Whitney, we need to talk" ... she closed the door and sat down ... held up the x-ray to me and asked me to look at it in the light ... "I squinted my eyes, and said, oh yea ... thats something else" ... she then said, "So you see what I see, CHF." ... Ahhh ... I said, and then showed my ignorance, "What is CHF?" ... She said, Congestive Heart Failure." ... Yikes! That is bad ... "How bad is it and can I go home now?" ... "If I let you go home, you could go into Desomposition before morning ... that is, die." ...
"We need to keep you for a while to conduct more tests." ... So, I stayed. As it turned out, the CHF was eventually ruled out by my cardiologist ... after much debating and challenges by me, including convincing them that the x-ray technician used the wrong settings when taking the first shots ... and I finally got my antiboitics ... some really new strong stuff that only requires five pills in five days ... I am feeling much better today ... They released me late Wednesday night about midnight ... weird ... and I was back at work Thursday afternoon.
The Catholic Church is stepping in again and is going to be taking care of my medical costs for the two days in the hospital ... I really appreciate and applaude the unconditional help and kindness shown by their Christian spirit.
So, now that my body is on track, I can get back to work on JWD ... and see what the latest scoop is ... also, in the meantime, some really great things happened ... and I will post about those shortly ... and I have a very positive post for Bill Bowen.
Jim Whitney