It’s been 34 years since my heart has been cradled by cardiologists, nephrologists, and other medical specialists.
Together with my immediate family, especially Marietta, my dutiful wife of 38 years, these specialists — Dr. Silahis O. Rosario, Dr. Erlyn C. Demerre, Dr. Kenneth T. Coo, and Dr. Mendell Ray Sinda — who are my current team of dedicated and competent doctors, are charged to be careful with my heart.
On Christmas eve on Dec. 23, 1987, at around 11:15 pm, Marietta rushed me to the Emergency Room for severe chest pains. The ER nurse called my cardiologist at that time, Dr. Johnny Magbanua, who promptly came to examine me. I was apparently having an impending myocardial infarction, commonly understood to mean a heart attack.
After the standard ECG, Dr. Magbanua ordered several laboratory tests, including the cardiac marker, Troponine. He then had me admitted to a room at the SUMC.
The following morning, I was given a full breakfast. The Dietary department had not been alerted that I was at risk for a heart attack.
Unfortunately, my lab results came in after midnight with the clear warning signs, but no one had read the results earlier, so that preventive measures could be taken.
Consequently, I ate my full breakfast. My digestive process caused severe stress on my heart, and triggered the attack. I was in severe pain and unable to breathe. The sensation was that of a giant boulder pressing against my chest!
Marietta rushed to look for help along the medical ward. Thankfully, she came across Dr. Mark Udarbe who, at that time, was monitoring the haemodialysis of the late Bonifacio Yrad.
Dr. Udarbe went to my room, and with a quick assessment, personally wheeled my bed to the ICU on the same wing. At the ICU, the experienced nurses took over and stabilized my condition.
Without Dr. Udarbe’s quick thinking and decisive action, this article would never have been written. I truly owe my life to Dr. Mark Udarbe!
During that Christmas break, my cousin-in-law, Erlyn Demerre, a cardiologist at St. Luke’s Medical Center, who was here on vacation at that time, paid me a visit. After examining me, she arranged for me to be transferred to St. Luke’s.
The 2D echocardiogram indicated that I may need a heart bypass.
In early January of 1988, I was flown to Manila, and brought to St. Luke’s. The bypass team, led by Dr. Stan de Castro, was all prepped and ready to go. Dr. Ariel Miranda, the cardiac interventionist, was also ready with the angiogram at the Cardiac Catherization Laboratory (CathLab) .
As I underwent examination under the angiogram, a preliminary procedure for heart bypass to identify and map out the blocked vessels, it indicated only one blocked artery, the left anterior descending artery. What a miracle!
A quick shift in procedure was arranged. Dr. de Castro and his bypass team exited the CathLab. Dr. Miranda’s angioplasty team took over, and they prepped me for the modified procedure.
In angioplasty, a procedure is used to open blocked arteries caused by coronary artery disease. It restores blood flow to the heart muscle, without an open-heart surgery. (johnhopkinsmedicine.org)
Angioplasty is not considered major surgery. These procedures are most often performed under conscious or moderate sedation in a cardiovascular cathlab. The procedure is done by threading a thin tube, called a catheter, through a puncture in the arm or leg. (johnhopkinsmedicine.org)
In my angioplasty, three stents were used. After the procedure, blood flow through my LAD artery was normalized.
A stent is a small mesh tube that holds open passages in the body, such as weak or narrow arteries. Stents are often used to treat narrowed coronary arteries that supply the heart with oxygen-rich blood. The stent holds open the narrowed arteries to allow adequate blood to flow to the heart. (https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov)
After an interval of 10 years or so, I would undergo another angioplasty. I have had three angioplasty procedures since the first in January 1988, and it has kept my heart functioning as normally as may be expected.
In the meantime, I started dialysis treatments in 2017, and have a fairly-functional and healthy life, save for the imposed quarantine restrictions whether in a pandemic or otherwise.
The ravages on my heart were self-inflicted. For lack of discipline in my eating and non-exercise habits, I paid the price with a broken heart (heart attack).
And because my heart disease is diagnosed as atherosclerosis, I must regularly have an angioplasty every 10 or so years.
Atherosclerosis is a thickening or hardening of the arteries. It is caused by a buildup of plaque in the inner lining of an artery. (johnhopkinsmedicine.org)
Plaque is made up of deposits of fatty substances, cholesterol, cellular waste products, calcium, and fibrin. As it builds up in the arteries, the artery walls become thickened and stiff. (johnhopkinsmedicine.org)
While my original stents in 1988 are still good, the atherosclerosis continued to progress downwards, requiring additional stents in my next two angioplasties. Today, I am a bionic man with eight stents in my artery.
Along the way, my cardiac problem was compounded with Chronic Kidney Disease. Now I continue to live with regular heart monitoring, and thrice-weekly dialysis.
More conscious of my mortality, and the keen awareness of walking through the valley of the shadow of death, I must all the more be careful with my heart, just as others are carefully cradling mine.
Most of all, I am grateful to God who walks with me day by day.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. (Psalms 23:4)
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Author’s email: [email protected]
