Denny has an ICD

An ICD- Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator. He went to a heart specialist who sent him to another cardiologist, Dr Blatt. Very nice doctor, by the way. Dr Blatt told him that he needed to have the ICD because of the signals he was getting from Denny. Age and weight were obvious. Sugar diabetes was another. But the way Denny has been getting tired, short of breath and legs feeling like lead convinced Dr Blatt that Denny needed it in case something happened to his heart. Oh, not to forget that his heart was only functioning at 35%! The unit would be implanted in his chest and would shock Denny if he was going to have a heart attack. Dr Blatt doesn't like to do the implant until a heart catherization is done. He said that it wouldn't make sense to fix something unless everything else was fixed first. So Thursday Denny had a catherization. Dr Klein was the doctor. His attendent came out to tell me that it was done and Denny is a very lucky man! There was 95% blockage to his aorta! That's a big blockage! There wasn't very much empty space in the artery! The inserted a stint. That done, Denny had to stay overnight to await the next surgery. Friday morning, Dr Blatt inserted the ICD. The surgery went smoothly. The nurses said that he snored very loudly and that they had to fight with him a little. Dr Blatt told Denny that he cannot believe he didn't collapse with a heart attack before this week. And Denny had umpired 4 games last Sunday!
He came home yesterday. No lifting over 5 pounds, no driving for two weeks. He has to be on Plavix and cannot miss one pill! He'll have to have the ICD checked every three months. But he's fine now.

And today is our 45th wedding anniversary! In 1994, Denny was in the hospital for our wedding anniversary. He cheated death that time and now again.

Here's a picture of him in the hospital and another picture of Denny and his nurse, Jaymie. Everyone at Plano Medical Hospital was so nice. She was very nice.

In the diagram, you can see where the blockage was. There's also a thin line by that artery. That vein is 70% blocked and he has another blockage at the bottom of his heart but they didn't have stints small enough so they may do it at a later time. The doctor said that those two weren't as important as the one they did.