Dear Family and friends,
I just got home from the hospital and want to give you all and update on how the days procedure went for Vincent.
As you all know, Vincent collapsed on Saturday night at home in the bathroom. He began having chest pain. Because of the family history with Dad Wieck and Paul, and Uncle Dwayne, we have been figuring for a while now that he may have heart problems. About 1 year ago we took him to a cardiologist and also began seeing a dietician who specializes in heart care and natural methods to reducing cholesterol.
Vincent’s cholesterol was a little high, mostly his triglycerides. When he is faithful to his diet and natural supplements (CoQ10 and Polycosanol, Fish oils, etc…) his triglycerides have been remarkably reduced and his cholesterol is under control. It’s been wonderful to see that with work in these areas he was able to naturally control it without going on Lipitor. He has bloodwork every other month to be able to show this.
The last two months Vincent has been not as faithful in taking his regime, and has been more lax in exercise. He just had an appointment last Friday where he says, “The dietician had tears in her eyes when she read my blood result.” What happened, you were doing so well! She responded.
Although perhaps unrelated to that recent news, obviously his heart health was on our mind a lot this week. We had decided to make the decision to ask for an angiogram on his heart to see if there is any blockage as was the case with his brother Paul. We thought we would try to get it done this fall or early new year. Then on Saturday when he fainted on the floor, I instantly knew it was his heart and I thought, oh no we are too late. Needless to say it was very scary.
After almost 2 days in the hospital, all the tests he had showed he did not have a heart attack despite the repeated chest pains he was experiencing. Basically we were being encouraged to check out and go home. We were pretty convinced based on Paul’s experience that tests showing nothing didn’t mean much to us since Paul had such dramatic blockage not previously indicated in other exams before the angio.
Of course not every Doctor sees eye to eye on the risks and benefits of exams. Many of them would prefer to send you through all the possible exams before the bigger, more expensive and time consuming exams. I see that point, but in our case I felt it was valid to really fight for the right to have the catheterization done. Thanks to Mike, our dear brother in law talking with us on the phone, and a wonderful fast response Nurse, Chad at Good Sam, we were given confidence that we should push despite that fact that our cardiologist disagreed with it. He scared me with the risks involved, but we had long decided that the benefits of the exam outweigh the risks given the family history. Boy are we ever glad we did this. Nothing but this procedure probably would have shown the problem that was found and this could have saved him from a heart attack. We are very grateful to God for guiding this hard few days and decision making, as well to Mike, Chad and all others we consulted for advice.
When the cardiologist did the heart catheterization on Vincent this morning they were very happy to see that the arteries were clear of any blockage or plaque formation. However what they did find was something interesting. It seems as though Vincent has shorter arteries that also have a much more muscular tissue around them. This is not unheard of but it is rare, especially in men, its is seen more often in women. Because of this, when Vincent experiences stress, this muscular tissue cramps, almost squeezes the artery and causes what looks like a narrowing or kink in the tube. In Vincent’s case it is found in his Right Aorta. The Cardiologist injected Nitroglycerin which is a vasodilator, this significantly enlarged the artery and allowed better blood flow, it also seemingly elongated it. A before and after picture show it nicely and Id like to try to scan them in and email it out to you all. His before image looks like the outline of a nice with a kinked tube at the top. Really, the nose of the Little Cesar’s Pizza guy (Greek nose). The after picture, looks like, well, a normal nose with no kink anywhere.
Nitro has a short lasting effect, and so Vincent will need to be put on Cardizam for the rest of his life, which will also help dilate the arteries. As well stress reduction is a must. Although drugs may assist they can not completely prevent a heart attack, but we are pretty confident that it will give him a good fighting chance.
So not out of the woods, but this is significantly better news than we expected, which was blockage, with possible stints as Paul had, or even bypass as Dad had. We feel very blessed and attribute it all to your prayers throughout this hard 3 days.
Vincent came out of the procedure with some bad chest pains again and so is being kept a few more days for observation and a nuclear running test on the treadmill while given Cardizam to see how his body responds to this.
Because of all the chest pain and just plain being stuck in bed so long, he is very tired and will need to rest. I don’t anticipate him returning to work this week at all. Maybe on the laptop at homeJ
I encourage the remaining Wieck brothers who haven’t already done so to see a cardiologist and not wait for an incident like this to happen. It was very scary, yet oddly enough, both Vincent and I have felt completely detached which must be a grace. I think when it all settles down I may just cry cry, but we feel very much the hand of God leading us through and the peace has been indescribable.
I can’t tell you how much I’ve appreciated all of the well wishes and prayers. I feel mostly terrible not to have been able to answer all the calls. I have 2 cells in my hand at all times at the hospital, and at one point I had 4 calls, 1 on each phone that I was talking too and 1 call waiting on each phone! So you can imagine why I didn’t always get to answer. I think right now we are feeling pretty loved. I know how loved my darling is and I can see why, he is absolutely the perfect spouse for me.
Thanks so much to Trisha and Tony, Faith, Monica, and Anthony for becoming parents to 3 darlings and watching them for me so I could be with Vincent so much. I was able to come back through the day to nurse the baby but she did marvelously.
A final update will come out when he is home. I appreciate the help many of you have offered, watching the kids a bit, meals, and will probably need it for a few days after he comes home. Your continued prayers for his heart health will be very appreciated.
Many thanks,
Eileen
