Me & My Heart Bypass Surgery

Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery (CABG)
Part I

Almost everyone have heard about the heart bypass surgery, but not everyone experienced it. Our near and dear ones, went into this traumatic period and lived after ten years with happy smiles.

Just like you all, I also heard the words, 'heart surgery', 'bypass surgery', 'angiogram', 'stent', but not a single time i imagined myself will be into this.

As myself a writer and authored five books (poems & short story collections) in Tamil, I intended to pen down my story in surgery after twenty days of surgery. Almost finished, the book in Tamil will be released in few months.

I am so eager to write it in English, here in my blog I started with this. In this series, I am going to write my experiences, fears, thoughts, myths about the corollary bypass surgery, I underwent. Maybe one or other person can benefit from this.

Moreover, there is another special, I am a woman, who went through this surgery. There are few women compared to men who did bypass surgery in our country, India. We knew many men who had experienced angioplasty, stenting and bypass surgery. Women are least cared about the health in many Indian families. They overworked themselves for the family and got ignored.

Myself also sail in the same boat. I am having hypertension (BP), borderline cholesterol, but not diabetic. Once in a while, almost six months space, I and my husband go to our family cardiologist. This time being most crucial period in my life, as my daughter in law is in full time pregnancy, I have to leave for chennai from my city, Coimbatore in a week.

We went to the Royal Care hospital as early as 7 am, so that fasting test of blood sugar can be done. Near 11am, with results we were waiting for the cardiologist to turn up. As going through my results, my cholesterol had shoot up to 283, newly added culprit is sugar. Fasting sugar is 135. Not yet, I am not serious about these things.

At 2pm, our cardiologist Dr Chockalingam, asked sorry for being late, as he had to attend one emergency case. As he studied my tests and check my heartbeats, he asked me a serious question, whether I am having any gasping.

Yes, I told. I usually walk an hour in the evening with interfering gasps. I stop walking for two three minutes and after becoming normal I start my walk from there. This happened everyday. I thought its due to my GERD (Gastroesophageal reflux disease) problem, I am already having. Told these things to the physician. He already knew my family history, as my father, mother & younger brother all died of heart failures. Immediately he wrote down for an angiography.

Its almost 3 in the evening. They were preparing for my in patient admission in the hospital. Now I was scared. I insisted my husband to return to home. We will take it another day. As like all husbands, he worked against me, said sternly, 'you are taking angio.'

Next Angiogram..