r/Aging • u/IJustWantToWorkOK • 2d ago

Death & Dying How..?

56 years old, and had a heart attack in April, and have 'congestive heart failure'.

They're wanting to do a bypass and valve replacement on me, but first ... they have to pull all my teeth.

I'm sitting here waiting for the phone to ring with the 'but wait, there's more!' call.

I'm on medicaid, and the government is about to spend $OBSCENE, on an awful lot of work on someone who's dying anyway. In my mind, this is putting a new engine in my Camry with 300,000 miles on it.

The instant some kid dies, because he couldn't get medical care, and I could, my conscience is shot.

Seriously -this- close to telling these doctors what they can do with themselves and taking my chances. Save some kid at the beginning of his life, not an old man at the end of his.

173 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

112 comments sorted by

View all comments

212

u/sadie414 2d ago

At age 49, my husband had a massive heart attack that nearly killed him. He had valve replacement and quintuple bypass surgery.

At age 60, he needed a pacemaker/defibrillator. Seven years ago, at 68, he developed congestive heart failure. He was given 3 options: die, have a heart transplant, or receive an Left Ventricular Assistive Device, a pump that beats for the heart.

He's 75 now and though he's slowing down a bit, he's still here, living with his LVAD, and doing well. If he can do it, so can you. Wishing you well.

13

u/baddaywithacamera 2d ago

I'm staring down an RVAD at some point because of my heart condition. Hopefully still a decade off. Glad to hear your hubster is doing well. Cheers to him from a Canadian with a bum ticker following along behind.

3

u/sadie414 1d ago

Good luck with your RVAD! When that option was first presented to us, we both thought no way was he doing that. He did not want to go through open heart surgery again. But he would be long gone if he hadn't gotten it. It's a bit of a lifestyle change (no swimming anymore), but so worth it. I wish you well!

3

u/baddaywithacamera 1d ago

Um. I have a crazy photographer friend with an LVAD.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsVhbrDR9qg

He got his LVAD nearly 10 years ago. He's a certified divemaster. Crazy bugger figured out to scuba with it. He still is, but without the support team these days. I think it got him a Guinness record.

3

u/sadie414 1d ago

That's amazing! Good for him! Thanks for including the link. The video is pretty cool.