Balle & Co.: April 2023

We won't forget this Easter now will

Sunday morning I woke up and discovered Mike had been sleeping on the couch. He didn't look like he was feeling well. He said he had been up most the night with heart burn and that his arms felt a little sore. He thought it was from working out right before going to bed. He treated them with icy hot and laid on the couch while his poor arms burned and his chest burned. He felt a bit nauseous, but got ready for church anyway,

While sitting in Sacrament meeting I looked over and Mike was greener than I've ever seen a human being be. I told him he didn't look very good and he said, "yeah I feel like I'm going to pass out." Being the polite person he is he decided he would wait until after they were done passing the sacrament to go out. As soon as he said that though, he started shutting down. His head flopped down and he drooped over to the side first leaning on Jack and then straight forward. He hung there for a minute, while I panicked inside and wondered if he was going to fall to the floor and if so, what in the world I should do? He came to so I quickly leaned forward and tapped Cody Hardcastle on the shoulder and asked him if he would help me take Mike out. I didn't think I would be able to hold him on my own if he passed out again. Cody jumped right up and got a hold of Mike. Brother Reyez also jumped up as Mike and Cody made their way out to the foyer.... right as Mike was going down a second time. Doug Rich was on the stand and had also come out, along with a couple nurses (Shawna Beal and Jeanette Koller). They all helped get Mike onto the couch. He lay there for just a second before he opened his eyes. The surrounding men all chimed in with the the "How many fingers am I holding up" questions and Mike kinda laughed and said he felt a lot better. I suggested we just go home and get some rest, but both Shawna and Jeanette recommended I take him straight the the ER. Brother Koller rode with us incase we had another episode on the ride

The ER got us straight back.

They did an EKG and that looked fine. They moved on to some blood work and then after a bit of waiting, a Doctor came back and said, "I think you may be having a heart attack." The levels of troponin (a chemical released into your blood during a heart attack) in his blood were high. Sometimes you see the same thing from a virus, so they weren't 100% positive, but they decided to take him by ambulance to Utah Valley hospital where they would watch the troponin levels over night.

We were in charge of potatoes for Easter Sunday dinner at my moms so I had to call and let them know we were maybe in the middle of a heart attack and wouldn't be able to make it. Mikes mom, Ivan and Justin were driving back from Idaho so we decided to wait until they got home to give them a call. I went home to situate kids and then met him at Utah Valley. They didn't have much more to say about it that night. They would watch his levels then the next step would be an echocardiogram and then an angiogram if needed.

Monday morning, as I was dropping the boys off to school, the hospital called. The troponin levels got so high that they decided to skip the echo and go straight to the angiogram. They figured if they needed to they could throw a couple stents in while they were in there. Turns out 3 of his arteries were completely clogged and a 4th one partially clogged and he was in a need of a quadruple bypass surgery. I couldn't believe it.

He waited the rest of Monday, all of Tuesday and then went in Wednesday for surgery. A week prier to this he had a testosterone pellet placed. (in his butt cheek) The bandage was still on and when he got in the shower we figured we could take it off. We didn't think about the blood thinners they put him on and when I pulled off the bandage, blood started squirting straight out and all over the place. I felt like I had to plug a water hole. I held my finger there until we could rummage up a bandage. The extra day in the hospital, before surgery wasn't very helpful. Laying in that bed all day gave Mike too much time to think and to google. He would feel ok one minute and then be really discouraged another. Discouraged enough that we went over all our finances, accounts, passwords, etc.

Surgery was long. The Doctor finally came out to let me know things went well. They only ended up doing 3 of the 4 bypasses, but they weren't concerned. It was quite an experience to see him in the ICU. He had sooooo many lines running through him, chest tubes and wraps covering where they took the veins from. He was such a polite patient. He called me "hon" a lot, thanked the nurses over and over again and told Tasha Steadman she had a nice light or aura around her. Steve and Tasha Steadman are friends in our neighborhood. I used to watch their little Jacey when she was a baby until she was 3 or 4. They are both pharmacists at Utah Valley and such a big help to us during our time in the hospital. It was comforting to have them pop in and out of his room each day.

Mike stayed in the ICU Wednesday night. Thursday night they transferred him back to a regular room where he stayed until Sunday. That first night in the ICU was nerve wracking for him. The nurses seemed to bustle around him like they were worried. They did have to call the doctor a couple times, because they were worried about his right ventricle, which of course worried him. Things settled by morning and he was comforted when the doc came in and said things looked good. In preparation for moving back to a regular room the nurse needed to remove a couple of the chest tubes. She ended up clipping the stitch on the wrong one and then tried to tape it, but sure enough, a few hours later it started leaking all over. That and trying to pee in a cup while laying down, with a nurses help was NOT a good time! Poor guy!

Family and friends make all the misery bearable. We couldn't believe all the people around us willing to check in and pray for us and show love and concern in so many ways. Kate Butler came and waited with me in the waiting room. She brought a bag of snacks to keep in the room so when the kids came to visit they could enjoy some snacks in his room. She was right. It was fun to have snacks in the room. So thoughtful. At this same time Kate was learning she had Lymphoma and was starting her journey down the cancer road. Friends and neighbors brought fresh meals, frozen meals, treats, gift cards, care packages, offered car pools for kids, put our name on the temple prayer roll, offered to mow lawns, pulled weeds, cleaned the yard, walked Koda, brought a shower chair, and chalked the driveway with kind messages. Emery wrote and sang him a song, "Cuz you're my roll model', DeSpains came one night while I was at the hospital and set up the new electric recliner for us. Jamie came and cleaned my house and between her, my mom and Mikes mom someone was always there to be with the kids. I'm afraid the kids had too enjoyable of a time! Earlier in the year we took our big, heavy computer hutch out of the front entry room and got rid of all of it but one side, which was left on the porch for months, BIG and HEAVY. Our ministers came and got it for us and took it to the dump. The heart attack may have been worth that one act alone!

Home recovery is much more comfortable than the hospital. My poor guy now has metal zip ties in his chest that will be there forever. He also worries about his future and I'm afraid he'll also do that forever. We are so grateful he is still with us. We recognize all the little miracles in our situation. So many things to be grateful for.

Things I wrote down at the time that Mike said or felt.

-New it would be hard, but the reality is hard. When turns head and neck where all the wires were it feels like pulling sharp pain. Everytime he moves the incision burns. Stomach has a pain, feels like needs to use bathroom but can't. Weight of all the drainage tubes feel heavy on his chest. Feels clammy and nauseous. Can't move cuz you're connected to something so you are tied down. Just a walk around the hall takes it out of him. Getting out of bed is a struggle, ya have to hold the pillow, roll to side sit up, stand up.

When they cut the wrong tube stitch the remaining one started to leak out thur night. made a mess all over. you're in a big mess can't move and others have to clean you up. then Friday morning when used the restroom it did it again so they took it out but then he got an air bubble in his lung. It's too hard to move himself to even try a different position to get relief.