I find it almost embarrassing to write this. It has to do mainly with myself and attitude of the past decade.
I feel very alone and I don’t have any body to talk too. So I am here. Yes like the title says…I need a heart bypass. It came to me as a super shock since I have had insurance mostly for the past 10 years and have actively used it for my diabetes care. I have complained about chest pain for the past 5 years with nothing till I had the stents put in. I had a stress test done last year that said my pipes were open and clear. Now I was told my heart is more than 50 percent clogged and I need a bypass. my surgery is scheduled for August 2025. I am still in shock. Right now I am trying to loose as much pounds before the surgery.
You can’t imagine the stress, the confusion, the betrayed trust in the medical industry about this. I even found out this year i have a genetic protein that has contributed triple fold to my situation. It was never tested for before this year and it very common in African Americans. Right now i need some encouragement. I am trying to be positive. I have a work out trainer. I have totally changed my diet to pescatarian and i am on every supplement to increase my HDL and to further lower my LDL. This has scared me so much. Having to prepared and make plans for being away from my apartment and job for at least 2 months.
Has anybody gone through this? Any suggestions? I just feel so alone and i know i am not the only one.
@Cristalyn, I feel for you. My trust in health professionals slipped and disappeared many, many years ago. I understand your feelings of betrayal. You have taken great steps to ameliorate the situation. I wish you well.
I am so sorry, so scary to have to go through. You will have to dig into your strengths and you will get through it. It sounds like you have already started to do what you need to. Hugs and much sympathy. Heart disease runs in my family and every other family member has had it, I am the only one that has escaped it. I am knocking on wood on that one.
Your might check out PCRM. They have a lot of low fat recipes, a 21 day kickstart program, all available free. And articles on heart disease. Not pescatarian, but vegan, so it should have some useful recipes and information for you.
Hi Christalyn, I am so sorry that you have to have bypass surgery. I have two heart stents and I changed my diet from very low carb to a very low fat vegan diet. So far my heart looks good. It hasn’t become worse over the 15 years since I received the stents. I was shocked that I needed stents after 50 yrs of type 1. I have had lots of tests including nuclear stress tests, ultrasounds, tests on my carotid arteries, I wore a heart monitor for a month. Many of these tests were repeated in the last month.
A year ago I was dx with peripheral artery disease. I was very shocked and somewhat mad to be told, out of the blue, that I might need stents in my legs. I hadn’t had a A1C reading over 5.4 in almost 20 yrs. I came here and a few people said that they too had PAD. They made me not feel so alone. All I have done about it is up the amount of walking I do. It took me months to get over the shock and anger. I was mad at my cardiologist and my doctor for not catching this earlier. I felt so let down by them. I think I know what you are feeling to a degree.
I looked at this site’s history of people who have had bypass surgery and a few folks shared their experiences. They ended up feeling much better. Please let us know how you are doing. I am impressed that you have changed your diet and have hired a personal trainer. I am sending you hugs and support. You are not alone.
Hopefully someone who has had heart bypass surgery will chime in.
Enter the Bypass Lady. That’s me–2018 and I’m doing fine enough now----well, except for the fibromyalgia and arthritis and various aches and pains of aging–LOL…But, well, the docs are very good at what they do now and have no doubt been doing it a long time. You’ve got a little time so take care of yourself as best you can and don’t be afraid to establish relations with a counsellor you can trust. Sometimes depression comes in the aftermath. Where your diabetes is concerned, trust your own knowledge of your body in stressful situations, but be as sure as you can be that the nurses who will care for you are attuned to those needs! Remember they will all Want you to do well, so just think of it as teaching moments. It is important to have a personal advocate who is well informed of your wishes–for good and ill…It’s late here and I’m running out of steam, but I’ll track this thread and check in daily to see if you have any questions I can help with…You are Not alone…Many hugs…Judith
Cristalyn, I am sorry you are so stressed and going through this but it sounds like you are making great changes. My husband had stents placed in 2022. His LAD artery was 90% blocked so they stented it in two places. We thought all was good until last year he had a little chest pain, they did a cardiac Cath in June and said most of his arteries were blocked and he’d probably need a quadruple by pass. We were so shocked that this was the case two years after the stents. We were told it happens fairly often to people. They did a triple by pass on him last August and he is doing very well. Some people say they feel so much better. I hope this will be the case for you. Oh, my husband doesn’t have diabetes but does have pre diabetes. Best wishes!
Hi Christalyn, I had a cardiac bypass a few years ago, after a couple stents 8 years before that. I’m a 70-year alum of DM (diagnosed at age 8), and was diagnosed with Coronary Artery Disease while still in my early 40s, but I’m also not the only one in my family who got it relatively young, which with your genetic issue might be true of you, also?
My surgery was still during the pandemic, so I didn’t get the full physical Rehab I would have had, but I think I could have gone back to an office job after 2 months with no problem. I stayed on the cardiac floor of the hospital for nearly 2 weeks after the procedure, and did return after maybe 5 days for a couple more days. The cardiac ward was wonderful, with incredibly knowledgable and helpful staff. My friend who’s spent a lot of time in hospitals said that all cardiac wards tend to be better than other wards. (I was in Washington Hospital Center in DC). They did have me remove my pump and dexcom for the surgery – all the scans and such – but when I started the dexcom again I could see that their elaborate math while on the IV was working just fine. And, when I was able to eat and wanted to resume pumping, the nurse who made the decision about that first asked me questions that really impressed me with HER knowledge while she was assessing mine.
Thanks for posting this, @LZ1. I’ve heard good things about glucose control while in the ICU on IV insulin. Perhaps, as you say, cardiac wards tend to be better than other wards regarding all care.
It’s hard for me to be hopeful when I think about time in the hospital and the underlying diabetes care. Your story justifies optimism!
@Christalyn – I wish you good luck with your procedure in August!
THANK YOU TO EVERYBODY THAT HAS WRITTEN. i HAVE GOTTEN BETTER attitude wise. I have been following my strict diet. I have lost around 10 lbs since May 1 st. I was able to talk to a previous patient of my surgeon and this woman was fabulous. I felt like I was talking to an older sister. She told me she was extremely clogged to the point that Doctor’s in TEXAS refused to operate because they didn’t see a pathway. She found my doctor and she had her surgery. She is 10 months out and left back to texas. I am in Calif. I am planning for after the surgery. I am still scared as crap. I have an old boyfriend coming with me to see me through this. Family is not my strong point. He was there when I had other procedures so I do trust him. I am taking it day by day. I go to the beach and try to visit places. I stay away from anything food since i am on juicing and only eating supplements and salmon. I do have an extra item I want to mention but i want to do it in a separate post which will explain why i feel doubly betrayed by the medical community. But thank you to all the people that have written.
I plan to talk about the genetic lipid in a separate post because i am wondering why nobody ever questioned it from the endocrinology side of things. I am so happy our doing better and it gives me hope. I am still scared.
I got 2 stents in 2.5 years ago. that is a reason why I find this o surprising. I kept telling my cardiologist this sounds like i am drinking chicken grease every day. My endo doesn’t seems to be phased by this development. I wrote about my experience with the stents here also. The hospital then discharged me without any transportation to take me back to my car which was on the other side of town. I know it will feel better for me. I have that faith. I plan to keep my exerising and food diet i am doing know.
Thank you so much!!! I would like to talk to a counsellor now! forums like this has helped me and not keep everything bottled inside. Like I said in the beginning i felt so embarrassed and should have known better. i thought i was luke warm doing everything okay. I never expected this to happen after being told last year I was fine and everything was clear. Thank you so much for the well wishes.
Your story sounds like mine! I have 2 stents in the back of my heart. I remember the doctor being so “slack” about my situation and telling me they can handle everything with medication. THAT WAS A JOKE!!
I think i have had at least 2 nuclear stress tests and one of them LAST YEAR where everything was fine as told to me by the doctor. I asked my surgeon for a previous patient to chat with and i finally got to do that. She made me feel at ease and she flew in from TX to see and have her surgery here in Calif. Everybody in Texas told her she was too clogged up to work with. She assured me I was in the best hands. My new cardiologist is seriously old school. He does his own BP testing and not the nurses. He was the one that ordered that extra test to find out if i had the genetic lipid. I will be discussing that in another post. Honestly if this platform should know about it and talk about it. i digress… i will look up more people because this is sad with diabetes turns into heart bypass. thank you so much and i will be keeping people updated.
I’m so sorry you’re feeling this way. It sounds incredibly isolating, and I can’t even imagine how overwhelming all of this must feel. The shock of it, the sense of betrayal—it’s a lot to process. I’m really glad you’re reaching out, though. It’s so important to have a space to share these feelings, even when it feels hard. You’re going through something huge, and it’s okay to feel scared and alone. I just want you to know that your feelings are valid, and I’m here to listen if you need to talk more. You’re not alone in this.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I believe when I had the stents is when they should have done a heart bypass or at least gave me a seriously stern warning. i am feeling better. I am trying to get my weight down by 20 lbs at least before the surgery. I am hoping all the supplements I am also eating will help with my HDL since it is very low. I am happy i am opening up to people that understand. because the first 2 weeks i was a blubbering mess till a co worker started telling me its a 2nd chance. so that is how i am seeing this.
He is the reason why people say go to an old doctor. He is the one that got this extra test about the genetic factor. NOBODY ELSE…endo or other cardiologist said anything.
I’d be nervous too because I’ve never had surgery before, but the old guys do this all the time. They are older than you and they come out fine. The old doctors don’t even bat an eye at this - they do it so frequently. It’s not the big deal that it used to be.
It’s REALLY fortunate that you were on top of everything and it was caught. Excellent work!
Thank you for the kid words… i am getting with this. About 3 weeks ago i was crying in every corner of my job, my car, house and felt very isolated. Now the shock has waned i am feeling better and look forward to getting it over. I have lost alot of weight and getting ready for the surgery. I am also documenting my journey that i may put on youtube. My doctor and surgeon are great.
I really want to bring a message to the Diabetic community that I believe it has dropped the ball in treating Type2 folks with this.
