Well, it's over, I had my final heart procedure Thursday, January 15th. My doctor cleared the left artery to my heart. He cleared my right artery on December 23rd.

Once the artery was cleared I was like a kid, waiting for the blood-pressure-testing bag to be placed on my left arm. It was about five-minutes after the conclusion of the procedure when one of the doctors assistants said, "OK , let's see what your blood pressure is."

I am proud to say the normal "blue bag" they use would barely fit on my bicep; they had to get a maroon-bag! It appeared that my daily exercising routine had given me 15-seconds of "Wow" from the two female nurses and the male assistant ... however the male assistant also pointed out to me that the maroon bag is also used for fat-guys! LOL

I'm sure anyone who has been in the hospital knows the routine ... After a surgical procedure, that bag stays on your arm for at least 10 hours afterward. It electronically pumps up so the nurses don't have to keep doing it. They come in every once in a while and take the readings which have also been stored in the computers memory. The bag pumps up to the point where you honestly believe it's going to explode and put somebodies eye out ... then it stops, (right before your hand pops off your arm,) and  takes the reading as the air is released. My blood pressure was taken every 10-minutes for an hour, then every fifteen-minutes for an hour then every 30-minutes and finally every hour.

My first reading was 103/64 ... I couldn't believe it. I remember after my last procedure the readings were coming in at 135/86 and once I had settled in my room they were impressed with 120/80 ... but 103/64 was incredible. I said to the nurse ... "I probably haven't had numbers like that since I was 16."
 
She smiled and said, "Maybe when you were 12."

The blood was effortlessly flowing through me again as if I had taken a sip from the Fountain of Youth.

The hospital was jammed, I waited in recovery for about two hours, talking with the nurses and others who were either waiting for a room after angioplasty or about to go in for surgery. It was almost a party.  I remember talking with a lady, who I couldn't see, who was next to my "stall" in the recovery room, and she was a bit nervous. A gentleman who had just come out the operating room, and I, were letting her know it's the most painless type of procedure in the world.

She was fearful of the pain she might feel in her chest once they began clearing the artery's. We assured her, you absolutely CANNOT feel one thing in your chest and you don't even know they are inside your artery while you are talking with them during the procedure. The busy nurses kept smiling at the other gentleman and I while we assured the nervous lady that everything is gonna be fine. The fact that we were talking and joking with her just after we had just gone through the procedure seemed to clam her down.

Because the hospital was so crowded and the fact that this was my second heart procedure within 3-weeks, and they felt I would do fine, they asked me if I would mind going right to a regular room. Of course I didn't care, so off I went.

At night after seeing my daughters, their significant others and my sister and niece ... I began thinking about the Troops. If I was a 53-year old man in denial, trying to deal with my pain, being a tough guy on the outside, when in reality, dying on the inside ... what about these 18 to 30-year old Troops who have been trained to "shake off" injury. All of them think they are invincible and most of them don't realize the seriousness of "Brain Trauma" from an IED or "Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome" and what that does to a human if untreated.

I am lucky ... I got help ... I was saved. But thousands of young Americans come home after volunteering to defend all American's from terror and preserve our freedoms, and as long as they can walk and talk, and as long as they aren't bleeding on the outside, we pat them on their backs, we ask them to march in a few parades, we even throw a big party in their honor and give them a hot dog ... and we forget about them within a month after we think we've done a "good thing" and supported the Troops.

They are the walking wounded and they carry these wounds forever if untreated.

DID YOU KNOW there are great programs available at the Veteran Administration Hospitals across America? Sometimes the VA hospitals don't recognize the inner wounds that sometimes cut so deep that the suicide rate of the returning Troops is sky-rocketing to Post Vietnam numbers. We are loosing hundreds a week to suiside!

THE GOOD NEWS; there are cures for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and Brain Trauma - the number one injury today for returning Troops. There are even people in place to help the Troops fight for their rights! My friend Kevin Hull has headed a campaign and rounded up lawyers in all 50 states, who give pro-bono ,that's right, FREE law work for any Troops denied proper treatment at a VA ... better yet, he is organizing doctors to do the same, and diagnoses our Troops properly for the VA's who are sometimes overwhelmed with the number of Veterans they must care for.

If you are one of our great Troops or if you know of a Troop who needs help ... contact me at this website or email me at JoeCantafio@AOL.com and let's talk. You can email Kevin Hull at Hullpartners@gmail.com, or we'll direct you to the Heart of a Marine Foundation.org and they'll direct you where to go for immediate help and begin your Brain Trauma cure.

I was so lucky. My life was saved in spite of my denial, but we are losing our great American Troops daily, because they don't know there is an answer and a cure.

As for me, I have to take about 10-days off; rest a bit, then ... on to heart rehab 3-days a week for about 12-weeks. I can begin rockin' again in mid February and last night I sat with my guitar, to make sure the fingers still work. They do. I am gonna be fine, it's time to focus on America's Best ... the men and women who have volunteered to fight for us.

Let's all take a little interest in them. Caring about them is NOT enough, we need to be "doers." If all you do is email me, I promise to connect you or your Troop with the right people. Brain Trauma and Post Traumatic Stress are now curable through modern technology ... Don't let that technology go to waist.

I'm back in the saddle again, excited about life and the future. Let us help you or your Troop, and give you that same feeling that I have been lucky enough to be given again.

God bless our Troops!

 

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