I was just hurting at home…my back hurt, my head hurt, I lost a ton of weight and wasn’t eating. So, when my wife suggested we go to the emergency room I reluctantly agreed, but lets go in the morning. I am sure I can get one nights rest in…that was a rough night!
The next morning, my wife and good friend James (James is a Truck Driver, that when you need his help you really do need help) Got to the ER and they stopped my wife and took me in. (Covid considerations) So she had to sit and wait in the Car…The Nurses, Doctors and help gave me tests to find out why my back was so hurt…After a CT scan (x-rays from different angles around the body) they decided to have me take an MRI scan. (soft tissue-blood vessels, nerves type exam) MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Image). After about 2 hours, my wife went home. Neither she nor I knew what was up yet. There were a dozen people poking me, asking me questions, it was dizzying.
Then a new Doctor introduced himself. Doctor Craig Larson. A Cardiothoracic surgeon. He sat down, Dr. Larson is a no non-sense eloquent man. While I was still a bit dazed from all the things that were being thrown at me, Dr. Larson, very calmly, but directly, told me I had a bacterial infection called subacute bacterial endocarditis that had attacked my heart and I would need my Aortic Valve replaced, my Mitral Valve repaired, and that their was a vegetative mass on my sternum. He said they would know more once they were into the surgery. They did, in fact, rebuild everything appropriately. ICU here we come.
The MRI had indicated I had experienced several ( 9 to be exact) embolic strokes as well as fractured vertebrae , T-10 and T-11, in my back from the bacterial infection.
Dr. Larson took me apart, hooked me up to an apparatus (Heart-Lung Machine) while he did his work for more than 8 hours with full attention to detail and saved my life.