Take 1: Live here at ICU

Daryl HattonCardiac, Health, Personal

This is your action news reporter Daryl (fixed heart) Hatton coming to you LIVE from the Cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Unit at Vancouver General Hospital post-op. Short report: I’m good! Next up: First results are in

When you rule out everything else, what remains must be the truth

Daryl HattonCardiac, Health, Personal

Today I’ve been asking myself (gently – this isn’t a beating myself up session) how I got here i.e. what caused my heart attack? I thought I’d look through all the common risk factors to see how they apply. I just finished reading the Vancouver Coastal Health Cardiac Surgery Patient Guide and the Heart & Stroke Foundation Cardiac Care Guide suggestions for having a “healthy heart” diet. I’m not sure if I’m happy or sad that I’ve been doing most of these things for quite a while – no easy fix hidden in here. I would be considered a good …

Heart ache

Daryl HattonCardiac, Health, Personal

Some good news and some bad news…Good news: They successfully did the angio, mapped out the areas that are constricted and think they may even be able to repair some of the damage from the heart attack with something they want to try. Bad news: The something they want to try is open heart bypass surgery. I go in sometime within a week. Why: I have a genetic (hereditary) heart defect where the artery group that feeds the front of my heart is, well, pretty clogged. The artery that feeds the back of my heart is in perfect shape indicating …

Special Report: The Human Side of Cardiac Care

Daryl HattonCardiac, Health, Personal

On July 11th, 2014 at 6:25 PM Daryl Hatton, your experienced Action News Reporter, walked into the Emergency Department at Vancouver General Hospital to begin an in-depth first-hand look at emergency cardiac care in this city. The next eight articles will describe the personal side of this journey. They were originally designed as stand alone articles but have been combined into this special report with minimal editing. Here are the relevant posts: Heart Ache When you rule out… Live here at ICU First results are in By the numbers Learned overnight More learned overnight Learned over three weeks Please comment and …

Breaking eggs

Daryl HattonHealth, Personal

The saying goes “you have to break some eggs to make an omelette”. Right now I’m feeling the cracking… I had a car accident in 1987 where I stopped a flying Camero with my forehead. It was a little hard on my body and particularly my neck / shoulders. I’ve been dealing with that continuously since then with mixed results . When I take care of myself, life is generally pretty good. When I fall off the horse, life gets a little uncomfortable. I get very dizzy, suffer a constant low level headache which sometimes spikes up dramatically, the pain …