Today Is A Good Day

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Today is a good day
March 23rd 2003 is a day myself and my family will remember with a mixture of joy and sadness. Sadness Because It was such a traumatic event to have happen and joy because I survived against incredible odds.

I phoned my brother  around 9am on Saturday the 22nd of march to tell him i was on my way back to London with our Mothers ashes. Sadly she had passed away three weeks earlier and lived in Canterbury for six months of the year in a caravan holiday home. Barry said why not meet now at Mum and Dads London address and we can put Mums ashes with dads in the gardens of the block of apartments where they both shared the twilight years of their lives, my Father had died seven years previous and was only fitting that they should be together at the end. That evening it was arranged that myself and Linda my wife would visit my Brother  and our sister in-law  to look at old photographs and relive some nice family memories. We stayed over and I woke up after a nights sleep feeling very lethargic and not quite right at all. My sister in-law asked me if  I  was ok as I sat on their sofa, I said yes I feel fine. Two minutes later I felt a sharp pain in the middle of my chest just under my rib cage like when you've eaten an ice cream too fast and it gives you that cold burning sensation but it didn't go away and got gradually worse over a ten minute period. I then felt a whooshing sensation running from my chest down to my legs then back up to my chest again this happened four or five times in quick succession and also gave me a warm glow inside too. It was then I knew that something seriously wrong was going on and said I need to go to the Hospital. As soon as I said that It felt like someone hit me with a bat right across my back and the front of my chest at the same time. I've never felt or been in so much pain in my life. Linda drove me to the Hospital rather than wait for an ambulance. Arriving at the hospital I was Immediately taken into the emergency area and a heart monitor attached to me. I guess that's the first thing they thought of which is understandable but when the monitor showed that I wasn't having a heart attack the doctors seemed to all take a step back and the emergency was over! The pain was getting worse and slowly travelled down my chest onto my abdomen and into my legs until the whole of my upper body felt like it was in spasm. The doctors injected pethidine and morphine directly into my abdomen but the pains just got more intense as the hours went by. Eventually they subsided and left me with hic-ups of all things which lasted for five days. I also stopped peeing from day two and it was advised that I should drink more fluids, Day three I still hadn't been so I was told to keep Drinking, Day four i was put on a saline drip so as to increase the fluid intake day five i was Ballooning and my ankles looked double the size. My wife Lin had been telling the doctors that something major was wrong from day one and fought my corner excellently throughout in a quiet fashion. Then on day five she Exploded and let them have both barrels and demanded that I be seen by another specialist. Within twenty minutes miraculously another specialist turned up and demanded I be taken to a renal unit at another hospital ten miles away. Arriving at Hammersmith Hospital 6 days after being taken ill with still no diagnoses, no notes, no observation history from the first hospital I was taken straight to the dialysis unit and had a catheter inserted into my femoral artery in my groin. To have the catheter fitted I needed to lay flat on the bed but as I lay down the fluids in my body started to take over my lungs and I went into respiratory arrest. I tried to breath but with each breath i took it got more difficult and it was then I knew I was dying. I fought so hard to breath and visualised my family one at a time in front of me, First was Dad who died of heart failure and throughout his life had numerous little strokes, heart attacks and respiratory problems where the fluid built up in his lungs due to his failing heart. Breathe son just breathe he said as I brought him into my mind, My mother too bless her. Then I visualised my wife and two sons in front of me as my breathing got shallower. It was them that made me fight even more to stay alive and keep trying to breath whilst the doctors did whatever they were doing (I had no idea) I figured if I fight harder it will give the doctors more time to work on me. Eventually I lost the fight and stopped breathing. I'm not sure for how long but was no more than a minute or two. All I really remember is seeing my wife's face through the open door and me looking at her helplessly and her looking back through at me with a loving but terrified look on her face. I felt someone pull me up from a laying position to a sitting posture and then get behind me and pull me over their shoulder to arch my back. It was then that my lungs opened up and I started to breath again slowly, very slowly but I was coming back. I couldn't move my body at all as I was exhausted because of the lack of oxygen circulating around my body. I still to this day can't believe how calm and calculated I was in fighting to stay alive but I guess when things happen like that your brain and body take over your consciousness. Linda never left my side that night and sat by the edge of the bed holding my hand and making sure I was ok. After 6 hours on the dialysis machine I was taken off of it and rested. the next couple of days consisted of dialysis and tests but still no diagnoses as to what was wrong. I was sent for an ultrasound and as the guy was running the scanner over my chest and abdomen he said do you have any pain here and touched my stomach, I said not now but yes lots when I was first admitted. I was sent back to the ward and then off for a CT scan which is when they found my Dissection running from left subclavian through the abdomen and into my Iliac arteries in the groin. It also branched of into my renal arteries which is why I went into acute renal failure. Why the first hospital didn't diagnose me as having renal failure is beyond belief! I was taken down to the operating room and had a renal stent placed into my renal artery to regain blood flow to my kidneys which was successful although I lost most of the function from the left kidney but the right functions at 100%. They also cut the dissection flap to release pressure in the false lumen which was also a great success. I spent a total of six weeks in hospital and over the past twelve years have seen so much that I would have missed. We have celebrated our thirtieth wedding anniversary I have celebrated my 50th Birthday 3 years ago. My wife and I have been on various holidays to the Maldives, Africa, The Caribbean, Rome, Venice and more We decided to live a little more now while we can. I've seen both my Sons grow into fine gentleman to meet and marry beautiful women. And in September Lin and I will become Grandparents for the first time. I feel blessed by so many things and Thank the Doctors, Nurses, and everyone connected in saving my life at Hammersmith Hospital each and every day. The first hospital which was Hillingdon Hospital can go and get stuffed ha-ha. But mostly I want to thank my loving Friend, soul mate, and wife Linda THE SMILE ON MY MOON. as without her love and care I would not be here. I LOVE YOU. Lin and I went to Florida on holiday years ago with our sons and part of the trip was a dolphin experience for Linda in a place called the theatre of the sea in Islamorada half way down the Florida keys. A truly magical day for her and each time she saw a dolphin anywhere after that it would bring a warm feeling and calmness to her and we now have a few dolphin figures in our house. Whilst I was in hospital the Doctors said I may not survive the next 48hrs. Lin took our sons to a restaurant within the hospital whilst I went for yet another scan. On their way there they had to go through a walkway around fifty meters long and painted on the walls were around twenty dolphins one after the other in an underwater scene. It was then she turned to the boys and said dad will be ok I know he will be fine now. I'm not saying the dolphins helped me but they certainly helped her and each time I go to the hospial for a scan now I have to walk through the same corridor and I stroke each dolphin to say thanks. Thanks for reading this I know it's a bit long winded but trust me it's not even half the story.
Dan Burgess. TODAY IS A GOOD DAY.
Survived an aortic dissection from left subclavian through to Iliac arteries and renal artery, Renal stent in situ and scanned yearly now for observations. Meds only no surgery. Last years scan showed my AAA at 5.4 cms I had a CT scan this year 4th march 2015 and as yet 8th march awaiting results.
I have a welcome note on my phone  each morning I switch it on it says TODAY IS A GOOD DAY.