Events Leading to Bypass Surgery Part II

Events Leading to Bypass Surgery Part II

November 5, 2006

I started getting a little pointed pain in my back right behind the heart and that pain point kept moving in different locations from the middle to the upper part of my back.

November 8, 2006

I discussed the matter with Sharadbhai Radia about angina because he had similar experiences. Ignored angina pain could lead to sudden death or long-term damage to the heart. He recommended to me to get a checkup at the hospital.

November 9, 2006

I almost thought of canceling my advanced Yoga training for the weekend, as the pain became severe and persistent off and on. After that, I indirectly hinted to Niru that I am getting angina pain. Every time I gave Self Pranic Healing, the pain would subside.

November 10-12, 2006

During advanced Yoga training, my pain completely vanished suggesting those advanced techniques has profound impact on eliminating pain.

November 13, 2006

The pain reappeared and started getting worse. On Monday morning, Sharadbhai asked me whether or not I had gone to the hospital. Upon saying negative, he called Niru right away, expressing his deep concerns. Niru asked me what’s going on. So I told her everything that happened since the 5th. On Monday night, I gave myself Pranic Healing. It reduced the pain but would not eliminate it. In Middle of the night, I awoke with severe pain. Again I gave myself Pranic Healing but the pain and intensity would not go away. For the first time in my life, I took Nitroglycerine. I went to sleep, so I did not know whether that made any difference. On the eve of Tuesday morning, twice I pleaded to Shiva, Hanuman, and the whole assembly of Gods to bless me with bright light healing instantaneously. However, whatever will happen is the blessing of God, and that he will want me to learn something new from the experience.

November 14, 2006

At 9 AM, I called Niru to our Home Temple and mentioned to her what was happening since yesterday. Saying that if I had to make a choice, I would continue to heal myself using Pranic Healing & some other experiments (I should and could have done them a long time ago), but the danger is a severe heart attack and/or sudden death. I took another Nitroglycerine to no avail. Since Niru would have been impacted by this happening the most, I asked her to make the decision of what to do. We called Bhaskermama, and he said we should immediately go to the hospital.

So we checked in at CMC Manchester at 10am. This was the same hospital where I received two stents and one angioplasty back in August 2005. They conducted an EKG, blood tests, etc. The results came out negative. I complained about pain in the hollow of my breast bone. They also performed an ultrasound test to determine whether I had an aneurism of Aorta. Test results came out negative and as soon as I ate something, the pain disappeared. Another point of interest was that I had experienced some headaches, which I was told was a side effect of Nitroglycerine. That meant that I was not having a Heart Attack. However, the maverick pain returned. Yet I was told in the evening that on Wednesday morning, they will conduct stress tests. If everything is okay, I would be released.

November 15, 2006

When they called me for a stress test, the lady doctor in charge decided not to conduct the stress test and suggested to do a catheterization. She noticed some changes in the latest EKG and that, combined with my prior history, led her to recommend the catheterization. I was taken aback, so I hesitated to allow them to do that. They sent me back to my room to think about it. I kept on insisting that they should perform the stress test, thinking that I would have no problem passing it. She explained that if I go through a Heart Attack during the test, they would be facing some serious problems to perform any procedure.

A little later, Dr. Fink explained to me that the catheterization would only take 20 minutes and if they don’t find anything, I would be released. However, if we find something, I would have to preauthorize them to perform whatever is necessary to fix it. Since I couldn’t reach Bhasker and Shailan, I consented. After the catheterization, I was informed that I had 60% blockage in the left main artery and 85% and 90% blockages in the left branch arteries. The left main blockage had grown worse from 40% last year. The stents were 100% clean, so they recommended that I go for immediate bypass surgery as they do not place stents in the left main. Blockages in left main artery is considered to be very serious as it supplies blood to 2/3 of the heart.

I consulted my nephew, cardiologist Dr. Shailan Shah and my primary doctor Dr. Bhasker Jhaveri. I asked the hospital to send records overnight to Shailan. If Shailan approved of the bypass, then CMC was prepared to do surgery Friday morning. The hospital was very gracious in making the records available and talking with our doctors. So we postponed the decision until Thursday. Meanwhile, Shailan and Bhasker consulted with other cardiologists. 9 out of 10 cardiologists recommended bypass. However there was one doctor who is confident in installing stents in the left main. So the decision we had to make was to stent the artery or bypass it. For whatever Godly reason, Shailan did not receive the most important CD on Thursday, so we asked CMC to overnight a duplicate on Friday to his home address which they did. Shailan received the CD on Friday afternoon. After reviewing with other cardiologists, Shailan recommended the bypass. FYI, risks are involved in both procedures, however in a stent, I would have to take certain medications for my lifetime and still there is a risk of clogging those stents, as opposed to bypass, where you get a new clean artery.

Friday evening, we had a 6 way conference call between Raju, Sanju, Shailan, Bhasker, Mom & I to decide where the surgery should take place.

1] CMC could perform surgery on Nov 21
2] Washington Hospital could perform on Nov 20
3] Palo Alto/Stanford could perform on Nov 30

At this point, it is a forgone conclusion that surgery must be performed as soon as possible but not necessarily right way. We ended up choosing Washington Hospital because that hospital performs one of the most, if not the most, of this type of surgery in US. In addition, I could recover surrounded by Niru’s brothers’ families, so she would feel more comfortable. Finally, I could stay under the care of Bhasker and Rita and have accessibility to Shanti Associates who has my records for several years. Sanju would also be to stay with us to provide personal attention.


May God bless all these people who helped us in my time of need. During my stay in CMC, Uttambhai-Sarlaben, Kokilaben-Babubhai, Nirmalben-Prakshbhai, Sushilaben Radia, Govindbhai & Kashyap rushed to help. Uttambhai was given difficult task of keeping all other loved SATSANG families away so that I can have rest.

Next part I will elaborate on what I went through in my Triple bypass.

Many of you sent me e-mails & called. It makes me feel good to have close family of friends.