We are getting closer and closer to the surgery day I have been going back and forth to the doctors getting all test and pre-op done so now it’s time to call a zoom meeting to let all the rest of my family know what’s going on. So I set a date for a Family Zoom Meeting on July 24, 2023 at about 5:00 pm so I could give both my mom and my Dad’s family all of the info at once so that I would not have to keep repeating myself over and over again. I wanted to do this on purpose because there were so many appointments and I wanted to be sure I could give all the facts and no speculation. While all of this was going on I received some disturbing news that my 3rd oldest brother Terrell Weaver passed away…. He was fighting cancer for quite a while and my baby sister Claudette (Tiny) and I would both talk to his wife throughout the day to get updates on him… I wanted to go to the hospital so bad to see him but I wasn’t allowed to drive much because of my health but all those that know me know that I am a woman of prayer so I would call and have prayer with him and his wife as much as I could, I would send prayers via text through FB messenger any way that I could, I would reach out and let him know that I loved him and that I was there. It got to the point that he couldn’t talk to me anymore because of the throat cancer and I could only relay messages and prayers to him through his wife Lisa… I tried my best to get to that hospital before my brother passed but I didn’t make it.. a few days later he passed away and my heart was sad only because I didn’t get to hug him and give him a farewell, or one of those famous big hugs he would give me, but the joy of my heart is that he was a born-again believer and I know for sure that I will see him again! I am so grateful for the promise of eternal life as a born-again believer of the finished work of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!! I will miss him being here in a place where I could just randomly drop by his house and get a big hug and that huge smile he wore so well, but I am immensely overjoyed that he is in the presence of The King!! Where he has no more pain, no more sorrow, no more sickness, but he has eternal Joy and peace forever more! So my brothers service was on Wednesday July 26, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. and boy did my brothers and sisters show up to support him and his family! No matter what I was enduring with my own health nothing and no one was going to stop me from being there for my brother. My youngest sister Tiny and I stood and spoke on behalf of our siblings and shared some Mitchener love. In all this God is so good! We got to meet some of his family on his mom’s side and introduce ourselves because they had never met us... Lot’s of things were confirmed for some of my other nieces and nephews on my brothers’ side of the family and we were able to put truth to rest to a lot of issues, lies, and rumors that were floating through the family. Look at how God was working out a few spiritual heart issues before He handled the physical heart issues. After the funeral and the burial, I went home to get a little rest because my body was extremely tired. The levels of fatigue were now at a all time high, basically I would get up every morning do my assigned work task, because I’m still working from home as much as possible and fall off to sleep. Because of the stroke my memory would come and go I can’t even tell you some of the things I missed throughout the day but I’m sure it was a lot however, I kept pushing because that’s all I know how to do I am not a quitter. Never can quit and I never will quit! So back to my zoom meeting with my family the time was set and I went to my Aunt Dora and Uncle Maurice’s house to have the meeting. I logged in and waited for the family to start to chime in... my aunt and uncle were out sitting by the pool using their iPad for the meeting, my mom comes in from work and she sits at the kitchen table next to me but she also has my sister on her phone listening in… for some reason she was unable to connect to the zoom, meanwhile all my aunts and uncles, cousins, all my brothers and sisters on my mom and my dad’s side are all online. They had no idea what I was going to say, they were thinking OMG does she have cancer (we have lost a few family members on both sides to cancer, but NOPE that was not the case) like you could just see all the worry on their faces. So how did I start the meeting? I opened the meeting with prayer of course and began to address my family. Here is a run down of all that was given to my family:

Medical Notes

Cardiac Cauterization - Jon Rodney Resar, MD 410-614-1132

Primary Care Provider - Daljeet S. Saluja, MD 410-358-6450

Dr. Valeria Fomitcheva, MD - general physician at Salujah Medical Associates 410-358-6450

Cardiologist - Dr. Sirisha Donekal at Maiden Choice Cardiology 410-680-2121

Cardiac Surgeon - Dr. Hanza Aziz @ 601 North Caroline St. 7th fl (8 am 7/13/23) 443-927-3345

On Tuesday May 16, 2023, during my routine checkup at Salujah Medical Associates by Dr. Valeria Fomitcheva,MD it was discovered that I previously had a heart attack based on my EKG.

On Wednesday May 17, 2023, I was referred to Dr. Sirisha Donekal (cardiologist) who confirmed that I actually did have a heart attack based on her review of the EKG.

On Thursday May 18, 2023, I was given an echocardiogram and a heart monitor to wear from May 18-21, 2023.

On Saturday May 27, 2023, When I returned from Punta Cana the monitor was returned.

On Thursday June 1, 2023, the results of the stress test indicated that the heart attack I previously had was massive even though I felt nothing but fatigue during that time.

On Tuesday June 27, 2023, I was scheduled for a cardiac angiogram which was canceled and rescheduled for 2 pm at Johns Hopkins Hospital on July 7, 2023.

On Friday July 7, 2023, I had an angiogram at Johns Hopkins and the results are as follows:

1. Coronary artery disease with blockages in all 3 main arteries left 60%, right 80%, and front 100%.

2. Recommendation for follow up with my primary care doctor, cardiologist, and cardiac surgeon to discuss possible cardiac bypass.

On Tuesday July 11, 2023, I followed up with my primary care doctor in which I informed her of the results of the angiogram. She will contact Hopkins for all other information that she needs. I also followed up with the cardiologist at Maiden Choice cardiology to inform her of the results of the angiogram that was done at Hopkins and to obtain copies of the echocardiogram (similar to a sonogram of my heart) to take with me when I go see the surgeon.

On Thursday July 13, 2023 I had an appointment scheduled to see the cardiac surgeon Dr. Aziz at Johns Hopkins.

1. He recommended a triple bypass due to the level of blockage in the arteries.

2. He explained everything to me in detail and recommended that surgery be done in August.

3. He will contact me in early August with the dates.

4. I will be hospitalized for 5-7 days at Hopkins

5. The First 2 weeks after surgery will be the most challenging.

6. Week 3 will begin the transition to feeling better

7. By Week 4 I should be able to walk a mile.

8. After 1 month I will be due back for a follow up appointment with the surgeon. And he hopes to never see me again.

Possible complications and risk after surgery are as follows:

Bleeding - 3%

Stroke - 1-2%

Wound infection less than 1%

The goal is to get the blood sugars under full control and a A1C of 5.5-6

He also told me that diabetes causes inflammation of the arteries and veins among a host of other things. this is the main cause of the heart disease.

My A1C numbers have been out of control ranging from 13 to now 11 and once they are managed properly and down to normal range of 5-6 . I should never have to visit this ever again… this cannot be controlled just by mere eating but managed by a physician diagnosing the proper medication.

Friday July 14, 2023, I received a call from Megan my surgeon’s nurse practitioner informing me that the surgery has been scheduled for Wednesday August 2, 2023 @ 5:30 am at Johns Hopkins

On Saturday July 21, 2023 for about 1-2 mins I experienced having a stroke spoke to my physician assistant David... all things came right back to normal within a few minutes.

Now I know that was a lot of information, every time I read it this takes me back to that day and I am looking at the faces of my family members some are in trucks, cars, and pulled over on the road listening, tears rolling, mute buttons are popping on because they don’t want me to hear them crying. As I look across the screen I see my cousin Lamont’s face (This is my big head cousin who always talks about how big my head is and we crack each other up all the time but now it’s serious) and he’s in tears and it brings me to tears, my cousin PJ is crying, and if any of yall know my oldest and favorite cousin who’s really like my oldest sister… Vonnie (if you know her then you know she is the one that whenever something is going on you will hear her crying first LOL) she is balling she muted the phone and went off camera. When Aunt Dora hears me crying she comes in the house to check on me to be sure I’m ok. Now I can’t talk much because I’m totally choked up with tears and emotion just seeing my family’s reactions… Let me make things a little clearer… The last major loss we had in my family on my mom’s side was the loss of my Grandmother and Grandfather and things didn’t go to well with the family after that… we have not had a lot of death on my mom’s side of the family among our immediate family so yes, the loss of my grandparents was tuff and my situation appeared to be very extreme. So, then the questions start and I answered each question they asked… Most of the family was very loving and caring I had one question by one of my mom’s sisters as to why I waited until now to let everyone know… I simply stated that I was not going to go back and forth with info until I had all of the information to make this a one-time meeting to address every question or concern. One of my older cousins on my dad’s side of the family Desi immediately said Rica (That what she calls me and she loves it LOL) I love you cousin and I want to thank you for giving us all of this information the way that you did it was straight and to the point you have answered every question I had in my mind. We will be there for you and most of all we will be praying, but now I have to get off of this phone and deal with my feelings. My Aunt Pat in NYC said baby you already know I love you and we Mitchener’s are praying and pulling through for you, and then my Aunt Joyce Mitchener and everyone else began to concur. Then the comments came one after the next, I could feel nothing else but love. I told them if they had any other questions don’t hesitate to give me a call but most of all I will be resting. I let them know that I will be spending my 6 months of recovery at Aunt Dora’s house as it was the best place for me to be, it wasn’t possible for me to stay with my mom because she lives on the 3rd floor of her apartment complex and I would not be able to walk up and down all the stairs to do my daily walking once released to walk heck I was only able to walk down 3-5 stairs for the first 6 weeks. But there’s much more to that piece. Not only the place and location my mom and I are like battering rams at this point we are not getting along at all. My Auntie is well aware of our toxic relationship and she sat us down after this meeting and asked one of the most important questions I heard that day…. She had us both sitting in the kitchen and she looked us in our eyes and said, “What are the both of you going to do if she goes into this surgery and dies”? What will be your last words to each other? On the inside I never thought about this, and I am literally sitting there thinking what do I have to say? Why is it so difficult for me to think of what I’m going to say to my mother if this is my last day? I’m not even paying attention to the fact that my mom is a bit quiet as well… Moment of silence and the thought crosses my mind ummmm there’s a problem Scottie. There’s not just a problem with my physical heart but a major problem with my Spiritual Heart! This is most definitely a problem, we are absolutely about to hit some turmoil and issues that I have been holding on to and not even realizing that I’m holding toxicity in my heart that’s cause reflections of hurt, unforgiveness and trauma. Do I want to check out this way? I don’t think so but instead of feeling repentant I immediately get angry. Then I have the nerve to speak out of that anger and say to my mom, “Oh well if this is it for me I hope to see you in heaven one day”. Guys just typing that statement made my heart ache just now… I can’t believe I was even thinking in that way, totally in my feelings and not even considering that my mother is in fear of loosing her daughter… Let me tell you Anger, hurt, and unforgiveness are absolutely horrible demon spirits and if they can run your life and your emotions you are in major trouble. And guess what guys I was in trouble. The next few days were quite critical and we are about to do a little more deep-sea diving… But as always do what you do for me each week, put your hands on your chest and tell me How’s your heart!

PSA: I have posted a few pictures of of Brother Terrell I miss our conversations but I know for sure I will see him again! Continue to enjoy those streets of Gold and the Miraculous Glory of His Presence!

How it all started Two Weeks Before Surgery

Those Famous Lamb Chops

CAD Heart Facts