A heart attack

This is an interesting time. By all rights, I should have died on Thanksgiving Day. I suffered a major heart attack. After a great Thanksgiving dinner and a mile's walk afterward, I began to feel weak and faint. My blood pressure dropped, my limbs became numb, I could no longer hold myself up. By the time I realized it was a heart attack, I was on the floor, unable to do anything but tell someone to call 911. I couldn't do it myself.

Fortunately, I had family here. I was in Raleigh where they have an excellent emergency medical service and hospitals close by where heart care is a primary function.

My left anterior descending artery was blocked 100%. I'd known I had high cholesterol. I knew that high cholesterol was associated with heart disease. I just didn't realize it was *me* that it was happening to!

The emergency team got me to the hospital, and from there I was prepped and sent to the Cath Lab. There they threaded a catherature through my groin to my heart, cleared the blockage and the clotting, and put in a stent. The before and after pictures are quite amazing.

The work was quickly done. There was no waiting. Had I been in my home town, well .... It has no Cath Lab that I know of. It has an air ambulance, but such things take time. I needed help then, and I got it.

I am still in the hospital as I write this. They said they will release me either tomorrow or Monday. They want to make sure my new medications are right and that I am in good condition. I have been told that I *must* take things easier. Maybe I'll listen a bit better? I hope so. It will take some time to get up to full speed. I will have to take time for rest and for exercise. Some things will have to go.

But I am feeling *better* than I have in a while. I was always tired. I was always having to push my way forward. Who knew it was my heart I was having to fight with?

I am very thankful to be alive, to be feeling well, and to have a chance to look forward to more years with my family and friends. So may I ask all of you, please, to get yourselves checked out too? Better to find out now if there is a problem than to put it off and perhaps not make it. I almost didn't.

The mother of my friend had a heart-attack once... was very frightening for the mother to experience that... And for her son as well.

I'm glad that you were able to survive. I hope you'll get better and stay safe and sound... It would feel kinda sad if we'd lose a precious member to something like this.

I am glad you are alive too, please pay more attention to your diat!!!

I have been thinking about this before. Sometimes ppl disappear from chat or a forum without a trace and it leaves you wondering, if they are OK. If something happend to them, you would never know, right? It is sort of sad..... humm, maybe I care too much for ppl I dont even personally know.....

QUOTE (Noshi @ Nov 25 2006, 12:05 PM)The mother of my friend had a heart-attack once... was very frightening for the mother to experience that... And for her son as well.

I'm glad that you were able to survive. I hope you'll get better and stay safe and sound... It would feel kinda sad if we'd lose a precious member to something like this.
The reality of this is so intense. I never lost consciousness during the episode. I was determined to hang on to whatever life I could.

But that night while in the Cardiac Care Unit (Intensive Care), about 1 PM there was a "Code Blue" alert. One of the other people in the unit was having trouble. I then heard a young woman's voice cry out, "Father, NO! Father!" For several minutes I heard her crying. The man died. She had lost her father.

I am grateful for my seven-year-old girl, that she doesn't have to have that experience yet. She could have. Life is precious. And having just had this experience makes me more and more certain of it.


QUOTE (warita200 @ Nov 25 2006, 12:46 PM)I am glad you are alive too, please pay more attention to your diat!!!

You sound like my doctor. He told me that diet and exercise were very important. So they will be. I am determined to make things better here.


QUOTE I have been thinking about this before. Sometimes ppl disappear from chat or a forum without a trace and it leaves you wondering, if they are OK. If something happend to them, you would never know, right? It is sort of sad..... humm, maybe I care too much for ppl I dont even personally know.....

I wouldn't say that. We should care, whether we know them personally or not. We all touch each other in some way, and often more significantly than we know. I do not know that girl who lost her father, but her anguish touched me in a way I shall not forget. I care for her and her loss. I care enough that I shall do my best to live a good, full, and caring life.

I feel better today than I have for months, I think. So much to give thanks for!

Regards,

[MODERATOR's NOTE: 2 posts under here have been deleted since they were totally unrelated to the question being discussed.]

how old are you?? if you are 70+ then its ...

hey,
just glad to hear that you are ok now and got through the whole ordeal positively. good luck for the rest of your journey..i have to go get my checkup i hate hospitals or doctors though.

QUOTE (C0kaCoLa @ Nov 26 2006, 09:17 AM) how old are you?? if you are 70+ then its ...
I am only 49. I know -- old for the forums, but young at heart.

So it wasn't expected. I hadn't been to the doctor in, well, forever I guess. Tests at a health fair a week before showed a slightly elevated blood pressure and a cholesterol level that was too high (c. 280).

I am feeling much better. I walked a mile and a half today. The hallways can get boring though. I am ready for the doctor to let me go. He hasn't come in yet. But I'm hoping.

Regards,

so i wish you well.. hope you get better soon.. but its rare that someone at this age is here..

damn.. that's both terrible and great news.. i'm most definitely a terrible situation that ended up the best way we could have wished for!

i'm glad you're well, and i really hope you stay well for years to come.. it's way too early for you to go, you have too many things to talk to us kids about

hey, i'm glad everything is okay. i'm in the military and luckily we are forced to take cpr classes and aed training and i was lucky enough to be 1 of 3 out of my company to become a certified EMT. i suggest that everyone here look into taking just basic life saving classes. being able to save someone from choking, stopping major bleeding, or providing cpr can save someones life and you never know when something like that might come up. it's very simple and you might one day be able to save someone close to you. it might even be a total stranger, but that simple knowledge might be able to save someones life, or at least provide treatment until someone with more knowledge arrives on the scene. ask around your school, your civic center or local hospital about taking these classes. just a couple hours of sitting through these classes may give someone a second chance at life. thanks.

My family is full of heart problems,it's like heart problems is a family member.Almost all of my uncle's has a heart condition and some members has died of it so you a lucky guy rtgmath to be walking around again and all the best for the future

I am indeed well-blessed! To update things:

After the heart attack, I spent 4 days at the hospital. I haven't gotten the full billing on it yet, but I am thankful for insurance. The surgeon alone was some $10,000. With other bills, it will come to about $65,000 or more. I'll have a total bill of, say, $4000 (I think). Frankly, I think it was worth it.

Stayed out from work for about a week afterward. I thought that was too much, but when I started back I was exhausted after a little effort. It took time. I also caught an awful cold. Turns out my immunity is down, and probably will be down for some several weeks. To be honest, I *was* warned that my platelets were low (way low). They had to give me some immune suppression drugs to help when they put in my stent. But I felt so good by the end of the week at home that I didn't think about it. I am just going to have to be really careful for a bit longer.

But I have been at work for about two weeks. School is now out, and I have a couple of weeks off. I'll be glad to rest some more.

Today I had a treadmill stress test. The exercise (and it *was* Exercise!) was to walk on a treadmill as long as I could. There was a hitch, of course. Isn't there always? They start out taking an EKG, getting your signed consent to the test, then they start you off fairly easy. Then, after every three minutes they increase the height (to make you feel like you are going uphill) AND they increase the speed. I make it to ten minutes.

But ten minutes, it turns out, is one of those milestone numbers. It means statistically that my changes of survival over the next five years are as good as anyone's, whether they have had a heart attack or not. It means that my heart attack did not produce any debilitation. I can exercise without worry. I can live fairly normally. I need to lose weight and make sure I exercise and eat right and take my meds. But on total, things are looking good. My doctor was happy, and I am too.

So take care of yourselves, all of you. Whatever holidays you observe at this time, rejoice! I know I am going to. Happy Christmas to all those who will accept such a wish. I will come back around the New Year.

Regards,

QUOTE (rtgmath @ Dec 20 2006, 11:11 PM) I am indeed well-blessed! To update things:

After the heart attack, I spent 4 days at the hospital. I haven't gotten the full billing on it yet, but I am thankful for insurance. The surgeon alone was some $10,000. With other bills, it will come to about $65,000 or more. I'll have a total bill of, say, $4000 (I think). Frankly, I think it was worth it.

Stayed out from work for about a week afterward. I thought that was too much, but when I started back I was exhausted after a little effort. It took time. I also caught an awful cold. Turns out my immunity is down, and probably will be down for some several weeks. To be honest, I *was* warned that my platelets were low (way low). They had to give me some immune suppression drugs to help when they put in my stent. But I felt so good by the end of the week at home that I didn't think about it. I am just going to have to be really careful for a bit longer.

But I have been at work for about two weeks. School is now out, and I have a couple of weeks off. I'll be glad to rest some more.

Today I had a treadmill stress test. The exercise (and it *was* Exercise!) was to walk on a treadmill as long as I could. There was a hitch, of course. Isn't there always? They start out taking an EKG, getting your signed consent to the test, then they start you off fairly easy. Then, after every three minutes they increase the height (to make you feel like you are going uphill) AND they increase the speed. I make it to ten minutes.

But ten minutes, it turns out, is one of those milestone numbers. It means statistically that my changes of survival over the next five years are as good as anyone's, whether they have had a heart attack or not. It means that my heart attack did not produce any debilitation. I can exercise without worry. I can live fairly normally. I need to lose weight and make sure I exercise and eat right and take my meds. But on total, things are looking good. My doctor was happy, and I am too.

So take care of yourselves, all of you. Whatever holidays you observe at this time, rejoice! I know I am going to. Happy Christmas to all those who will accept such a wish. I will come back around the New Year.

Regards,
How nice it is to be insured hay but glad for u man even though all of u will enjoy the holidays and i will be sitting board at work.So enjoy your time where ever u going or just have a blast at home.