drifter
Well-known Member
For some years in the long ago i tried to research 'heart attacks.' My dad had just turned 51 when he had a heart attack and died. He was DOA. All the men in my dad's large family we're dead by age 60, most in their middle 50s. I assumed my life might be short lived, too, so I began to try to find out all I could about heart attacks. I talked to doctor's, men who had had heart attacks, people who had someone in their family who had had a heart attacked. I guess what I found out is there is no set pattern for heart attacks to happen. Experiences differed mostly. Also, I knew men who went to the hospital emergency room or were taken by ambulance with suspected heart attacks and were told it was not a heart attack but gas.
My daughter was a RN with many years experience in little and large hospitals and was working at one of the five local hospitals when I left the house that morning in 1999 to go to the library to check on a book my wife had checked out and said she had returned. The library had sent us a card telling us the book was past due. I knew all the library employees and was friends with the head of our public library and a long time volunteer with Friends of the Library. I would stop by the library and get it all straightened out. Before going to the library I stopped by the bank to make a deposit and the cashier asked me if there was anything else she could help me with. I intended to say, something like "No, thank you," but I couldn't speak.
Pain was running down my left arm to the wrist, back through my chest into my right arm to my elbow. There was a slight pressure in my center chest area. The cashier asked if I was alright? I nodded and said, "I need to sit down a minute, and I backed up to a chair against the wall. I sat there only a moment and walked to my car. There was no more pain but still a slight pressure in my chest like a weight on me. After a couple of minutes it all went away and I felt better. The library only a couple of blocks from the bank and I drove there. No use wasting a trip due to as little scare, I thought. I also thought it funny the earlier pain ran to one wrist and only to the elbow in the other arm. That's unbalanced, I thought. I have no idea why that occurred to me.
At the library, I greeted the librarian and told her I was going to look for the lost or overdue book on the the shelf in case it had not gotten checked in properly. I asked where that section was located and she directed me verbally. I walked to the appointed section of books when the pain started again, running from one wrist to the other elbow. I could not see the books clear enough to read them. The pressure in my chest was smothering. I sat down at a nearby table. I was sweating and felt clammy and weak. A librarian I knew walked by and you don't look good. Do you need an ambulance? I told her 'd be alright in a minute. I realized I needed to get out of there, otherwise I might become a public nusiance. Just then the librarian came back by and said she was going to call Ann (my wife). I told her Ann can't due anything, I have the car. I told her I'd be okay in a minute. Going through my mind was the people I knew who had been diagnosed with gas (that would be embarrassing and expensive). The librairian left again. I walked to my car, having some trouble finding it and drove home with difficulty due to vision problems and pressure. The librarian had called my wife, my wife had called my daughter at work and she had just come home when I arrived. By then all pain and all pressure was gone. I felt a little clammy and a bit foggy but otherwise okay.
My daughter said I need to go to the emergency room immediately. I said I felt fine but I wanted an asperan and I did chew one. My daughter took my blood pressure and said it was sky high. She called sthe hospital and said she was bringing her dad in with a suspected heart attack. I had 99% blockage in one artery and 60 % in another. Shortly after they inserted a stint I had another heart attack. I was in the hospitsal one week. The doctor said I had some damage to my right ventular or whatever it's called. They told me they didn't bother with 60% blockage until it became a problem. So far it hasn't. The doctor said my heart attack was rather classic. My behavior during the attack wasn't. He suggested it bordered on stupidity and because of that I was lucky. I told him his bedside manners could use some improvement. Knock on wood, I've had no more heart problems.
My daughter was a RN with many years experience in little and large hospitals and was working at one of the five local hospitals when I left the house that morning in 1999 to go to the library to check on a book my wife had checked out and said she had returned. The library had sent us a card telling us the book was past due. I knew all the library employees and was friends with the head of our public library and a long time volunteer with Friends of the Library. I would stop by the library and get it all straightened out. Before going to the library I stopped by the bank to make a deposit and the cashier asked me if there was anything else she could help me with. I intended to say, something like "No, thank you," but I couldn't speak.
Pain was running down my left arm to the wrist, back through my chest into my right arm to my elbow. There was a slight pressure in my center chest area. The cashier asked if I was alright? I nodded and said, "I need to sit down a minute, and I backed up to a chair against the wall. I sat there only a moment and walked to my car. There was no more pain but still a slight pressure in my chest like a weight on me. After a couple of minutes it all went away and I felt better. The library only a couple of blocks from the bank and I drove there. No use wasting a trip due to as little scare, I thought. I also thought it funny the earlier pain ran to one wrist and only to the elbow in the other arm. That's unbalanced, I thought. I have no idea why that occurred to me.
At the library, I greeted the librarian and told her I was going to look for the lost or overdue book on the the shelf in case it had not gotten checked in properly. I asked where that section was located and she directed me verbally. I walked to the appointed section of books when the pain started again, running from one wrist to the other elbow. I could not see the books clear enough to read them. The pressure in my chest was smothering. I sat down at a nearby table. I was sweating and felt clammy and weak. A librarian I knew walked by and you don't look good. Do you need an ambulance? I told her 'd be alright in a minute. I realized I needed to get out of there, otherwise I might become a public nusiance. Just then the librarian came back by and said she was going to call Ann (my wife). I told her Ann can't due anything, I have the car. I told her I'd be okay in a minute. Going through my mind was the people I knew who had been diagnosed with gas (that would be embarrassing and expensive). The librairian left again. I walked to my car, having some trouble finding it and drove home with difficulty due to vision problems and pressure. The librarian had called my wife, my wife had called my daughter at work and she had just come home when I arrived. By then all pain and all pressure was gone. I felt a little clammy and a bit foggy but otherwise okay.
My daughter said I need to go to the emergency room immediately. I said I felt fine but I wanted an asperan and I did chew one. My daughter took my blood pressure and said it was sky high. She called sthe hospital and said she was bringing her dad in with a suspected heart attack. I had 99% blockage in one artery and 60 % in another. Shortly after they inserted a stint I had another heart attack. I was in the hospitsal one week. The doctor said I had some damage to my right ventular or whatever it's called. They told me they didn't bother with 60% blockage until it became a problem. So far it hasn't. The doctor said my heart attack was rather classic. My behavior during the attack wasn't. He suggested it bordered on stupidity and because of that I was lucky. I told him his bedside manners could use some improvement. Knock on wood, I've had no more heart problems.