I HAD A HEART ATTACK AND I SHOULD BE DEAD!

THIS IS MY HEART BEFORE!

June 10, 2018 was a typical day. My plan was to spend the day with my daughter and grandson at their house playing in the pool. I arrived around nine in the morning. I had to park a bit from their house, no problem, right? Well, that day it was a problem. As soon as I got to her door, I asked if she had aspirin - you see, I couldn't catch my breath and my heart was working over-time! I placed the aspirin under my tongue and gingerly walked to their sofa, laid down and got my legs above my heart.

Well, that didn't help. My daughter asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I asked her to call 911 and, low and behold, the most handsome men showed up a few minutes later, showering all their attention on me! It was great! I hadn't had this kind of male attention in years! Was it wrong of me to want to lie when they asked my age? 

Okay, on with the story . . . the incredibly handsome paramedic put a nitro patch on my chest - suddenly I could breath! Not only handsome but provided me an actual breath of fresh air. "I'll take a prescription of that," I told them. You see, I wasn't in pain. I had some back pain which had been happening for months, but I didn't grab my left arm, clutch my chest and fall to the floor. Women have different symptoms and women's symptoms are sneaky bastards!

Anyway, I got up, got on the gurney and was wheeled out to the waiting transport for a non-siren drive to the nearest hospital.  My daughter and I joked about whether or not we'd see one another again, you know stuff like that because we are warped human beings! So, I relaxed and was soon at the ER where my wait began.

My EKG was fine. My BP was high but not enough to give concern apparently.  Chest x-ray clear. Blood was taken but apparently they felt no rush to get the results and I was told they'd be available in two hours. I was having twinging in my chest and shortness of breath, so the nurse gave me  nitro tablet every twenty minutes or so. My pain level - three! (I told the nurse my 'discomfort' level was three - cause I wasn't in pain!). 

Now, in the event you don't know this, nitro can produce a retched migraine. Well, it does in me anyway. The admitting doctor came to see me, letting me know they were going to admit me and most likely run a stress test tomorrow. "So, I'm not going home?" Keep in mind, my EKG was registering normal!

At this point, I phoned my daughter, so I could let her know, plus, to ask her to take care of my dog, Zip! I had brought Zip with me for a play-date with my daughter's dog. She, providing all the appropriate responses, failed to mention the dog had already flipped out when he couldn't find me and was gone! Her husband was out driving through the neighborhoods trying to find him. 

Now it's been approximately two hours since arriving at the hospital. I'm really bored and my EKG still says normal(ish). They gave me some medication to reduce the blood pressure, so I'm just sitting in an ER bed, doing nothing. The ER nurse comes in after picking up morphine for my headache. Now, to me using morphine for a migraine is like killing an ant with a bazooka, but, what do I know.

A few minutes pass. My chest tension increased substantially but I still wasn't in, so-called, "pain". Now the following is kind of a blur. And, you know when you've had those moments when you say to yourself, "why can't I just pass out or something?" Well, this was my moment. But I never lost consciousness and my perception of the events was clear but my recollection may be out of order.

My boredom and calmness turned to panic as I called for the nurse who didn't respond. "Did she go to lunch?" I wondered. I repeatedly called - to no avail.

Through the opening in the curtain draped across the entry way to my cubical, I could see people walking by but no one was answering me. "You!" I shouted at a nurse? passing by, "get your ass in here and give me a nitro," I commanded! "What's going on?" the passing nurse asked. "I'm having a heart attack and the ER nurse must be on break!" I responded. 

With that I began profusely sweating. It felt as though I was taking a shower from the inside, out! Water droplets dripped off me soaking my hair, my sheets and my enormously-attractive hospital gown. Then the shaking began. From head to toe my muscles began contracting and I had no control over it. I could hear the nurses talking. "She needs to stop shaking," and "I can't get the leads to stick. We need towels." "I can't shock her when she's this wet?" The over-head speaker announced a 'code blue' which I figured was me cause people came a running and filled my little cubicle. A doctor leaned over the gurney and looked into my eyes. "You're having a heart attack," he said. "No shit," I responded. I honestly wondered if these people were just off the street or something? Had any of them done this before? But interestingly enough,  I didn't feel any sense of panic. Actually, I was wondering if my daughter knew where my life insurance policy was? 

But, back to the action . . . "Get ice packs now", I commanded. "Put under my knees, neck and arm pits. That will get the heat off and make the shaking stop." Within seconds my instructions were followed. The EKG was blowing up and I was dying. Medication was being added to my IV. I heard male voices discussing some discrepancy regarding the medications. "I'll take her now. She's going to die," I heard a man say. With that, I was whisked off. Down a hallway. Then a right turn. Then another right and into a relatively small space with very little lighting. The trip took about two minutes.

Two women and a man where in the room. The women started prepping me for what? I didn't know. I was being swabbed with something. The man was sitting to my right on a relatively low chair. Chair? Is he tired? I didn't know.

The women (nurses I assumed) introduced themselves. One asked if I was in pain. I said no then responded, "I do need to throw up." I think she'd already given me morphine for pain I wasn't having. Calmly and with delicate precision, a nurse held one of those small pink basins and I managed to throw up in it. Sidebar: Are you like me and always wondered how effective those little basins would be and how much could they really hold? Well, to my surprise, it came out well. Not a drop spilled.

Then my eyes became riveted on a black and white monitor located left and about three feet above me. I watched in awe, as the man in the chair snaked a wire into my body heading for my heart. He had cut a hole in my femoral artery on the top of my right leg. Yeah, never felt it! So, I'm watching the snaking-thingy go up and then come back down, then go up again. This maybe took about five minutes and I felt no pain at all and suddenly the three hundred pound anvil got off my chest and I could breath normally, at which point, I figured I wasn't going to die, just yet. Oh, and there was way more light emitting from the monitor. I had had an angioplasty with a stent inserted into my LAD (left anterior descending artery). At which point, the doctor (man in chair) informed me I'd be on medication for at least a year. It seemed a fair exchange compared to, YOU KNOW, DYING.

THIS IS MY HEART AFTER

The heart failure I had is known as a Widow Maker! Or, in my case, Widower Maker! (even heart attacks are sexist). I was in the hospital for three days and then sent home with a army of life-saving pills. The extent of my heart's damage wouldn't be known for a few months.

There is more to this story, which I will share later. The 'more' is about life after near-death.

MY SYMPTOMS

Heavy Feeling in Chest

Burning Indigestion

The feeling of drowning when lying flat

Exhaustion- Listlessness

Depression

Sweating/Hot flashes

Numbness in two fingers on left hand

Pain in my groin, left side

Intermittent Abdominal Pain

High blood pressure

Crippling lower back pain

Heightened anger and anxiety

Low but persistent fever

WHETHER YOU'VE HAD THESE SYMPTOMS OR NOT - Get on your phone and schedule a cardiac look-see. It could save your life!