It can be working too hard, it can be doing too little, it could be extremely bad luck or it could be a direct result of your life choices, but having a Heart Attack is one of those scary things that we've all seen in movies, and have all heard the handful of common symptoms for, but most will never experience. Well...lucky me...I got to go through this last week on Thursday when in the middle of what was quite the work call (my real work, not what I do here) I started to feel what was a mild pressure in my chest. Nothing crazy, nothing like what you see in the movies. I wasn't clutching my chest, I wasn't struggling to breathe, it just felt a little tight, like I had just run an extra wind sprint and expected it to just fade away. No big deal...
Well, a few minutes later it still wasn't feeling any better. Nothing extreme, and through the entire course of events, I never had what I would consider extreme pain anywhere. So, at this point I do a bunch of useless stuff, like pulling out my little portable Kardia Mobile EKG, my blood pressure cuff and my pulse oximeter, none of which showed me anything unusual. Another 5-10 minutes go by and nothing is getting better, so I go online and start looking up symptoms of a heart attack, because obviously who needs a cardiologist at a time like this, I'm perfectly capable of determining whether I am going to die in a few hours without treatment, right? hmmmm....
Another 10-15 minutes go by and I'm starting to imagine my left arm/shoulder is feeling...something. Well, of course I must be imagining that, since that's just one of the symptoms on every list you read, so it's likely just psychosomatic...just ignore that for a bit and see if it gets better. Wait, now I'm starting to feel a bit clammy and sweaty, and quite suddenly the words that came to my mind were
"Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes."
At that point, I decided to not let my vanity get in the way of survival so I actually called 911, took a couple of aspirin, unlocked my door and sat on my couch and waited. Paramedics got there within about 6 minutes where they got me loaded up and off we went. Hooked me up to an IV and a 12 lead EKG, which is where they were able to see that telltale STEMI pattern on the trace. Got me to one of the better cardiac units in the State which was only another 7 minutes down the road where I was met by a full team who descended on me like a hive of bees, got me switched to their gurney and started sprinting me down the hall towards the Cath Lab. It was a pretty intense time, with a lot happening. A catheter was fed through the radial artery of my right wrist (yes, that hurts) and they had other stuff going into IVs on the other arm, and to make a long story short, found a 100% blockage of the Right Coronary Artery. That was then cleared and a stent was placed, and the part of my heart that had been starved of Oxygen was back online. Whew!
From there it was to the Cardiac ICU for that night and the next day, and while there was a little excitement that first night (a little v-tach thrown in for fun) it's been smooth sailing since, and I was released on Saturday. My two kids and my ex-wife (we are very close friends) descended on my world and took over, cleaning out all the shit I like to eat and replacing it with the stuff that tastes like shit but that won't kill me, and helping in every way imaginable, and I've got amazing friends that have provided nothing but support, so I am in a good place in terms of getting through all this, but it's no joke.
I will have to go back for Open Heart Surgery later this year to replace my Aortic Valve (Bicuspid valve...not specifically related to the MI but a separate issue that it's time to take care of anyway) and to have a Coronary Bypass for the Left Anterior Descending Artery which has significant blockage, but that they wanted to wait to treat until they could do the graft and the valve replacement together. That's a few months down the road, after I've had a chance to fully recover from this most recent event.
So, why tell you all about this?
Here's the thing...the reason I am alive is that I resisted whatever urge it is that tells us to just tough it out, soldier on, stiff upper lip, don't be a whiner, that's something that happens to other people, I'm only 57 (fill in your age here), I'm 5'10" 155lbs, no obvious lifestyle problems other than too much coffee/sugar/fat/flavor/salt how could I be having a heart attack? I've ridden out kidney stones at home I can handle this, or whatever else. If I had followed my initial instinct to just go lay down for a few hours to see how I felt later, that may have awarded me the ultimate stupid prize in the ultimate stupid game. I am glad my son didn't have to find me there.
There isn't one set of symptoms for a heart attack. If you are concerned enough to be looking up heart attack symptoms PUT DOWN THE KEYBOARD, PICK UP YOUR PHONE AND CALL 911!
This is one of those medical events where once you've got a blocked coronary artery, there is a ticking clock counting down to zero, and if you decide you want to play the stupid game of watching that clock tick its way down as you ponder what web site to look at next, you may win the ultimate stupid prize.
So, please...please...at least take a minute and think about how you will react when you, or someone you love is experiencing anything that in any way could mean you're having a heart issue. Have no doubt that if you get to a hospital and you've just got some bad gas, that is a cause for celebration, not a sign that you shouldn't have called in the first place. I had quite a few of the nurses over the last few days tell me stories about people who waited too long, and you can see how it angers them when proper care is a 911 call away, but they just go die in their bedroom or end up dying on the way to the hospital instead because of their vanity.
On that happy note, I very much appreciate this community and thought that it might be worth sharing this crazy story for those who may go through something like it, in the hopes that instead of playing doctor with yourself, you will let an actual MD do it.
Thanks for listening, and now on with our regularly scheduled programming. Thank God.
