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The Widow Maker - Heart Attack - A Personal Story [1]

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Date: 2023-12-16

December 29th, 2022 started out just like any other day for me. I woke up, got dressed, went to the kitchen to feed the cats then sat down at my computer for the day’s activities. Within one hour of sitting down, both of my elbows started to ache, I passed that off as having slept wrong during the night and over-extended my arms. That was followed by a very mild feeling of indigestion which I thought was odd because I hadn’t had breakfast yet. Funny thing though, it reminded me that my Grandmother told us that my Grandfather complained of indigestion the night he died of a heart attack. I laughed that off and thought, “But I’m not sweating!” Those were the three symptoms of a heart attack that I remembered. I actually felt comfortable despite the outside temp being below zero. I looked at the house temp and it was a chilly 62 degrees in the house, I realized that yes, I was sweating but it was cold enough in the house that it made me comfortable. It took less than 5 minutes from the onset of the symptoms to the realization that I was indeed having a heart attack.

My first phone call was to my daughter, I live alone 20 miles from town and thought she should be here with me when the paramedics arrived. She said, “Did you call 911?”, I said they are next, she assured me that she was getting dressed and would be right out. I called 911 right after she hung up the phone, gave them my info and they said help was on the way. Daughter called back and asked if I called them, I said yes, she said “Are they on their way?”, I told her that they said they were, she said she was leaving her place right now and would be there as soon as she could. From that point on, all I could do was pet a kitty, watch out the window and wait for everyone to arrive. It was funny, I didn’t feel any real distress while I was sitting there, a bit of discomfort but no real pain. I’m thankful I had the comfort of a cat while I waited.

The ambulance arrived in less than 20 minutes with my daughter following them in, at the same time, the Mercy Flight landed in my yard. I don’t remember hearing the helicopter, but I saw the ambulance and my daughter pulling in. 20 minutes to travel 20+ miles on less than ideal roads was a record setter, it usually takes me that long on good roads just to get to town from here. There is 4 miles of dirt road from the pavement to my driveway and it’s usually in poor shape this time of year. My daughter told me later that she did close to 100mph except for the corners on a back road, (I have three ways to go once I reach pavement). Still she came in behind the ambulance. It was a quick response, my heart attack had only been underway about a half hour and I’m glad I just sat still with my kitty until they arrived.

The EMTs came in and went right to work on me, they had me on the gurney with monitors and IVs in place and ready to take me to the hospital. They gave me a choice, I could take the ambulance into town or they could take me in the helicopter. I said that I was concerned the ambulance might get stuck in my still muddy driveway and since they had the helicopter here, I would justify the fuel use and take the ride. It was a ten minute flight to the hospital. I remember the landing and them wheeling me into the ER and that was about the last thing I remember.

I was in a coma for two weeks and the doctors didn’t think I was going to make it. They told my daughter to say her goodbyes to me. They told her that if I didn’t start breathing on my own, then I would be on the ventilator for the rest of my life. My daughter told them to “pull the plug”, if I wasn’t going to breath on my own then I was dead already, we had the discussion about me living on a machine before and she knew I would want the plug pulled. So she came into the room and instead of saying goodbye, she cussed me out, said the vacation was over and she wanted to see my eyes open when she came back the next day. Somehow, pulling the plug and all the tubes out of me, brought me back to life, my eyes were open when she came in the next morning.

All of that was the easy part, now the hard work began. I had to learn how to breath, how to talk, how to eat and how to walk all over again. I had been in a coma for 2 weeks after a 5 hour operation turned into a 9 ½ hour ordeal. I had no strength, my breathing was so shallow that I couldn’t make a sound when I tried to talk, because of my earwax problem, I couldn’t hear very well either, it was frustrating trying to communicate. Bless those ICU nurses, they treated me more like a sick boyfriend than a patient and that meant everything to a 69 year old that has lived alone for 10 years. They gave me the will to survive and keep working on getting better, they had me on my feet and walking, improved my breathing and gave me back my voice, all withing a week of waking up. I spent an additional week in rehab building up my strength and improving my walking ability.

So here we are, nearly a year later and I still have a hard time with things. I have about half my former strength, I have very poor grip in my hands, my hands and feet hurt most of the time, I still get dizzy when I bend over, I have little stamina or endurance and I’m on a sodium free diet (try to find salt free food at the store) with a restriction on how much water I can have in a day, ½ gallon a day, plus I have Congestive Heart Failure and A-fib for the rest of my life, but I am still alive for now.

The funny thing about all of this were my last few blogs of the year, they basically predicted the way my year was going to end. Starting in October I wrote this one, it was about a motorcycle I owned years ago.

OH, I didn’t explain how the “lucky thirteen” diary fit in. When my daughter pulled the plug was Jan. 11th, I opened my eyes on Jan. 12th, January 13th was a FRIDAY! Since then, I have encountered the number 13 so many times in 2023 that it’s almost scary. I will never say anything bad about the number 13 again, in fact, this might be the last time I put it in writing!

One last thing, keep a close watch on your blood pressure. High blood pressure is call “the silent killer” for good reason. Another, less mentioned issue is low blood pressure, which can lead to bouts of dizziness and the death of cells in the body when they do not get adequate blood flow. Get a BP monitor and check your BP a couple times a day, more often if you don’t feel well. See your doctor every 6 months and let them know of any symptoms you may have. This becomes more important as you age, if you are over 50, it is so much more important and it becomes most important by age 70 or so. No one is truly safe from a heart attack.

Be safe and take care of each other!

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