Heart Attack!
For a long time now, I knew that I was on the road to self destruction. As I aged, I began to have this feeling of entitlement. I felt I deserved to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I traded exercise for watching tv, and to top it all off, I lost my job last year, which led to depression and stress, and an even greater sedentary life style. Of course, I was foolish enough to hope that nothing serious would happen as a result of these changes. That false hope along with a complete sense of denial has brought me down the path of no return to the place I so regretfully find myself in now. The world of the post heart attack. This is the place you often see an Uncle or someone else close to you arrive at, but not you. If they’re lucky, they survive their first heart attack, and if they’re smart, they spend the rest of their lives trying to avoid the second one.
I would like to give an account of my experience in hopes of reaching some of you that feel so much like I used to feel. The truth is, if you say something to hurt some one’s feelings, you can always say you’re sorry and take it back, and all is well. If you damage some one’s property, you can always pay for the damages and all is well, but if you damage your own body, you can’t take that back. Heart disease is with you for the remainder of your life. The following is what happened to me on what had been a normal Thursday evening.
I felt good all day. Worked in the garage, mowed the grass, and cleaned the house a little. A friend came over at the end of the day and had a couple of drinks with me. Tequila on the rocks. After Patti came home from work, my friend left and went home and I made dinner. After dinner, Patti and I sat down on the couch to watch a little tv. I grabbed an already half eaten bag of potato chips and finished off the remainder of the contents along with a Diet Pepsi. After a while, Patti went to bed as she was tired from a hard days work. Around 9:00pm, I grabbed a Popsicle from the freezer and took a bite. As I swallowed the bite of Popsicle, I had this strange sensation in my throat. Something like brain freeze only in my throat and chest. I thought that was strange, waited for it to subside so I could continue with my treat. After about 30 seconds, it started to go away. I was getting ready to take another bite when it came back. Only this time it hit me like a ton of bricks. My chest felt like an elephant was sitting on it. I felt my pulse and it was around 90 bpm. I sat there for a couple of minutes not wanting to admit that this was not an ordinary event. I soon went to the kitchen and took a couple of aspirin, just in case. Sat back on the couch not wanting to alarm Patti with something that I was sure was going to go away in a couple of minutes. I didn’t think the pain could get any worse…… and then it did. As the pain worsened, I started to get pain in my jaw and arms. At this point, I began to come to terms with the possibility that this was something serious. I walked into the bedroom and woke Patti. Told her that I had severe chest pain along with jaw and arm pain. She jumped out of bed and called 911. From the time I walked into the bedroom to the time Patti called 911, the pain in my chest continued to increase to the point that I thought I was a goner. The last thing I remember before the ambulance arrived was grabbing Patti’s leg and telling her that if anything happened to me, I loved her. It took the paramedics 45 minutes to stabilize me before going to the hospital. The Dr.’s put two stents in my coronary artery on Thursday morning during an Angioplasty only to discover later that day that I have another area of blockage in the “left anterior descending artery” often referred to as the widow maker, as the Dr. put it. I go back in the coronary surgical unit Monday for another Angioplasty. In the meantime, I was kept in the hospital as they also discovered that there was some muscle damage to my heart.
What I would like to stress here is that a heart attack can and does happen in an instant. There is no warning. At least not that you would attribute to an event like this. Looking back, my body did give up some signs, but I ignored them. Never thinking they were anything more than getting old and feeling a couple new minor pains. Of course we all know that little saying about hindsight, don’t we?
If you find yourself having a heart attack, you better pray! When you do pray, pray for your spirit and your soul, because it’s too late to pray for your body.
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