I am typing this from room D411 in the ICU unit of my local hospital.
Last night at about 2330 I started having a hard time breathing with pain in my chest, lower jaw and left arm. The pain got progressively worse as each minute passed.
I said to myself yeah, this is probably a heart attack. Like an idiot I decided to drive myself to the hospital. That was a mistake.
On the way there I thought I was going to pass out and then when I got there I found out it was the wrong hospital.
They did not have a cath lab and I needed a catherization and a stent according to the docs there. They said a life flight was coming to get me and take me to the right place.
In the mean time they did what they could to stabilize me. I really thought I was going to die. The pain was intense. I couldn’t breath and I was having a hard time staying consious.
Finally the life flight helicopter got there and took me to the place I needed to be. I got my stent in my 95 % blocked artery. and things are feeling better. I’m sore from where they put the Cath thing on my groin and I’m still a little scared.
I learned a couple of things last night. If you are having chest pains call 911. They know exactly what hospital you need to go to.
If you smoke, quit. Now. Throw them away. Eat more fruits and veggies and less red meat.
It’s scary facing your mortality like that. I came very close to dying. Very close. I’m too young for this to happen. I’m only 49. But it did.
If any of you guys get unexplained shortness on breath, don’t ignore it like I did. It’s your body telling you somethng. See a doctor. Don’t wait for a heart attack like I did.
Oh yeah. Nitro glyseron gives you one he’ll of a head ache.
Damn I almost died last night. I hope my iPhone holds a charge until my wife gets here with the charger before it dies.
Im glad you see the error of your ways, dont try to do too much to soon.
Eat right, start walking, get bicycles for you and the misses, this is your second chance that many never get.
Use it, start living life now.
Ghost, I do heart attacks for living. Two things: first, it is time to learn a lot now. Not only about mistakes you made yesterday, but about your disease, about preventing this from happening again, about stent they put in etc. I tell my patients that they have one disease to learn about, while I need to know about many - therefore I expect them to know about their own same or more than I know.
Second, generally speaking, if the blockage is less than 100% as in your case, the damage is not as extensive as it might be and prognosis is better.
Good luck.
I’m glad to hear you got where you needed to be and that they were able to take care of you. I’m a paramedic and I’ve seen it plenty of times where people should have called an ambulance but they decided to (try to) drive themselves to the hospital instead. There’s a myriad of things that can go wrong when taking this course of action. Even having someone else drive you is (usually) not a good idea. Anyway I’m glad you’re doing better and you’ll be in my prayers for a complete recovery.
God is in control, here. Already prayed for you. Thanks for sharing your story… kind of a wake up call. I work at a local hospital and see this all too much. Give God thanks for another shot and use it.
you will be OK, in a day or two you’ll be reaching for boots, and ready to get out of there, I know, the same thing happened to me the end of February, I had two stints put in on the right side, it will sure knock the wind out of your sails, I’m 51 6’2 215 and very active, I could have done better with my diet, (you are what you eat)… With me it didn’t stop there, the past 6 weeks I have been recovering from, By-pass surgery, Ghostman, you don’t want any part of that, keep a positive out look and don’t let it get you down, you are better than you were before, you will probably feel better than you did prior to your heart attack, get up and get moving around ASAP, and do what you Cardiologist tells ya, he will keep you alive. we are not as “indivincible” as we were when we were yonger, at 50 its time to start watching our health. This is was a wake up call for me that almost cost me my life also. Ghostman i’m right there with ya, I know exactly what you are going tru, you’ll be fine. Get well soon, and prayers to you and your family.
Very sorry to hear it! I’m glad you did get what you needed though. If it’s of any comfort, my father in law also recently had an MI. Never had a cardiac health issue before, and the ln he had two stents placed. Roughly two months later, by adherence to the meds, rehab, and diet, they can hardly see any bruising and his ejection fraction is at 60%.
I am glad you are doing better and in good hands at the hospital.
Just wanted to correct a common misconception. Red meat is not the problem. The problem is processed red meat such as bacon, lunch meat, hot dogs, etc. Believe it or not, steaks, roast, and other unprocessed red meat are fine in moderation.
Hey ghostman, God bless you and your family. There is a bright side to this! You will enjoy those great little everyday things people take for granted much more than before bud. Prayers already inbound!
Scary stuff Ghostman, I hope your recovery goes well. You might think about changing your screen name, ghostman1960 seems a little too real at this point
Get better soon man.
Learn from it, spend the next 49 years having fun doing all the right things for your health and you’ll be fine. Here is to a speedy and full recovery and a long life of doing good things for your body mind and soul.
