Heart attack

[MarkB_MI]

So this past week has been interesting. I'd been having chest pains at night for a few days, but didn't think much of it. "Must be indigestion", I thought, even though I should have known better. Late Tuesday night the pain got pretty bad and I realized I should be worried. I got out our Walmart blood pressure monitor and discovered my blood pressure was 200 over 140! (With medication, it's normally around 130/70.) At 11 pm, I told my wife I needed to go to the emergency room.

My wife drove me to the closest emergency room, McClaren in Clarkston, MI, which is about ten minutes away. They admitted me, ran an EKG and told me I was having a heart attack and would have to go to St. Joe in Pontiac, about 20 minutes away. They gave me nitro and heparin, then packed me up in an ambulance.

At St. Joe, I was told I was in luck because they had already called in the catheterization team to take care of an earlier heart attack victim. As soon as the team was done with that case, they wheeled me into the OR. In a bizarre coincidence, the cardiologist who would do the catheterization turned out to be the same guy who had given me a clean bill of health less than a year ago! The team was very fast, quickly buzzing the hair off my groin and going to work. They had me sedated to the point that I had no idea what was going on and didn't care. It only seemed like about ten minutes between when I was rolled into the OR and when they were finished putting a stent in my heart. By 3 am, I was recovering down in the cardiac care unit. Only four hours had elapsed since I told my wife I needed to go to the ER.

After two more nights at the hospital, they let me out yesterday. I feel pretty good now; no chest pain and I'm just a little bit weak. I'll have to do a better job of cutting out the fat in my diet, that much is certain. And I learned the hard way not to ignore chest pain. And that Wally World blood pressure monitor? I think I owe my life to it; it is what convinced me to go to the emergency room.

 

[Bruce from Can.]

Wow! That’s a pretty close scrape. Great thing about living in modern times. Not just that long ago , all doctors could do would be to tell you to rest and stay calm and quiet. Or in other words, all a doctor could do was to tell you to go home and wait to die. Now you are fixed up and get a new lease on life. All the best for a speedy recovery.

 

[larry@stinescorner]

The very best to you for many years To come,,,from NJ

 

[Keith Molden]

Yep, a few things will have to change but you will get used to it. Now you get to carry that card in your wallet telling what kind of stint it is like a lot of us do; They've went in my groin and in my right arm to put them in. Best of luck to you and take the physical therapy it will help your heart. Keith

 

[tractorkrum]

Sounds like you are a lucky one. Thanks for sharing.

 

[David G]

Glad you are still kicking.

 

[Tom in TN]

Mark,

I'm glad you responded as you did. I had one stent installed about 5 years ago and later had an ablation to stop atrial fibrillation. Mind your doctors.

Best of luck to you.

Tom in TN

 

[John T]

Good thing you took action early !!!!!!!

Take care and get well

John T

 

[MarkB_MI]

> Great thing about living in modern times. Not just that long ago , all doctors could do would be to tell you to rest and stay calm and quiet.

Yes. Back in the so-called Good Ole Days, how many heart attacks went untreated? Answer: All of them.

 

[Shoprat]

Glad to hear you came through it all ok. Hoping for a full recovery.

 

[wjytexas]

you listened to your body and knew what to do. most important you did it. too often we men just say we'll shake it off. keep on keepin on!

 

[Richard G.]

X 2.
Richard

 

[Gtidwell]

Sounds almost like my dad's story several years back. He kept brushing off the pains. It finally got a lot worse. He went in and 5 bypasses later he is ok. Glad to hear you are doing ok sir. May you have a flawless and quick recovery. God bless.

 

[SweetFeet]

MarkB,

Wishing you a speedy and good recovery.

 

[dr sportster]

Wow that is crazy I hope you feel a lot better now !

 

[dcarp]

Glad you came through in good shape. It’s always a good idea to listen to what your body tells you. I had a heart attack 6 years ago & have a stent also. Cutting down the cholesterol is good and cutting down salt is equally important to keep blood pressure down.

 

[Dean]

Wow!

Good to hear that all turned out well.

Dean

 

[Billy NY]

That is a heck of a story and sequence of events ! Good to hear you got it in time, but there is something more to this as you said you had chest pains for a few days !! At the onset of that, you should have gone right in, lots of people have said the same or done the same, but didn't make it. You are so very fortunate ! Well hopefully, water over the dam now ! Did the doctor recommend dietary changes to help improve your health? Always something to learn, again, glad you got through it !

 

[wilson ind]

HE stated "do a better job cutting fat out of diet". Did you READ the post?

 

[Steve@Advance]

Wow, that's scary! Sounds like you're on the road to recovery.

I've been fighting high blood pressure for years. Dr just keeps piling on the pills, and it's still not stable. One pill I'm supposed to take 3 times a day, I can only take in the evening because it zones me out to the point I can't function.

What's even more troubling, your cardiologist said all is well a year ago?

My Dr sent me to a cardiologist about 7-8 years ago. The purpose was for a stress test. When I got there I never saw the cardiologist, just the staff who did an EKG, collected a co pay, come back next week, bring more copay.

That went on about 3 more times, rescheduling, tests.

I finally got to meet the cardiologist. His English was so broken there was no communicating with him! A very strange acting man, the disconnect went beyond the language barrier, he was out of touch with reality.

I left and never went back.

I've since asked the Dr if I should see a different cardiologist, he says no real point in it, just take the pills, and watch the salt.

I'm sure my day is coming...

 

[Leroy]

Good for you. But first system of a heart atack is a sharp pain for a minute or two between the shoulder blades. Back in 2011 I was having them and went to family Dr and he sent me to a back specilast for artheritus and he was treating me for that. No one ever considered it was my heart. Come about 11 at night the pain in my chest was so heavy wife drove me the 20 mile to my hospital. Next day I had 5 bypasses as they said where the problem was a stent would not work. Was in hospital for a week. As was lucky the hospital had been fighting the state to be allowed to do heart surgery and had just recieved permission just a few months before otherwise I would have had to be taken 70 mile to a strange town to get it done. State was saying not enough people needing the heart treatment to allow it to be done, Then when they did allow it could only alternate with the other hospital in same town. When the state did finally realize how many people needed it they finally allowed both hospitals to be doing it full time. I don't have high blood pressure but that cutting back on salt would kill me as I sweat so much out. Years before I got overheated and about 9 hours after I got sick from being overheated in baling hay I was able to see Dr and to stop the heaves that turned dry by that time was to drink heavy salt water as I had sweated so much salt out. 5 minutes after starting to drink that salt water I was feeling better and the heaves had stoped. To this day I can tell if it is about to happen and I have to get extra salt in me and as soon as I get the salt in me I start to feel better again. So don't always believe them when the Dr says to cut back or eliminate salt. If I would have done what one heart dr was telling me to quit salt I would now be dead.

 

[Billy NY]

I certainly did and asked about it to learn, having assumed it was recommended given how it was stated. " I'll have to..."

 

[MarkB_MI]

> But first system of a heart atack is a sharp pain for a minute or two between the shoulder blades.

I don't think I had that sort of pain. But apparently there are a lot of different ways a heart attack can manifest itself, such as pain in the arms. Because of the way the nerves develop in your body, internal pains can seem to be a long distance from where they actually originate.

> So don't always believe them when the Dr says to cut back or eliminate salt. If I would have done what one heart dr was telling me to quit salt I would now be dead.

Back during the war, they would issue salt tablets to workers and soldiers. They're not too popular these days; apparently sports drinks like Gatorade have pretty much replaced the pills. But the fact is most folks (including me) get more than enough salt in their diet.

I discovered during my hospital stay that cream of potato soup without salt tastes exactly like, uh... nothing.

 

[MarkB_MI]

> What's even more troubling, your cardiologist said all is well a year ago?

> My Dr sent me to a cardiologist about 7-8 years ago. The purpose was for a stress test. When I got there I never saw the cardiologist, just the staff who did an EKG, collected a co pay, come back next week, bring more copay.

So my primary care physician referred me to a cardiologist, saying I needed a stress test. She didn't like my EKG, saying it had changed since a year earlier. But when I went to the cardiologist, he set me up for an echocardiogram rather that a stress test; I have a sneaking suspicion they couldn't do the stress test in-house, so the ECG was a more profitable deal. When I follow up with him, I'm certainly going to ask if a stress test might have picked something up.

 

[MarkB_MI]

> Did the doctor recommend dietary changes to help improve your health?

They gave me a handful of stuff with my discharge papers. But I'm sure my cardiologist and primary care physician will give me an earful when I follow up with them.

 

[Bill(Wis)]

Biggest single cause of heart attacks is smoking cigarettes followed closely by choice of ancestors. That's not me saying that. A famous heart surgeon told me that. I worked with him at a large hospital in the northeast.

 

[Fordy20]

I read an article in Readers Digest that said taking blood pressure pills at night instead of morning reduces the chance of a cardiovascular event by 30%. Since I changed from morning to night my blood pressure has been much lower.

 

[the tractor vet]

A little over a year ago i drove myself in and the E/R staff got all excited when i WALKED IN . about the same deal here as they were going to AIR FLIGHT me to another place some 34 miles away . as i could die and any second they kept telling me . Told them NOPE no chopper so i got a vary fast ride to the other place . And once there that is where i lay for three days before they did the cath . Then laid there for four more days needing a triple bypass and nothing being done . Went five days with out being allowed to even WASH up , the room was filthy sheets on the bed never changed . after a week i lots it and came unglued on everybody and walked out . Next night i was back at our local E/R and they told me they were going to send me back and i told them i would NOT go back there and i get well we will send you to another one NOPE ain't happing and if i was going ANYWHERE it was to the Cleveland Clinic or i would just go home and die .. They got me in the Clinic . Whole new ball game up there The min i hit that place i was swarmed over by mor people in different color scrubs and this was at 10:30 at night and at 2 Am i told them that i was plum wore out and really needed some sleep and i got Oh ok we will pick this back up in the morning . Next morning AFTER breakfast we started again with more test , more Dr. and nurses hovering over me then the figured out OH you have a breathing problem and more Dr. and nurses and more tests Cat scans X rays it is a wonder i don't glow in the dark. and more dr. more powwows and the next thing i know i have one of the head Dr.of the Cardiac dept. in talking with me and he is telling me that HE will be the one doing my bypass as since i am high risk he does not want anything to go wrong , Next morning at 6:30 they are slicing and dicing and by 3 in the afternoon i am awake setting up by 5 i am up walking . NO real pain to speak of just DON"T COUGH . Once out of ICU they were having a hard time keeping me down and just gave up and let me do what i felt i could do as i was always out walking and they had to track me down . Biggest problem i had was with my right leg where they removed a vane and with in two weeks the pain when ya coughed was gone . It took five months for the leg to get back to normal . What i have to say about the Clinic is they are top notch , all but one of my nurses were plum outstanding aqll but that one were between a 9.5 and a 10 and for the red necks they all rate a solid 6-8 on the Budweiser scale , the beds sucked and the food sucked and there are NO FAST FOOD places close by . BUT we worked around that as there are LOTS of Maw and Paw places that have carry out . I was up there yesterday for my check up and all is good.

 

[gab]

Glad you came out ok. I went to the doctor in 2014 because my back hurt for years and suddenly got worse. Had x-rays and MRI, nurse calls me up a day or two later and said to get a DR> appt: quick, the x-ray picked up a bulge on my abdominal aorta. Then they found my iliac arteries had two big aneurisms that turned into rush surgery.
I wound up with 5 stents and the dr. told me not too many years ago people would die from that and they'd put cause of death heart attack or death from unknow cause on the death certificate.
So I went to the dr. for back pain, came out with a belly full of stents and the same back pain, but at least still kicking thanks to modern medicine.

 

[Bill(Wis)]

I took 8 salt tablets a day all the way through Ranger School most of which was during summer. Never hurt me and probably helped. It was what the medics and doctors told us to do.

 

[Wheat47]

Down below, someone mentioned dietary changes.
When I had a mild hear attack some years ago, the cute little dietatician came and
and started on how I need to eat so many grams of this and that and one thing and another.
When she finally stopped for a breath, I said "Wait a minute Sweety. I know what all your are
saying is important, but I don't understant a word you said about grams of this and that."
I told her I needed a MENU!!!!
Stopped her in her tracks. But after acouple hours she came back with a list of what was
and what was not so good to eat. Also a list of portions. That made whole lot more sense.

 

[fixerupper]

Its good they caught it before something worse happened. I hope this is the one and only occurrence.

 

[jackmi]

I had a heart attack in November at 65 and I was in California the they took good care if me and put a stint in thought my wrist. The big think they had me do was go to cardio therapy and then i found out how much out shape I was so now I walk and ride bike and at my 6 mouth check up my blood work was a lot better and lost some and feeling better now then before

 

[led]

(NOPE no chopper) Bad memories from the past??
Led

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

Oh man! Glad you got in right away. Hope you're back up to snuff in short order.

Mike

 

[johnlobb]

Good to hear you got through all that OK! Maybe now you can find the time to join us good 'ol boys when we have lunch together! If our governor Frau Witler ever lets us gather in groups again!

 

[MarkB_MI]

> Good to hear you got through all that OK! Maybe now you can find the time to join us good 'ol boys when we have lunch together! If our governor Frau Witler ever lets us gather in groups again!

Maybe I will, John. Thanks for the invitation.

 

[RBMI]

We got the last one just in the nick of time!

 

[Hockeygoon]

You were lucky.

My wife's uncle was a big strong man that worked hard as a farmer his entire life. The family has a history of heart problems and her father (the uncle's brother) had his first bypass surgery when he was 34. When the uncle hit 60 he thought he had the flu, just wasn't feeling good and lots of body aches in his torso. He was taking it easy waiting to get over the flu when he fell out of a chair while eating breakfast. He couldn't get up and his wife couldn't lift him. Ambulance hauled him off and he never recovered. A man that fed hundreds of cattle and worked a thousand of acres of land couldn't walk from the living room to the bathroom without help. And then it got worse. after a year he moved into nursing home and a year after that he was bed ridden and couldn't even sit in a chair. He lived 4 years that way in the nursing home and was miserable for every second. He said many times he wished his wife had seen him on the floor and just closed the door and left him for a couple days.

 

[NIK OWEN]

ME, TOO, TOM...BE BLESSED, GRATEFUL, PREPARED...