Bill Weber
WHAT WAS YOUR HEART ATTACK LIKE?
That was the question my brother Carl (he is scheduled for bypass operation on June 21st) asked me and my brother Bob when we were all together on May 31st, for my 80th birthday,. As I told him: I can speak only from my experience and relate what others have told me, There are as many different types of heart attacks as there are people. Some hit without warning and the victim is, "Dead on Arrival" others come in a series of attacks, while others sort of creep up on you. I would class mine as the kind that "sort of crept up on me".
I had been aware during in early spring that I was short of breath when walking up hill and when mowing lawn or tilling the garden that I got "winded" and had to rest quite often but then I sort of passed it off as just getting old. Like maNy of you I too had read the:
American Heart Associations warnings: 1. Uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest lasting more than a few minutes. 2. Pain spreading to the shoulders, neck or arms. 3. Chest discomfort with lightheadedness, fainting, sweating, nausea or shortness of breath.
Well other than shortness of breath I had no other such symptoms until that warm sunny day on June 1st 1997, one day after my 78th birthday. I was planting garden when I noticed that besides shortness of breath I was also getting a bit lightheadedness so decided to quite and go to the house.
I put the tiller away and started to the house which was up hill from where I was planting but had not gone more that twenty or thirty feet from where the tiller was housed when my legs seemed like weights had been added to them and so I sat/laid down for about five or more minutes when I again decided to try go on to the house I could not get up so decided that perhaps I could crawl up on my hands and knees. That lasted about five or ten feet and then I hollered as loud as I could for help. Thema, my wife, heard me and came down with the car. I was able to get in the car and we went back to the house. By then I was starting to feel better so took a hot shower and went to bed.
It was shortly thereafter that I started to have a tightness in my chest and real difficulty in breathing. The pain came on fast then, not only in the chest area, but spreading to my neck and arms. It was my inability to breath that caused us to call "911". The first of the "Responders" were here within five minutes after the call and administered oxygen, and within a few minutes I was feeling much better. The ambulance arrived shortly thereafter and we were on the way to the Tomah hospital.
Upon arrival at the emergency room at Tomah Memorial Hospital, Dr.Michael Saunders and his emergency crew were prepared for the job ahead.. While Dr. Saunders was explaining some of the alternatives, the chest pain started coming back getting almost as bad as was the original. But when the morphine hit it was like being in another world "where all is well".
I remained at the Tomah Memorial Hospital, under medication, for about a week but failed the stress test. So Dr. Saunders, suggested that I go to LaCrosse for further tests which showed nearly 95% blockage of the main heart artery and 45-50% of the others.
So it was on to the Mayo Clinic Cardiac center at Rochester, Minnesota. I arrived there late Sunday afternoon June 8th 1997.. My grandson, Joe's 13th birthday. The next day was spent taking test etc. I was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday June 10th at 2:pm but then about eight o'clock that morning the doctor came in and said plans had changed and that the operation had been moved up to a little after 9 that morning. That meant a lot of fast moving by my family who were staying at motels in the surrounding area.
At about 8:30 they gave me some Vallium to put me in a "relaxed mode" Iremember being moved up to the operating rooms along with several others and with members of my family nearby but then I must have drifted off into another land for it was not until the following morning that I really have anyrecollection of what had happened.
The first thing I remember is seeing a nurse and when she saw me looking at her she said, "Everything is all right Bill" She keep repeating this when ever I woke up enough so that our eyes met. This was unlike any other experience I had ever had upon my return from the anesthesia. It was as though I was in a faraway land with this nurse and lots and lots of instruments all about and no other voices but hers saying "Bill, everything will be all right" It was later on that the family was allowed to come in and by then I was awake enough to recognize them. Although my wife tells me that they were in to see me long before I even recognized them.
I remained in emergency room one more day and then was sent down to my regular hospital room until I returned home 4 days later on June 15th.
By the time you read this it will have been two full years since my bypass operation. That first year after the operation I took it pretty easy. My medication consisted of a baby aspirin and atenolol. lt was not long before I started doing some weeding and light work in the garden and by harvest time was able to dig potatoes etc.
I also excersiese on a regular basis, walking about a mile day those first few months but increasing it slowly until now I walk two to four miles a day weather permitting. I have averaged about 2 miles a day this past year which included days to cold or hot to walk plus I pedal on a stationary bicycle for an average of 5 miles a day.
I am not saying that I am back to being the same person I was 20 years ago but I am certainly a lot better than I was a little over two years ago.
I have had no relapses, all seems to be well. I still have a little soreness in my left rib cage. When I first came home from the hospital, it felt like they forgot to tighten up the all the bolts on the heart. If felt like it was sort swinging loose. Also if I laid a certain way I could hear my heart beating quite loudly. This still occurs now and then but it getting less and less. I still get a pain in my left chest if I lift or twist quickly while holding onto something with my left hand.
There is one problems that the Dr. wants me to get a handle on and that is to my cholesterol down to 100 from its present 187. If I had not had a heart attack that would be a good cholesterol reading but he feels I would be at less risk if I could get it town to the 100 mark. So I have been trying to do that by following a fairly restrictive low fat diet. I hope I do this without having to take any medication. I have until this coming October to achieve this goal. I try to get a period of rest during the daytime most days.
As I was out taking my daily walk this evening and heard the birds singing,saw the sun setting after a nice afternoon rain, I gave thanks that I am here today and have had these two extra years to spend with all my family.
I am so thankful for all that my family, doctors and friends have done for me. Especially the wonderful 80th birthday that my lovely wife Thema, my children and grandchildren gave me just about 10 days ago. As I said in an earlier article If one wants to experience the love of family and friends they should have a serious operation rather than dying. The response is about the same. The advantage is that you can enjoy the love, caregiving and concern.
Interesting and helpful WEB pages on Heart Disease and
Attacks:
Heart Information Network >http://www.heartinfo.org<
American Heart Association >http://www.amhrt.org/<
Latest advances in Open Heart Surgery http://www.fltca.com/
Oodles of Links on Bypass surgery http://www.webcrawler.com/cgi- bin/WebQuery?searchText=bypass+surgery+links