Evening gang, The it in the title of my post was a HEART ATTACK!!
Woke up Saturday morning kinda not feeling myself...let me explain....Normally on Saturday I am up an at it early on. Coffee, breakfast then my and the wee'uns usually head out to Menards, or Lowes or even Gander Mountain, or we head to the garage to futz with things that ain't broke. Well not this morning, I felt a little of my nut....couldn't rightly put my finger on it though....just not right... and though I played around alot with the kids as the day went on I barely left the recliner.
Around 9pm I had a strange aching in my right jaw...but I have been having an issue with a molar there and tossed it off as that. The mrs was out attending a play her nephew was in so I gathered up the kids and we got ready for bedtime. My jaw was really aching now so I chewed up a couple of aspirins and went to bed myself. I dozed for a couple hours tossing and turning never really getting to sleep.
I got paged from work had to dial in around 1130pm and finished up around 0100. By then I was really hurting....the aching had also claimed my other jaw and my neck...still, thinking it was something else the mrs gave me a couple of Aleve...No matter what I did I could not get comfortable, the ache kept getting worse. I was up and down the hall, from bed to recliner....
By 0330 I had woke the mrs and told her we needed to get to the treatment center down the street to get me checked out since by then the aching was running down both arms. My sister came to take me to the TC, we get there and I stroll in, they ask me what was wrong and I told them I had a funky aching pain from my jaws down my neck across my shoulders and down into my arms and that I couldn't get comfortable no matter what. They pressed me on what kind of pain...I truly had a difficult time putting my finger on it since I have never felt anything like it. No crushing, chest grabbing drop to the floor pain like they portray in the movies (we know how real and factual they are :rolleyes: )
I still was thinking muscle strain or something. They got my vitals and then took me to a room. Got undressed to the waist and waited till they came back with the doc. They ordered an ekg and a chest xray....
Afew minutes later a gal comes in with the ekg machine, sticks all these disks on my chest and sides and hooks up all the leads..turns things on and it spits the papaer trail out. She takes it out to the doc and the next thing I hear is him calling loudly.....9-1-1 and there was a flurry of activity and people all over...
I still was not sure it was me....
They stuffed a nitro tab under my tongue, dropped 2 IV's, and had me chew up a hndful of aspirins all with a very dry mouth...by that time it felt as if someone was sitting on my chest and I had the heavy aching pain from jaw to arms.
They asked me about pain, I told them it was the same then they hit me with a morphine cocktail....minutes later the same question, answer and more morphine...
The paramedics and the moble intensive care unit had arrived 3 and a half minutes after the 9-1-1 call...and off I went to the hospital. I asked where they were taking me (I wanted to go to my hospital but it was 14 miles north. And the paramedic said this bus don't go there....That's all I remember.....
Next I could hear from far away someone calling me....it was an ER nurse.....I woke up and they explained to me where I was, what was happening and what was going to happen...
I remember them saying something about waiting on the cardiac catheter team and they were gonna go in to fix me up. Another cocktail and I was gone again....
I again heard the doctor and cath team trying to get me to come around...I did and they talked to me about what was going to happen and moved me to the table in the cath lab.
They told me they werew going to go in through one of the major arteries in my groin then feed the catheter up into my heart and have a look... They numbed me up and made the incision and I remember feeling someone manipulating the area in my groin. A few minutes later I hear them say that they located it.
The doc told me there was going to be a noise just to my left and he didn't want it to startle me. He said it was a type of vacuum that would suck the blockage and clot out. I heard the vac and the doc said.... got it! The pain and ache was all gone....just like that....spent Sunday day and night in Cardiac ICU. Monday morning they moved me to a private room on the heart floor. I was actually up and around later Monday morning. And they sent me home Tuesday afternoon...
I had a 100% blockage and clot in the circumflex coronary artery which they cleared to 0% and a stent. The rest of my heart looked pretty good....barely any damage. They also said after 3 nights of constant monitorig that I have sleep apnea and will need to be treated for that as well...
For those of you who do not know it...I turn 51 in May 2006 Good Lord willing!
Though they said I could resume normal activities after just 48 hours....yeah right I need to catch up on my sleep as you get zero sleep in the hospital.....I will be off until the end of the month after seeing my new cardiologist.....
Guessing this was my warning shot over the bow....The Good Lord attempting to get my attention!!!

As a fellow ARFCOMMER (and a paramedic), I want to say thank you for listening to your little voice. Too many people don't, and wind up permanently F'ed up (or permanently D-E-D) as a result.

Glad your results were so good.

Take your aspirins and exercise....and enjoy the rest of your life!

Wow, I am glad everything turned out okay Mack.  Good thing they caught it and were able to get you back to 100% operating condition.  That is some scary !@#$!.

for dodging a bullet!

hey man that's a scary deal a know a little too well.  my brother at the age of 29-that's right 29-had a massive heart attack.  they thought a couple of stints would fix it....well a year later we had triple by pass heart surgery.  his problem was he didn't take care of himself even after the heart attack.  now they're tell him he HAS to if he wants to survive.  he's doing a better job now.  thank God you're o.k. Mack.....i know my wife appreciates those kinds of stories.  she's an RN on the cardiac unit in Memorial Hospital here in Springfield.  take care man.


jake

Wow, thanks for posting this. I've always wondered what the warning signs were...now I know. Thanks again, and it's always good to hear a story with a happy ending...glad yours is one of them.

glad your ok bud

eat right and exersise!!!!

Glad to hear you're ok and are doing well.  I had mine at the ripe ole age of 20.  Christ that was 16 years ago.  I was jogging in the Air Force and I had that "uncomfortable" feeling.  I told the guys I was with and they told me to "Suck it up, stop being a pussy."  Next I know, I'm at the base hospital.  Doc tells me it was a mild heart attack but worded it differently in my file so I would lose my security clearance.  A month later, a nineteen year old has a full blown heart attack and he was an athlete type during high school.  So just so we all know.  We're not all safe from that.  Take care of yourselves especially for your family and friends here @ arfcom.

another  reason to be happy and count your blessings.........you never know........good for you i'm glad it all turned out well.

Sorry to hear but glad you're better.

WOW!!!

Glad you're alright, man.

Get better soon.

WIZZO

I'm glad to hear you are alright!  We all sometimes, even when we know better, don't really want to go to the doctor or the emergency room, but I'm glad you eventually went to get checked out and ended up in the hospital being treated successfully.

I happy all went well.  Take Care.

Wow,glad you are OK!

The same thing happened to my ex,when she was 40.She had the same groin type operation and things seemed to go well,until she started complaining again about feeling weak.Unfortunately the doctors failed to look a little higher in the x-ray,and she had a blockage that required a bypass.She basically went through that groin catheter operation for nothing,she should have went straight in for a bypass.

Take Care and get Well.    Listen to you doc's ,  Keep on Keeping on.

mack69  

glad everything turned out as well as it did.   At 42 I need to get a full physical but keep putting it off.

   i think I'll get that appointment made.

Thanks for the well wishes gang...hope it was a heads up for some....It was for me...
Saw my primary doc today and he cleared me to go back to work....I have off tomorrow, and half day Friday. Half day again Monday to see the cardiologist and find out if there will be any rehab.... then I am scheduled for the rest of the week as vacation....
Was out and about today and felt darn good to be out and mobile again. Hoping to hit the range over the weekend....

Man I just read your post. Glad you're ok.

Heya, mack69. As a guy who lost his dad to a sudden heart attack, it's always great to hear someone catching the signs before it's too late. Having it a fellow ARFCOMMER to be the one dodging The Reaper is just icing on the cake.

Happy life and the best to you and yours.

mack69,

You are one lucky guy.  The same thing happened to me 4 years ago.  I got off work 8 PM and went to Home Depot to pick up a few items.  All of a sudden I started getting this jaw pain and I started having a really bad cold sweat.  I left HD and drove home.  The pain went away 15 minutes later.  I thought I was just tired so I took a shower and had dinner.  The pain kept coming back and went away.  I told the Mrs. and she said to see the family doctor the next morning.  

My doctor did all kinds of test on me the next day but everything came out negative.  However, he was worried about  the jaw and sent me to a cardiologist that afternoon.  I had a stress done.  The cardiologist scheduled me for a cardiac catherization for the next day.  I went home to pick up the Mrs. and got admitted to the hospital an hour later.  

Around 9:00 that same night,  the nurse came in and said that she did not like the way I look and had the cardiologist.  The doctor decided to do the procedure that night.  I ended up having an angioplasty.  One of my artery was 99% blocked.  I lucked out.  The doctor said I would have had a heart attack if they had not done the procedure that night.

This happened about the same time when that St. Louis Cardinal pitcher, Kile,  died in his sleep in a Chicago Hotel Room because he had clogged arteries.

I was 45 years old when this happened.  My father has a quadruple bypass when he was 45.  Heart problems run in my family.  I have already warned my kids about their diet and lifestyle.  Now, it's Plavix, Zocor, and a baby aspirin daily, not to mention fish, vegetable and exercise, for life.