On September 13 I had an appointment with my family doctor, one of a twice a year check up and medical exam. Blood test, general review, how do you feel, any health problems, that sort of thing. My doctor and I talked about my complaint of pain in my left arm and elbow. This had been bothering me for the past couple of months. Probably nothing more than pains and aches associated with getting older, I was glad to hear the doctor say that. Your cholesterol is good (185) heart beat and rate is strong, blood pressure is good. My doctor said "you're strong and in good health for your age, see you in six months." I didn't ask any questions like why is cholesterol 185 good, what is my blood pressure, should I monitor it, what's high or low? No, why ask questions, if your doctor says you're good to go , don't rock the boat?
Four nights later around midnight I wake up with very intense pain in my left elbow. I am sure intense does not describe how strong the pain I felt. Not throughout my entire arm, but concentrated exactly in the elbow, it throbbed with pain and was getting worse. I knew what was probably happening, I thought if I deny it to myself it will go away, heart attacks happen to someone else, they aren't for me. After two hours of denying terrible pain I decided I should wake my wife. The pain was becoming more severe, my wife wanted to call 911, she knew what was happening, but I convinced her it wasn't a heart attack, but maybe she should drive me to the hospital emergency room, you know to check out the elbow pain. We were 15 minutes from the hospital, I told her "take your time no need to drive fast, don't go through red lights, no need to rush", it was 4:00 am and no traffic. About 5 minutes away things got worse quickly, the pain was spreading throughout my arm, my chest getting tight and I was having difficulty getting my breath, I didn't tell her, I just said you may want to really speed up and run red lights.
I remember telling someone in the emergency room I thought I was having a heart attack, their taking my blood pressure and telling me, "you are," after that I don't remember much clearly until the next morning.
Lets take a brief break here. I am Danny L. a 65 year old who had a heart attack in the early fall of 2009. Until that time I lived what I thought was a healthy and active life style but was in fact just the opposite. Since the heart attack I have learned how to live a healthy life and to be more active.
My intent is to share my experiences of recovering and improving health for those of you like me, who have survived heart attacks and heart surgery, and want to enjoy a healthier and active life style.
Mid-morning a cardiologist came into my room telling me I had been lucky, I had indeed had a heart attack, he thought the damage to my heart was not severe and I would be okay. I still couldn't say heart attack, I couldn't believe that had happened to me, my health was too good, remember four days ago I had been proclaimed to be in great health for my age. Now here I lay heart monitor probes glued to my chest, needles and tubes sticking into fingers and arms and I am referring to the heart attack as the event in the emergency room. My cardiologist scheduled me the following morning for an angioplasty procedure to check for artery blockage and open them using stents. He felt certain my condition could be treated with this procedure. I had never had surgery and had no idea of what to expect, my cardiologist gave me the disturbing news that I would not be completely asleep and I would be able to see what was going on. Since I was still in denial I certainly did not want to know what was happening as they inserted a probe into my thigh and ran it up through an artery into my heart, and I was telling them that as they wheeled me into the operating room. I knew enough that I was only in the operating room a short time and during the procedure remember hearing the surgeon telling someone, "his heart disease is too severe, he can not be treated with stents."
My wife and our oldest daughter consider themselves to be physician/pharmacist without official medical degrees. The fact of not being official does not stop them from practicing on their cooperating spouse, children, grandchildren and any other willing family member. However I found them to be quite dedicated to my medical best interest and useful in interpreting for me what was happening procedure wise, what the doctors were telling me , along with asking the doctors and nurses questions I didn't ask. When the cardiologist came in, told me I needed heart surgery, I needed it quickly, and he was scheduling me for early the next morning I dropped the denial.
to be continued
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