Serious As A Heart Attack

Pics of Donata?

sorry, I couldn't resist

Seriously, I lost my best friend to a heart attack 4 years ago. He had tightness in his jaw. His wife wanted to take him to the hospital. He declined because he was scheduled for a full physical in the morning but unfortunately he never got there.

Most people, if they imagine a heart attack, picture something like Fred Sanford clutching his chest and shouting "This is the big one!" They expect chest pain, and if that's absent, don't consider themselves at risk. This is especially true for women.

I am so sorry for the loss of your friend.
 
So....you have a near-death, life changing experience and what do you do? :eek:

You renew acquaintances here at Lit. :rolleyes:

Kudos to Laurel and Manu! ;)
 
By the way, when I was a kid, there was always some guy in the neighborhood everyone called Joey Bagadonuts or Tony Bagadonuts.

You aren't from Munjoy Hill, are you?
 
I, for what it's worth, am very glad you're here to tell us what you just did in the OP. :heart: <<<<just in case you need a spare.
 
Most people, if they imagine a heart attack, picture something like Fred Sanford clutching his chest and shouting "This is the big one!" They expect chest pain, and if that's absent, don't consider themselves at risk. This is especially true for women.

I am so sorry for the loss of your friend.

Queersetti, I have not had the pleasure to meet you so far, but I saw the warm welcome you received on returning.
I just wanted to say it is nice to know you were able to survive and come to share esa experiencia with us here. Be well :)
 
I am selfishly glad you made it. :heart:

Men, don't ignore the warning symptoms.
Your wives might nag you but most of the time we want you to keep
breathing even if it's just to get you to keep taking the rubbish out and
change lightbulbs. :)
 
October 3, 2009

It started out as a normal day. I got up around 6am, made coffee and read the newspaper. My niece Donata was staying with me while she went to college, and she got up a bit later. I was feeling a little worn down, and felt I was getting a toothache on the left side of my lower jaw.

Donata was making breakfast and we discussed a magazine article I had read the night before. She was interested in it, so I went back upstairs to my room to retrieve the magazine. While I climbed the stairs, I began to feel winded, and when I reached the top I could not catch my breath at all. I started to turn to go back down, and I blacked out.

The next thing I knew I was lying, halfway down the steps, with Donata pounding on my chest. I sat up. I felt a little woozy and had banged my hip a bit, but was not in any pain. But Donata had called 911 and when the paramedics arrived, I agreed to be taken to Maine Medical Center.

When I arrived at the emergency room, they immediately ran me through a battery of tests. They could not find anything wrong. But suddenly, as I was waiting for another test, I began to experience a feeling something like a Charlie horse, except that it seemed to be in every part of my body at once. I broke out in a cold sweat and felt nauseous. As I was attached to an array of monitors the nurses knew what was going on immediately and began to scramble.

Everything went black.

I awoke, staring at the ceiling. It took me a minute to be able to focus on what was going on around me. The first thing that bought me back to my senses was hearing someone speaking Italian, which seemed awfully odd in that context. Of course, it was Donata ( she is from Genoa), who, in her panic, forgot all her Eng lish.

My heart had stopped, but they had defibrillated me in under a minute. I was stabilized, and then taken to the catheter lab, where they found an 80% blockage in one of the arteries of my heart. They inserted a stent. There was another blockage, 60%, which they stented two days later.

I was on my feet and out of the hospital in 4 days. I took a cardio rehab course, and i have been doing fine ever since.

I decided to post this, not for any sympathy, as I am fine, but because, since this experience, I feel an obligation to spread some knowledge.

I was incredibly lucky. The incident at home was something just short of cardiac arrest. If I had gone into full arrest then, I would not have survived, despite my dear Donata's heroic efforts. If the second incident had occurred anywhere other than in the hospital, I would have died within minutes.

I live a fairly healthy lifestyle. I live in one of the most walkable cities in the country, and I take full advantage of that. I eat, primarily, a Mediterranean diet, generally considered very heart healthy.

On the day this happened, my blood pressure, my heart rate and my cholesterol were all well within the normal range.

And I was feeling pretty good. A bit tired, but otherwise fine. I did not recognize that the pain I felt in my jaw was not a toothache, but an indicator of cardiac malfunction.

You probably think you would recognize the symptoms of an imminent heart attack. You are probably wrong. Many people never feel any chest pain. Most women do not. The most common symptom in women is back pain.

If you have any recurring pain or discomfort in your chest, your upper abdomen, your neck, your back, please, I urge you not to ignore it. Be especially aware of pain that "crescendoes". Believe me, you would rather seek help and find that you don't have a problem than shrug off something that might kill you.

Not everyone is as lucky as I am.

This is seriously important stuff here. I just linked this elsewhere. Like you said, I think people most people (including myself) have a very strict view of what constitutes a heart attack. This is the sort of stuff everyone should read.

Also, we've lost a few cool Litsters over the years, and it always sucks. Very glad you're buying houses in Italy and living life. :rose: And snarking! Especially the snarking.
 
I just came off of a similar experience only with a-phib...

It was brought about by a bout with pneumonia and my refusal to take off work and see a doctor for my symptoms which I was self-diagnosing as merely a bad allergy season.
 
The first thing that bought me back to my senses was hearing someone speaking Italian, which seemed awfully odd in that context. Of course, it was Donata ( she is from Genoa), who, in her panic, forgot all her English.

Italian?

*shudders*

[mandatory congrats and glad you lived remark to prove possession of empathy gene]
 
I have an excellent picture of me standing by the sign at the Genoa train station.
 
Queersetti, I have not had the pleasure to meet you so far, but I saw the warm welcome you received on returning.
I just wanted to say it is nice to know you were able to survive and come to share esa experiencia with us here. Be well :)

Thank you, you are very kind.:rose:
 
How do you get foreigners to take a picture of you?

Do you hold the camera and move your index finger up and down like you are taking a picture and point at yourself?:cool:

:confused:

I ask them.


Don't be afraid to speak to people, Jim. Most of them don't bite.
 
I am selfishly glad you made it. :heart:

Men, don't ignore the warning symptoms.
Your wives might nag you but most of the time we want you to keep
breathing even if it's just to get you to keep taking the rubbish out and
change lightbulbs. :)


See, that's my problem, no wife.
 
This is seriously important stuff here. I just linked this elsewhere. Like you said, I think people most people (including myself) have a very strict view of what constitutes a heart attack. This is the sort of stuff everyone should read.

Also, we've lost a few cool Litsters over the years, and it always sucks. Very glad you're buying houses in Italy and living life. :rose: And snarking! Especially the snarking.

Thank you, Laurel, and thank you for the Never Gone thread, which inspired me to share this story here.
 
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