Thanks to everyone that reached out today.
Wednesday, March 2nd about 9 PM I started having right shoulder pains and pressure on my chest like a cinder block. I went downstairs and said, “If I throw up I might feel better”. I was sick for about 15 minutes and became to feel fine. I told my wife I thought it was bad tacos and decided to sleep in the guest room.
Thursday, March 3rd I was working at my new warehouse with my staff and we were moving equipment and I started to feel the same pain in my chest. I thought, “Man, I need to stop drinking caffeine or I am out of shape from this work from home full time stuff”. I took a walk outback of the warehouse where I began to throw up for 20 minutes and felt better after a little whiskey.
I help host a full weekend of fun and birthday activities for our little girl. Worked a full day Monday, March 7th and then went back to the warehouse to get organized. 2 hours into the work I think, man my neck is really tight and the pressure is coming to my chest. I told my wife and she said you need to go to emergency room and I told her to go home and I will be ok. My wife said go to hospital or I’m calling ambulance. I told her it would finish up and be home soon. She called my dad and he quickly called me and reminded me of my role of taking care of these sweet babies and being there for my family. 8:30 PM I get home, check in with my wife and tell her I feel fine, she insisted I go to the hospital. I said fine, whatever and leave the house driving while trying to google hospital that’s not wellstar (our insurance is at battle and have to go elsewhere. I stumbled upon Piedmont about 40 minutes away and they had much better reviews that anything else around and I park a mile away and start the journey in.
I am quickly checked in to a holding room where I sat for 5 hours on a gurney. I hadn’t eaten since 10:45 am (lunch) and I think man it’s going to be a long night. The nurses take my blood 2/3 times, blood pressure 7/8 times, hear my story and try to show Empathy to a new patient. About 4 am I get moved up to what I later found out was Cardio Vascular ICU. The nurses came and checked me every 20-40 minutes for something so no rest and no food due to expecting something to happen. Fast forward about 22 hours I get taken down to a surgery center where the doctor says I’m doctor ____ and I will take care of you. They prep me and cut a small hole in my left wrist and run a catheter up to my heart where the doctor said. “You are lucky to be here. You are 95% blocked and I am going to put in two stints and be good as new”. I was on light sedation so I could feel the pressure and see/ hear what they were saying. I have never felt in such good hands of a team and staff that were professionals. 15 minutes goes by, the doctor says, “we are all done here and you are better than new”.
I wrote this to show how being raised to be tough and shake it off isn’t always the best. I was taught to be tough in sports, college, and life. I know pain, I know stress, I know love, and I know 100% how to not ask for help. I honestly think God had his hand on my shoulder telling me this pain isn’t good, ask for help.
The older we get the more stubborn we get. Be thankful for your time. I had 3 heart attacks and lucky this “Widow-maker heart attack” didn’t take me. The survival rate is 6%.
9 1/2 years ago working on the roof of my house and started feeling what I thought was really bad heartburn, not too alarmed since I'd been battling GERD off and on. Climbed down and was sweating profusely on a cool November evening so I decided to take a shower and in the shower started to feel intense pain in my left arm like I had torn a tricep muscle. Decided right then that it was something other than heartburn and threw of sweatpants and a t-shirt and had my son drive me to the ER.
In the ER I was administered nitrostat and an EKG and the physician didn't see anything abnormal. He told me I had probably pulled a muscle in my chest. I protested somewhat stating it wasn't a pulled muscle. The staff that was attending to me drifted off to other areas of the ER and I was given another nitrostat just in case. About 10 minutes later I was given another EKG and after the physician looked at the printout, he loudly announced, "prep him for the stent lab". Everyone came running back, unhooked me from the monitors and off I went down the hallway into surgery.
They went through my femoral artery for the angiogram and angioplasty. I had a 95% blockage and ended up with 3 stents in my left anterior decending coronary artery (aka widowmaker). I spent 44 hours in the ICU and was released from there to go home. My left ventricle ejection fraction ended up at 68% (blood pumped out per heartbeat divided by capacity of the ventricle) where normal is 60%-75% so I dodged a bullet as far as heart muscle damage goes.
I'm including the following because people may find it interesting. The total bill for surgery and 44 hours in the hospital was $187,000. The insurance company had of course previously negotiated the costs of what they would pay to the hospitals for various procedures and their portion ended up at $78,000. My portion ended up at $250.00 because the year before my heart attack, the insurance company instituted an ER deductible due to the fact that people were going to the ER instead of going to urgent care or a regular office visit to their doctor when their kid had a runny nose.
For my frens here at GAW, don’t wait to get help if you experience any of these heart attack warning signs. Some heart attacks are sudden and intense, but most start slowly with mild pain or discomfort. Pay attention to your body and call 911 if you experience chest tightness or pressure, pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach, shortness of breath, breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea, lightheadedness or an impending sense of doom. No one is going to make fun of you for showing up to the ER with these symptoms. Better safe than sorry.
Thanks for your story!