Oops! I’ve Had a Heart Attack
Hi Guys
What a very strange life we lead - full of the unexpected - full of coincidences.
My wife, having read the draft of my last two posts declared I was being too general in my references to the medical profession and sounding more than just a little unfair.
Well, we discussed it some more and I agreed that my comments could probably do with some qualification and that I would look at it some more later, with a view to toning down my sentiments. (“She, who must be obeyed - must be right.” (And alas, she invariably is).
Later that same day, I was still working on the blog when I experienced a sharp, explosive pain in my upper right chest. Now, having some years previously experienced the tearing of my chest pectoral muscle, I likened the pain to that and having just one hour earlier, carried a twelve foot folding ladder that didn’t want to unfold, or later to fold again, and raised it against a palm tree to lop branches, I considered that to be the cause. How wrong I was.
That night I had less than two hours sleep despite pain killers. I was also sweating profusely. The next day was more of the same but, very foolishly continued with finalizing and posting my blog, though I was also resting a lot. That night was the same as before: terrible pain, sweating and no sleep but a major concern was developing. The pain was slowly moving toward and involving my lungs. Now you would have thought that that would have been warning enough, yes? Oh no, not for this Charlie.
On the third day I was very much confined to bed and my wife was urging me to see our doctor or go straight to hospital. One, or the other. As for me, it all sounded like too much bother. (I am old enough to remember the good old days when one could phone your family doctor and he’d pop around post haste). Late in the afternoon the post came, and included the Vet-Affairs Newsletter, which my wife promptly brought to me in bed. I flipped through it and one page in particular caught my eye. It was an item written by the Veterans’ principal medical adviser, telling of his own experience dealing with a chest pain some seven years previously. Although he had consulted his doctor at the onset of his pain it was put down to muscle strain. Further pain over a period of time and travel followed, with more consultations but this time with specialists involved.
Well, after X-rays demonstrated a shadow in his lung, cancer was immediately considered and although his lung biopsy was inconclusive, surgery followed. Yes, you might well guess what followed. After the operation he was told that while the surgery was a success it had not been necessary after all. There was no cancer and what he had experienced was pulmonary emboli.
Wow! That article really got my juices going. In part, this story echoed my very own and with my pain worsening and now involving my lung the prospect of an embolism of some sort was driven home. For me, the good doctor’s story was the catalyst for immediate action.
Within fifteen minutes I was in the emergency ward at the local, Redcliffe Hospital. My daughter drove me there but in hindsight, that was another mistake. I should have declined her offer and called for an ambulance instead. Fortunately for me nothing untoward occurred on the 7 minute drive to the hospital, but it well could have.
My reception was immediate and efficient. I was rushed in to see the triage nurse for immediate tests and to provide him with pertinent information, leaving my daughter to furnish the booking in information to the reception staff.
Within minutes I was placed on a bed. I wasn’t even allowed to take my shoes off (grin). I was given morphine, connected to a ECG machine and a heart monitor and then various injections and tablets (under the tongue type) started raining down on me.
Several hours later, with my blood thinned out and my blood vessels dilated, but still connected to the monitor, I was taken to a ward. There the large monitoring apparatus was removed and I was wired up instead to a small telemetry unit, small enough to put in my pajama shirt pocket. Brilliant, I was able to catch up on the sleep I had missed over the previous 48 hours.
In all, I was seen by four doctors (several in-training, I guess) and finally, the visiting specialist consultant. I also understand that the consultant had been in communication from the very beginning and at all stages during my treatment. I really can’t fault the medical professionals or the hospital staff. A very harrowing experience for me was handled with aplomb by everyone, and, with good humour, speed and efficiency. I felt very comfortable in their capable hands at all times.
The upshot of all this being that I appear to have had a blood clot that was blocking blood to my heart and making it work much harder to the point where it was racing and out of rhythm. One doctor intimated that had I gone to the hospital on the day it occurred it could well have been treated easily without much risk of longer term ill effects. As it is, further tests will need to be done to ascertain possible heart damage and assess the risk of further blood clots.
Next week I will have an echocardiogram and later on, a full stress test at the hospital.
I’ll let you know what happens.
Meanwhile, guys, please note my mistakes handling this episode and my uncanny good fortune escaping the grim reaper once again, thanks to the good doctor writing of his own experience. How lucky can a guy get?
“There is surely a strange confusion of causes and conditions in all this. It may be said, indeed, that without bones and muscles and the other parts of
the body I cannot execute my purposes. But to say that I do as I do
because of them, and that this is the way in which mind acts, and not from
the choice of the best, is a very careless and idle mode of speaking. I
wonder that they cannot distinguish the cause from the condition, which the
many, feeling about in the dark, are always mistaking and misnaming.”
Plato: Phaedo
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