Sunday night I had a massive heart attack. I was airlifted from my small town ER to the bigger hospital in Hartford. When I asked the doctor why I needed the LifeStar flight he said "An ambulance from you town would take over an hour to get here. You didn't have any hour." Had a 99% blockage on the left side of my heart. Just came home last night. Boy am I tired. Going to be a long road.
WOW! Good luck on your recovery, hang in there.
While in the Hospital I caught a cold. That is making me more tired too
No wonder you’re tired, that’s a lot to go through both physically and mentally.
Man, that must have been an experience, and not in any sort of a good way......... Take your time getting back up to speed and look after yourself. At this point let me tell you the story of a work colleague who experienced something similar. Back story - He had been complaining of chest pains for a while. Never bothered to tell us that heart problems ran in his family. Apparently his mother had a quadruple bypass and he had lost a brother to a heart attack. Anyhow this particular day (it was a Monday, I remember it well) he complained again and we finally convinced him to go to a hospital and get checked out. They took one look at his BP and told him he should be dead..!! Anyhow they kept him and two days later after getting his blood pressure down they did a Roto-rooter up through his groin. They cleared out four blockages around his heart, two of which required stents. I picked him up when he was discharged on the Friday afternoon for "home rest". On the Sunday I had him in the pub for a beer. To this day he still runs marathons just like he did back in the day before his near-death experience. This was 25 years ago.....!!
Oh my, went on a helicopter ride and didn't even get to enjoy it! Best of luck with your recovery. You got this!
edgephoto, Thanks for the information! Sorry to hear, but glad they got you where you needed to be!! Feel better, you still have some tractoring to do!!
Glad you survived to hoe again! Hope you have a full recovery soon. I took the ride back in 2006 and got 3 stents put in me. It woke me up to stop smoking and I've never felt better. Doctors say I didn't technically have a heart attack. All my stress tests, EKGs, and X-Rays have been okay.
Glad you made it though that, Have quite a few family members that have gone through the same thing and a couple whom did not. Recovery can be long though worth looking at with a positive outlook, You still have purpose and time.
@Nige thanks for the story. That cheered me up. I appreciate the stories and well wishes. I am hoping I can get back to 75%. My heart is severely damaged so there is a long road ahead. Just saw the forecast for Sunday, 6-8" of wet heavy snow. My son is home on emergency leave, so tomorrow we will get the snow thrower ready to go. He will have to do the work.
Get better, edgephoto. Glad you are still above the ground.
You're welcome, and the point of it was to prove that a heart attack isn't the end of the road, simply a bump in it, or maybe even a major detour, but the end it isn't. Stay positive.
I am not losing my positivity. Just need to hear some stories. Good or bad.
Great it got caught! Glad to hear the positive attitude!
Good on you. We were deep in the doo doo and a former boss of mine once told me that I needed a more positive attitude towards resolving the issue. My response was "OK, I'm positive it's ***ked. Happy now.?"
Get well and get after it. Getting old sucks but getting there is all the fun. I’d rather burn out than fade away.
HarleyHappy, You just made me think....are there any younger members on here?? Most of us seem a bit on the older side, with many, including me, retired. I honestly never thought about this before.
I’m still young enough to get after it but old enough to know it won’t last forever and to cherish and respect the time we have, because one thing is certain. Everything changes and it not possible to stop it. So, lift your head up once in awhile, to look around and appreciate what you have and how hard you worked for it.
Amen!
Glad you made it. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Damn that's scary! Follow your doc's advice and cheer's to a speedy recovery. Well this one is kinda funny... I was running our new mini last week enjoying the enclosed cab along with the radio when my lower chest started hurting, lower lung area. Kept on backfilling some curbs thinking that if this gets any worse gonna have to get one of my guys to take me to the ER. It was close to 4 and we usually leave this project around 4:30 due to it's bad location and terrible traffic for the ride home, 1 hour one way commute. As I was walking the mini back to our laydown area I started farting. By the time the 10 minute tracking back to the laydown was complete I felt great. Funny now but there for a minute it had me concerned.
The exact think happened to a coworker about 30 years ago, cept, he was taken by ambulance to the emergency room, where he got all kinds of tests done, before they determined it was gas. You can be sure he got his balls busted heavily for the next month.
When you have a family history of heart disease it ain't funny till it's funny. The guys and I got a good laugh about it after.
I wish it was gas but not so lucky. Speedy recovery is not really possible but I am going to try to get some sort of strength back. Right now walking up the stairs is a major exertion.
Lol!
I hear you on the going up the stairs. My dad was in a bad place once and his bedroom was on the second floor. He couldn't go up to bed for months. We set up a bedroom downstairs. Really sucked for him.
Happened to me as a kid. I couldn't even move off the couch the pain was so intense. Parents took me to the ER in case it was my appendix. Doctor starts his initial evaluation, pushing on my abdomen in different spots, trying to determine the location of the pain and I let one rip right there in the ER.
Me? I'm 39. I'm sure @Tyler d4c is younger than me, along with a few others. Take your time with the recovery. My dad had a massive heart attack at 49 years old. His doctor said if he wanted to see 60, he better take the time to recover or risk more damage. He's 66 today and not even on the cardiologist watch list anymore. My grandmother had a triple bypass at 74. It knocked her down hard for a year, but she's 78 now and continues to live by herself. She had a rough year of recovery, but is very active today again. So, give it time and follow doctors orders.
Maybe to keep @edgphoto smiling I need to put some flesh on the bones of this story, and how I remember that it was a Monday. At the time the two of us worked for the same company in Chile. Our work sites were usually high up in the Andes and the working hours at altitiude were limited. The rota was 4 days on/3 off. Up The Hill at 0-dark-30 on Monday, back down again on Thursday evening So there we were early on this particular Monday morning and he commented that his chest pains were back again. My response.... "Let me just remind you what we've done since we came down off The Hill last Thursday. Thursday night. Met up with friends for drinks/dinner. Went on to a club for more drinks/dancing and left at 5am. Friday we went into work for a few hours even though it was not mandatory, had a siesta, then repeated Thursday night all over again. Saturday we played 18 holes of golf dragging a beer cooler round the course with us, then went to a company shindig in the evening (free booze) and after the event basically repeated Thursday & Friday nights again until 5am Sunday. Sunday we had a lie in then off to a friend's house with maybe 20 others for a barbecue in the afternoon. The assembled throng drank him out of beer twice and each time had to make runs to the supermarket to re-supply. Gave up around 6pm. So in summary we have more or less been permanently sh1tfaced for the best part of 4 days and you're complaining of chest pains....!!"
Reader's Digest Story as best I can, Dad died of massive Heart Attack at 51.5, smoked and drank beer, that was his generation. At 55.5, I thought I got the Flu in about 05 minutes, very weak, head hurt,cold,nauseous. Got in bed at 1830 and went to sleep, felt like crap for several days and then felt better but still on the weak side and got winded quicker. Also had left shoulder pain, indigestion and headaches for months, blamed the shoulder pain on sleeping on it wrong. 06 months later I was eating the noon meal after working that morning. Sitting on the couch digesting, got another bad headache, indigestion, sweating, Left shoulder started hurting and I realized it was not hurting when I got up that morning, pain started coming down shoulder into the arm. Went to local hospital, confirmed I was having a heart attack. Asked if I wanted to Life Flight or ambulance, ambulance it is Met with Doctor who was going to Roto Rooter me out, wrist and leg, who asked me what happened about 06 months ago??? Light bulb goes on. 02 stints placed and Life goes on along with taking Meds for the rest of my life, Attitude has a HUGE influence on your recovery. Press On and Enjoy your Life and Family.
Yes attitude makes a huge difference. It's really important to listen to the Dr's. and follow their advice. Don't try to make a miraculous recovery in record time. I remember sharing a hospital bed with a guy that had 3 heart attacks. He was just go go go all the time. Not good. My Dr. told me he had 3 heart attacks and was working on the 4th one. My dad had a heart attack at 53 and sold out to his business partner to lesson the stress of running a business and raising 3 kids after a divorce. He took it really easy for a couple years. He lived another 20 years but died unexpectedly from a build up of plaque in his arteries. The one thing he couldn't do was quit smoking. He was blown out of a bomber when he was19 and suffered a broken back. The 1st thing the Americans gave him when they took over the German hospital was a cigarette. It was standard practice, they gave everyone injured a cigarette. It was like a "You're going to be OK" gesture. He had quit drinking long before the heart attack. Stress is a leading cause for a heart attack. Really glad the airlift was available and you're able to tell your story and we look forward to many more!
Let your son do it while you rest and most of all don't shovel any snow. It and changing a tire are prime causes of heart attacks. There may be a group of heart attack survivors you could be put in touch with. My dad got to be good friends with a guy who had a cool old car he restored before he had the heart attack.
Take it one step at a time. I didn't have a heart attack but had a stem cell transplant due to cancer. I had to learn to walk again and it took awhile to be able to do stairs. Even now I'm not the most stable and always worry about falling. Getting in and out of my truck is a careful process rather than just hopping in and out. I had 10 compression fractures in my back and the Dr. said my bones were like glass. I had 2 procedures where they use bone cement to repair my back. I am much better now but it took 2 years to recover from the stem cell transplant. It will be a little depressing but if you take good care of yourself and take things easy you can have a full recovery. Think before you do anything strenuous.
Wow...just wow. Glad you made it. Take it easy and take care Edge.
Glad you got taken care of edge! Take it easy man! I feel like one of the almost younger as well (47), but it's creeping up on me. Colson, Tyler, and Spud all are younger that me, I'm sure in much, much better shape. I've got a lot of years or money to make up before I can retire...
I appreciate the stories. Good and bad. I am going to listen to Dr advice and will take things slow.
I am still here and feeling better. I am no where near 100% anymore. Dr. says heart is at 47%. I feel my stamina is more like 75-80%. I have a heart valve leaking but the meds are actually improving that which helps with stamina. I am building a house and decided to pay people to do pretty much everything. I made this decision a month before my heart attack. There was too much site work and the rocks are huge, bigger the my SUV. We had to blast some ledge. My wife decided some more trees had to go. My buddy came over last Saturday and we cut down 7 or 8 trees and cleaned up a good sized area. Felt pretty good doing it. Had to stop more than I used to but that can also be a function of age. I am 62 in a few days. I take 9 meds and most likely will until the end. Go get a vascular scan. I wish I did. I had a physical 3 months prior to my heart attack. Physicals now are a joke. Cardiologist said my blockage was 99%. If I had a scan I am sure they would have found it much earlier and my heart would not be damaged.
Well when you get the "honey do list" you can grab your chest sorry babe you'll have to sweep the chimney & beer before you get on the roof. Hard being forced to slow down but "enjoy every sandwich" .
I am still able to do everything just need more breaks
Glad to hear you're still kicking around.
Thanks!!! Happy to still be here