Medical Warning from bfine

[*bfine32*]

I took the day after the 4th of July off to catch up on some yard work. While push-mowing my slopped back yard in the in the blazing heat, I experienced a burning sensation in my chest. I finished the backyard and went inside; as I didn’t feel like doing the front yard. After a few minutes of rest the burning sensation went away and I went about my business.

My next off day was Saturday July 8th, So I decided to go out in the mid-day heat and mow my flat front yard. After about 2 strips the burning sensation returned, being a stud, I fought through the pain and finished the front yard. I went inside to rest and allow the pain to subside; unfortunately, this time it did not. The burning pain turned into a constricting feeling and my left arm began to hurt.

My wife immediately said “let’s go to the hospital” of course I objected and reminded her that I am bulletproof. She did talk me into taking an aspirin. After about 30 more minutes of chest pain and her insistence I said OK, we can ride up to the ER and if it is still hurting when we get there I’ll go inside. It lessened; however, did not fully go away so I lived up to my word.

Once inside my pain was all but gone, but as soon as you say, “chest pain” in an ER folks waste no time. They got me in, took and EKG, a chest x-ray, drew a bunch of blood, gave me a shot of blood thinner in my stomach, and put a nitro patch on my chest (those cause severe headaches). After a while the ER doctor came in and said everything looks fine on the EKG and x-ray. He did say that the only way to rule out a heart attack, is to take multiple blood samples over a few hours and look for changes in enzymes.

Of course, being a Saturday, the early reports came back clean, I now felt fine, and the fact that they don’t serve beer in a hospital; I wanted to leave. The ER doctor and the wife finally talked me into staying overnight.

The next morning I felt great and was getting my clothes ready to be discharged. The cardiologist came in asked me how I felt. I said I feel great and apologized for wasting folk’s time. He just smiled at me and said: “You had a heart attack”. They did a Cardio Cath the following morning and found a 90% blockage in the main artery (RCA for medical folks) that pumps my blood my heart.

I am VERY lucky. The damage was miniscule and they were able to stent the artery to restore 100% blood flow. I share this with you all so that each of you to take care of yourselves and not ignore the signs. I lead a very active lifestyle and thought chest pains were just part of getting old; it was my heart trying to tell me to “take care of me”.

I know I am alive today, not because of me, but because of the Lord, my wife, and that stubborn ER Doctor who wouldn’t let me leave. Because there is no doubt that if I had left that ER and went home I would have been right back at it the next day and this time the attack may have (most likely) been massive.