Heart Attack the Day That Changed My Life Forever, A Day That I Could of Prevented.

Chapter Eleven

Heart Attacks Are Avoidable.

If I would have only heeded my doctors' warnings, watched my diet, stopped smoking, exercised and relaxed.

It's not the movies- this is real life!

We have our "wedding day", Our "Bar-mitzvah day"; I didn't expect that I would have my "Heart attack day", but I do.

The previous night I went to bed with chest pains and with pain shooting down my left arm. I awoke from the pains several times during the night; I still didn't know what they were.

In the movies we see that when someone gets a heart attack they immediately go into cardiac arrest, I believed that to be true. The pains I was feeling was were something else. I figured that if they persist I will call the doctor.

The Pains Increased- They Got Worse!

They did. Not only persist. They increased in severity. I called the doctor's office, he was on vacation. His answering service said that in case of emergency go to the emergency room. I wasn't going to do that, I waited.

The pains weren't subsiding; I was left with no choice; I went to the home of a friend of mine, whom I knew volunteered for an ambulance service, was a medic and happened to live across the street from the hospital. I asked him if he could do me a favor and check me out.

At the Medics House

"I am not feeling too well". I said

He took my blood pressure.

He said "relax."

"I am"

"Your blood pressure shows otherwise you have 180 over 124."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I have to give you an EKG."

He took out his six lead EKG and proceeded to give me one.

"I am calling a bus."

"What"?

"An ambulance I am taking you in".

"No your not, I can walk. It's just across the street."

"You better go right now, I am going with you"

I walked.

He came with me.

I am so lucky he did.

The emergency room

The emergency room was packed.

They all knew him there. He told them that I need immediate emergency care.

The first thing that they did was take my blood pressure, they saw he was right.

A team of doctors, nurses and medics dropped what they were doing and came over to deal with the emergency on hand, me.

They immediately gave me a twelve prong EKG, took my blood to check if my enzymes were elevated, and rushed me into the cardiac resuscitation room. They were scared that unless they got me in for an immediate angioplasty to open up my clogged arteries I was going to go into cardiac arrest.

In the Midst of a Massive Heart Attack!

I was told that I was in the midst of a massive heart attack. I had no more then a half hour for survival. They were going to give me an immediate angioplasty.

The next chapter the Angioplasty insering a balloon into my arteries