My Heart felt Heart PSA...

[harryball]

I'm still around and still building bat houses, had a record year last year and on track to beat it this year. But that's not the topic of this thread...

If you can't seem to catch your breath, especially if you can't seem to walk and talk without getting winded. If you have unexplained pains in the chest, left arm, neck, lower left jaw, a toothache. If you feel like someone is pushing a finger into your chest (even lightly) It's NOT MAYBE time to see the cardiologist, it IS TIME to see the cardiologist.

You may have noticed I seem short of breath lately if you watched some of my videos. Well I am, and that big oak tree I cut down gave me a wake up call. In addition to dealing with the above for a while, I got "sat down" working with that tree adding nausea and a cold sweat to the list. So I finally went to the Doctor.

EKG indicated "Inferior Infarction" followed by a worried look from the Doc. I've been drugged, poked, prodded, nuked, scanned, had blood sucked out of me and sonogramed for most of a day. I was asked repeatedly why I didn't come in sooner.

It is now not question of if I have heart damage, but how much. Thankfully the medication has eased things tremendously and I will learn Thursday "how much" and what's to be done about it. The options range from drugs to angioplasty to surgery. I'm pulling for drugs and a diet change myself... in fact my diet has already changed.

So, back to the real question, WHY didn't I go sooner? I've been asking myself that question for several days now. Here are only a few of my excuses:
1) It's not a heart attack, I'm too young and reasonably healthy and not THAT overweight.
2) I'm just tired and have a cold or something.
3) I don't want to make a fuss over nothing, this will clear up.
4) It's too expensive to go to the ER and besides, the symptoms are not that clear, I'll be fine.
5) I'm just out of shape, I need to exercise a bit more, I'll be fine.
6) I hate doctors, I'm not that bad, I'll just keep going until I know for sure something is wrong.
7) Cancel that appointment, I feel much better now, must have just been sick.

Well, whatever you add to the list it's no real excuse. Stop talking yourself out of going and get to the doctor. Get an EKG and a blood test early, I guarantee it is better than using any of those excuses.

For me, sure, it could have been much worse but if I'd gone earlier, it could have been much better.

Go now.

[bobmoore]

I am glad you got so many chances Harry as many don't. Don't rule out angioplasty as a solution. I have been on the operating table 5 times since I was a "healthy" 52 years old. Recoveries are now a matter of a few weeks and the medical professionals at least around here are fantastic at inserting stents. The positive outcomes are virtually instantaneous.

[joe]

Good on you Harry,

Four months ago I decided it was my time for a holday so I kicked off to Paris for a couple of weeks. But during walks around that beautiful city I was plagued with chest pains. Using my brain I opted for taxi's. When I got back it was a direct trip from the airport to the heart hospital. First time ever!

Fortunately I didn't have any heart damage but the vessels were so occluded it was recommended to crack the chest for bypass. It was a Triple! I'm seven weeks out and I'm back to work. No matter how tough a person is, this will take you to your knees. But with a little therapy life can resume just like before. It's a major, major, major, experience and not without with pain.

Joe

[zeykr]

Glad to hear you both caught it in time and are doing OK!

[joe]

Thanks much Ken,

It's amazing how fast they get you up and going. The next day after surgery they had me walking. Three days later and they sent me home. Man O Man is it difficult on a old bachelor. There were plenty of times I wished I'd not had the procedure. It took me a full month to feel good enough to go back to work. I didn't do anything except stare at the computer. That's about all one can do.

At this point I'm not able to lift much but other than that it's works as usual.

I'm worried about Harry. He's new to the process of finding the right doctor and deciding what should be done. So much depends on the individual.

[coryatjohn]

It is really hard to accept the fact that we are all getting older. I remember just a short time ago I was a teenager, or at least it seems like it.

[harryball]

It is really hard to accept the fact that we are all getting older. I remember just a short time ago I was a teenager, or at least it seems like it.

Yeah, tell me about it. I can't figure out where this 21 yo Son and 18 yo Daughter came from when I'm only 28 myself. I'll chalk it up to "Decade Slip"... multi Decade slip. :confused:

[Bob Eustace]

Harry, have you thought about going paleo? After 6 months (and ditching 8 meds) you simply dont miss grains, sugar and processed foods etc. In fact you feel like vomiting when you go into a bakery seeing all that sugary muck! How about hopping off to a fundamental doctor before getting poisened, cut or burnt by mainstream medicine. Its NEVER too late to change your life style and its far easier than you think after you have a big scare like you experienced. Best of luck!

[kartracer63]

Harry and Joe,

I'm so glad you're both here to tell your story. It could have ended up much differently for both of you guys.

I had a massive heart attack in March of 2010. I collapsed to the floor at home and my heart had stopped. Luckily, my wife was there and called 911. The first responders were there in about 3 minutes. It took about 6 1/2 minutes to resuscitate me the first time. After getting a heartbeat, my heart stopped again and they spent another 6 minutes in resuscitation before getting a heartbeat the second time. By then the ambulance arrived and while they were strapping me into the ambulance my heart stopped again and it took another 5 minutes to get a heartbeat the 3rd time. This time they were able to get some meds in me to help keep it beating long enough to get to the hospital and get a couple stents in.

They immediately put me on some sort of cryo treatment where they chill my body temperature because they were concerned about brain damage from going without a heart beat for so long. I woke up in the hospital 10 days later wondering where I was and wondering why my ribs hurt so bad. All of my ribs were busted up from the estimated 1500 chest compressions. During that 10 days I nearly died from a lung infection. Apparently, I had aspirated my stomach contents into my lungs during the chest compressions. I knew my cholesterol was high and never bothered to take any of the statins to help lower it. I wish now that I had taken steps to prevent that heart attack. But, as bad as that one was, the third heart attack in 2013 is the one that left me with the most heart damage. The heart muscle was damaged and was only pumping about 30% of the blood out with each heart beat (ejection fraction). With medication, they have it up to almost 40% now. It'll never get any better than that and I'll end up dying from heart failure, most likely congestive. The reduced heart capacity has limited my activities and I tire easily, but the worst part is the side effects from all of the meds I need to take.
I wish I would have listened to the doctors and payed attention to the warning signs. It's too late for me now, but the rest of you guys need to listen to what Harry is saying about your heart health. I was lucky to have survived my heart attacks, but the damage is done and now my days are numbered. Don't wait until it's too late!

[myxpykalix]

I had a heart attack in Dec. of 2014. I started having real bad pains in my back, not my chest. They wouldn't go away so within an hour i went to the ER they did a EKG in triosh then all heck broke loose and doctors started running, ran me up to the cath lab. I asked what was going on..."You're having a heart attack"....I said, "am i going to die?"....."not if i can help it". They put a stent in the "widowmaker" vein. I've had to take a bunch of different meds and haven't felt like doing much in the shop in the last year.
Bottom line is don't think you are invincible and it won't happen to you. I have never smoked, drank, took drugs or any bad habit and I still had one. The doctor said it had more to do with genetics then lifestyle.
Get yourself checked out and take care of yourself because like my signature file says
"Just remember...when it's time for the hearse to pull up..there's no luggage rack on top"..........you can't take it with you and when you're dead...you're dead!!

[joe]

All of this is good information. Thanks to you guys for sharing your experiences.

The pain and suffering isn't necessary if one takes care of themselves in advance and follows the doctors orders. This is one item every guy needs to take to heart.

Joe

[harryball]

I appreciate all the comments and can not only sympathize with others that have had an "event"... I can now empathize as well. After cutting down an oak tree (had been killed by lightning) I remember sitting there for a short time thinking "IS this a heart attack? IS this how I'm going to die, sitting outside next to a 110 year old felled oak tree?" Fortunately it eased off quickly and I got to the cardiologist quickly. I never want to experience that again.

A common theme is "waiting too long". Well, I'd say if you're 40, go get a stress test and see a cardiologist. Set up a schedule that makes sense for future checkups and follow it.

[dmidkiff]

I'm sorry that anyone had an event and glad that they have started taking care of it. Just want to add a little hope here. My dad had 2 heart attacks just a few months apart. After the 2nd they did a triple bypass. He lived for 17 more years and kept his yard in good shape for 15 of those years. He had about 5-6 acres to mow. He even helped me dig and form and pour the foundation of my first shop.

[waynelocke]

I had a heart attack 21 years ago and would have died had I not been in the Cardiac Intensive Care waiting room in a hospital in the Houston Medical center. I was 46 and had had a referral for a cardiologist from my GP for about 6 months before. I started having symptoms the day before and reasoned that I was too young, robust and invincible for a heart attack. If I had seen a cardiologist before I might have still had a bypass but I wouldn't now have 1/4 of my heart be dead muscle. It is a life changing event to say the least. Through modern medicine, a bit of diet change, doctor visits, exercise and luck I have been asymptomatic for heart failure but I wonder what it would be like with a full heart.

If you think that you are having a heart attack get to the hospital. It's really the only place that saves you. It is better to be sent home with indigestion (been there, done that) than to lie down and die.

[myxpykalix]

If you have survived 21 years after having one then that gives others of us hope. I have a world class university hospital 5 minutes away and after my symptoms wouldn't go away within an hour i went to the ER and they said that is good because when the heart muscle is deprived of blood and oxygen it dies. So you guys don't think you are "tuffguys" and can deal with it, just go get looked at if you have pain....

[dmidkiff]

I should add that my dad was 89 years old when he passed. His heart was weak from the damage and age but was not the cause of his death.