A Heart Attack on Father's Day

Almost 5 years have passed since that warm sunny Father's Day weekend in 2007 when my husband had a heart attack. The day before my husband had been to a company picnic and enjoyed a rare treat, some Italian sausage and many other goodies that I don't serve at home because he is a Diabetic. Because he has been a diabetic for many years, he's learned (as best as possible, but not perfectly) to avoid foods with high sugar content, avoid fatty foods, walk regularly (every day almost!) and try to keep the weight off (his greatest challenge).

The company picnic was on a Friday, and he came home telling me he had some heartburn, so took some antacids. The next day he mentioned the heartburn again...I made a mental note to keep an eye on him, knowing his higher heart attack risk, but didn't say anything because he had eaten poorly the day before, and it was possible that it was, indeed, heartburn. He took some more antacids, and off we went in the afternoon to do some shopping. He acted and seemed fine, did mention once again the heartburn, and at that point I asked him if he was sure it was heartburn. Yes, he was pretty sure that's all it was. Remember, hindsight is always 20/20, if this were to happen again, it would be off to the hospital immediately!

A couple of years earlier, he had a stress test, and because of an abnormality they went up into his heart with a little camera through the artery starting at the groin to take a look around, and saw that he had blockages beginning in two arteries, but not enough to need any work at the time...so they put him on anti-cholesterol drugs.

That night he went to bed before I did, and then got up at about 1 a.m. I was still up, and he and came out saying "you know, I'm beginning to think this may be more than just heartburn...when I lie down I feel a funny sensation down my arms and in my chest...I'm going to drive myself to the hospital". Yes, he was all ready to get dressed and drive himself to the hospital.

I said "no, I'm driving you" and then my nerves got the better of me and I ran into the bathroom feeling ill, then pulled myself together and threw on some sneakers and off we went. Thinking back, I know I should have called an ambulance, and if it happens again, will do that, but that's hindsight, we made it safely and they took him in right away and worked quickly.

Within short period of time, they decided to admit him, but didn't mention anything about a heart attack, they were running lots of tests. It was some hours later that a nurse whispered in his ear that he had, indeed, had a heart attack, but was doing fine, when he made a request that they couldn't fulfill and he couldn't understand why. I drove home and got to bed at about 4 a.m. to get a little sleep, then called as soon as I woke up to see how he was. It was then that he told me the story about them telling him he had the heart attack.

After tests and more, it was decided he would be transported to another hospital that had much more available for treating heart patients...and so I followed by car while he traveled by ambulance to that hospital where he would have Stents put in. The story continues below.