I left work early on Monday afternoon, around 3pm with an increasingly uncomfortable pain in my chest. I had just unloaded and moved 2 dozen bags of premix render coat from my van to indoors so could have strained it a bit.
I get's home and thought I'll try and sleep it off. It took about an hour just to get to sleep, my arms were heavy and pulsing and the chest pain wasn't shaking but I did eventually get to sleep when I finally got into a half comfortable position.
Following an hour getting to sleep and an hours sleep, I woke up but the discomfort and pain was still very apparent. A nice hot bath normally helps a whole plethora of issues so I dived into one of them and got a short bit of respite in the warm bubbles and increased temperature of the water.
Gets out of the bath and bang, pain straight back on to me, at full steam ahead, just lifting myself from the bath was a huge effort let alone getting dried off - I hit the bed half wet, half dry thinking "Jeez, is this what I think it is....."
I ummed and aaahed for another half hour and figured it was definitely time to call 111. The lady on the line asked me quite a few relevant 'interview' type questions and then said "I'll send an ambulance for you". 12 minutes later it turns up, the medics hooked me up to an ECG and did 3 printouts and said quite casually "Yeah. you're having a heart attack" WTF ?!!
I had suspected this earlier on because you don't get to 53 years old without reading somewhere, just what the symptoms may be like... (imagine Dumbo sitting on your chest)
Next thing, after the medic dosing me with diamorphine, we've hit the road on route to the main Hospital in my city. Straight into A&E where I'm hooked up once again to lots of them sticky pads (which incidentally rip the hair of your chest on removal, big time - aaaargh) and wires for more ECG monitoring and more printouts and more morphine and other tablets, sprays and concoctions. From 23:30 until 07:30 in A&E, I was then moved up to a Cardio ward where they gave me breakfast and visits from another Dr. who explained that I had had a heart attack and that he must act upon it and that I'd be moved pronto to the Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital just 3 or so miles away (actually nearer to home for me).
I was met, in the ambulance, and interviewed by the consultant and surgeon and some other members of the ops team, who explained the impending procedure then wheeled straight into theatre and onto the table where I lay there absolutely static for 40 minutes whilst a very hot and sharp "paper cut" type incision was made in the bottom of my right wrist and they continued to insert a camera and then a stent into an artery very close to my heart.
All done my midday, back onto the recovery ward, 2 hourly blood pressure tests day and night up til them announcing I'd be going home on Wednesday after my meds had been arranged. By about 17:00 the mixed bag of medication had arrived with a huge amount of reading material on each one explaining how, why and what each one will be doing for me.
I wasn't expecting any of this from lifting some bags of stuff out of my van but Hey, it highlighted a problem which effectively, if not treated, may well have reduced my life somewhat.
Bottom line is, I'm home and dry with instructions to take it easy for a few weeks, don't drive for a week and keep taking some of these pills for one year, two years and the rest of my puff. Oh, and give up smoking pronto. Monday lunchtime was the time I had my last fag !!!
The service from the NHS was absolutely impeccable from beginning to end as it was the only other time I had to lean on it bigtime when my daughters arrived in my world some 24 and 17 yrs ago.
Sorry for the long post but it's the first ( and hopefully last time) I have a heart attack.
Cheers
PS. Apparently, all inpatients are swabbed for Covid as a matter of course and I was stated as negative on my result from that too.
Last edited by reggie747; 7th May 2020 at 08:51.
Wow!! Scary stuff, but glad you’re on the mend!
Dodged a bullet there, and hopefully you’ll make a full recovery.
My mum had a couple of stents fitted in her fifties, she felt like a new woman not long afterwards, you probably don’t realise quite how poorly you’ve been feeling yet.
Your good health anyway, all the best.
Blimey what a story so glad to hear you’re doing ok, sounds like you’re really lucky as well as I’m sure you know as you didn’t call for help right away.
Do they think the manual lifting actually triggered the heart attack or can’t they say specifically?
Yep sounds like quitting smoking would be a great idea now!
All the best
Dan
Thank you indeed, the fact your Mum felt like a new woman is great newsOriginally Posted by Tooks
Sorry to hear this, Reggie. But glad to know you've had the appropriate checks and investigations.
Did they test you for the virus on the way in or the way out, or both?
Take it easy.
Yeah, smoking is bad (but we all know that anyway) and yes, the lifting sure sounds like the catalyst for action on this occasion.
Morning, I was swabbed (right up the snout, thought they was trying to mash my brain) on Monday night within an hour of getting there and they announced late Tuesday afternoon that it came back negative. I know I'd read it takes 48hrs but I'll take them at their word....
Thanks
Glad to hear that you are home and well. It must have been terrifying.
I found those little ECG pads to be little sods, there always seems to be one that was forgotten and left in place.
Thank you.
Not quite terrifying because I think I was acutely aware of exactly what was going on at all times and I never ever felt like I was gonna "peg" it, thankfully hahaha
Not recommended of course...
Cool. Almost worth it to meet Jodie Whittaker.
Best wishes.
Last edited by unclealec; 7th May 2020 at 09:03.
At least some good news to balance what you've been through. Wish you well in your recovery, Reggie.
Hi Tony,
Thank you. The camera/stent was actually pain free after just that little hot sensation when he nicked my wrist to gain access to send it in.
I kept thinking of the Numskulls in the Beano from years ago as a kid whilst he's feeding the lines into my wrist. Bizarre I know...
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Did I mess up the punctuation there hahaha
No you didn't Reggie, and even if you did I think you have more important things to deal with right now. I was being subversive.
And I may or may not have a Jodie Whittaker fetish.
That sounds scary, glad the result is a positive one!
Dave E
Skating away on the thin ice of a new day
Must have been terrifying , but good to hear you are home and recovering , Greg . A friend of ours (in her 50s) had a stent fitted earlier in the year , and she is doing very well now . She did make some changes to her lifestyle , she stopped smoking , changed to a healthier diet and even goes running now . I hope you make a swift recovery mate , all the best .
Just checked her out and Hmmmmm. yeah....
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Thanks Bernie
Scary stuff, but great news it was taken care of as it did.
Take care of yourself.
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
Reggie! You should be resting.Just checked her out and Hmmmmm. yeah....
I'll PM you some pics of Tom Baker.
It must be difficult, working out whether or not (or when) to make that call. I'm so glad you did and that all is as well as it can be. With rest, you should make a full recovery and giving up the fags will prove to be one of the best things you ever did. Enjoy your rest for a while.
Certainly will do.
(Groan.......)
I needed to be sure and the fact the pain wasn't going away, it was increasing in discomfort, sealed the decision making deal for me.
Alright, I'll include Leela.
As they kept you in overnight before the stent procedure I presume the blockage sorted itself out initially otherwise you would have had heart wall damage in the intervening period. Worth checking the EF (ejection fraction) in your notes to make sure that isn’t the case.
When I had a similar event some 3 years back I was wheeled into a cath lab on arrival with no time to waste.....
Blimey. Take it easy Reggie, and get well soon.
Glad to hear you are well!
A few people I know have had the same thing....they are perfectly fine now and still working etc!
Im full of praise for the N.H.S. Ive had a few operations myself over the last 7 ish years...didnt really "use"! it much until then...they were great when I needed them...and continue to be great now!
Rest,and recover well.........summer is almost here!
Wow, pleased you are back safe and sound & thanks for the story and timely reminder of the symtoms for us all. Not getting any younger are we!
Fantastic level of service and turnaround from the NHS - Bless them all!
Sounds eerily similiar to what happened to me a couple of years ago at the tender age of 47. I smoked my last ever 3 cigarettes during my heart attack (it was pretty mild compared to yours!) and giving up was probably the hardest part of my recovery - especially when sat at home bored out of my skull convalescing :D
Good luck with your recovery mate - I actually feel better and healthier now than I did before the event. Oats for breakfast every day is getting a bit bloody boring though...
Yikes!
Take it easy bro.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Jesus Greg! That's some story and I'm glad you're back with us in the land of the living.
Hopefully the only way is up now – no fags, limit the booze, loads of fresh fruit and veg, brisk walks out in the sticks. It's your second chance.
And full credit to the NHS for acting swiftly and competently while already under immense pressure
Take it easy matey
Hi OP - if you want to PM I lived through similar and can share ideas with you
5 years ago I was aged 46 cycling up the steepest hill in Rambsbottom and had a weird pain. Luckily one of my pals I was riding with noticed I was quite grey. I wasn’t in massive pain at all but he called an ambulance. Amazing NHS service and 3 hours later had 3 stents in. Also entry through the wrist and I’ve got the amazing pics to show the blockage and then everything opened up.
Close call as the artery they call the widow maker was fully blocked.
One bit of advice I was given that I’ve passed on to others was from a rehab nurse. She said to me “see your type all the time, so busy today they think they can start taking it easy in a few months time when it suits them. Wrong - your body needs to recover now and take it really easy for the next 6 weeks”. That’s probably easier to do under lockdown. But heed it.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Those ECG pads are why you should always be extra nice to nurses! The NHS gets some stick now and then but when you need treatment in a hurry they're the best in the world.
Glad you're on the mend & another ex smoker :-)
I should add that I came home and seriously thought of selling all my watches as I thought they are just trinkets and not important. That of course is correct, and you think about the bigger picture stuff
Anyway I didn’t rush to sell the collection and am glad I didn’t !
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Always make that call!! They won't mind if it's not an actual Heart Attack, better safe than sorry, or so they told me.
Glad you're alright by the way.
Thanks for posting - I'm peased you're okay all things considered,
As others have said... take it easy for a good while, while you seem in good nick on the surface your body has been through a significant event.
Keep us posted.
Wow! Have a safe recovery, good that it seems to have been caught early, probably a good opportunity to treat the post recovery phase of your life as the start of a new life and enjoy every day.
glad its worked out and was caught in time greg, there are a lot of people out there with a ticking time bomb in the form of blocked arteries, welcome to the H A Club, had mine 8 years ago unfortunaley my NHS experience was not as good as yours in fact it as awfull, but i was fortunate to have private health insurance through work which saved me . take it easy :-)-- dean
Good to hear you are better and recovering not what I was expecting to read when I read the title.
I think the nhs is great my wife works for them and works incredibly hard and most of the time doesn’t get time for breaks or dinner , my elderly mum got taken in to hospital and it’s amazing the amount of time and expense they spent on her instead of writing her off because of how old she is.
and what the have done for covid is amazing I hope when its all over all the sleazy politicians that want to sell it off to trump and all the people that moan about it remember what the nhs has done, but my mrs thinks it will just go back to the way it was before
I will make some backtrack inquiries, I was under the impression that it wasn't a blockage but a collapsed/collapsing wall, reduced in size if you like... ?
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Thanks Richard, I bloody will do. The cemetery is full of one time heroes don't you know...
I thank you all for taking the effort to reply, I really do.
Crikey Greg - scary stuff. Glad you were so well taken care of at this particularly worrying time. Recover well mate.
Frightening to say the least! Glad you're OK, another success for our fantastic NHS. Just take it easy, and definitely lay off the ciggies!
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
OP, glad you phoned and they caught it in time. Hope this is a catalyst for change (sounds like it has been already) and turns out to have been a blessing in disguise. All things considered, not a bad time to be forced to rest. [As for the Jodie fetishist, it could be much worse.]
Sorry to hear your tale. Glad you are on the road to recovery and made it home safely.
Your story is almost identical to that of a family member who suffered a HA in March...all the way down to the casual ambulance crew saying to me: 'yes, he is currently having a heart attack'...I guess they are well trained to not panic us!
Also similar experience of the wrist cut and stent done so very swiftly like nothing happened!
Please make sure you get that rest, it is very important!
That must have been a really scary moment when they first said what was happening, just can't imagine it. Hope all goes well now, I'm sure it will, just be careful.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Same story here when I was 53! Not going into details, but in my case things were a lot more severe. Took me 10 days to get out of the hospital. Things are absolutely fine now (9 yrs later).
My cardiologist (also my neighbour across the park - our kids are friends) told me a few interesting things afterwards. In my case: it runs in the family, but it's cured now and with the aid of medicine, things are under control. In his words: "The chance of having it again, is about the same as being hit by a buss: it can happen and you need to take care. After all, you don't cross the street without looking! But under normal circumstances, everything stays fine."
He also told me a few signs as 'telltales' of an upcoming cardio incident. Often, family members realise these things after the patient was hospitalized!
- snoring when inhaling
- moments of: "You go ahead, I'll catch up with you guys, I need to... [insert excuse] first!"
- easy sleeping during the day - not even after very hard labour.
One of my mates (then 47) had this sort of symptoms after I had them (and was made aware). I told him to go to his GP for a check-up. In short: he arrived GP's in his BMW Z4, he left the clinic on a stretcher: he was rushed to the hospital for 3 bypasses. Now, he's running 10 kms 3x week again.
Point 1 - I'm told that I do that...
Point 3 - Since just this year actually, I've taken to having a nap for a good hour or so when I get in from work. I thought it was because I was using up my calories keeping warm. I work outside and the early winter period was cold.
Food for thought Menno, cheers
Been there...done that...except I didn't make the call, I drove myself to my GP's surgery and pleaded for some help as it was out of hours. I was under the impression that I had a bad case of...I don't know what, but MI wasn't on my list.
Apart from taking care of yourself while you recover, one thing to be aware of is that you're probably on Clopidogrel (only for a year) and that makes it difficult to stop any cuts from bleeding. I had a problem with one on the back of my heel as it was difficult to get to. After that incident I invested in some large and absorbant dressings. In the end I didn't use them but I was glad of the reassurance they gave me.
It'll all be in the discharge letter to your GP, albeit in medical language and abbreviations. Hopefully they gave you a copy of the letter. Something to look into while you take it easy?
I had given up on the cigarettes a couple of months before my attack and have had about one a year since then. The temptation is still there but it's easier to resist if I remind myself that I can really enjoy one very occasionally on special occasions (OK alcohol is usually involved) rather than having a habit that cost more than it was worth for the little pleasure it gave me after ten years smoking.
Keep taking the tablets...as if you have any option...look after yourself, chalk one up to experience and enjoy the years ahead.
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