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Emergency Service

GUARDIAN Reader Cheats Death–Repeatedly

 February 4, 2010 ⋅  Post a comment

This true yarn comes from a guy who loves life and has been a friend for more than 40 years. He was an airman, copper, patriot, parent, grandparent–and we now learn a great story teller. It is a long post, but worth reading and sharing.

By ANDY KIMBRELL

So, Wednesday morning I got up, made breakfast for the grand kids and sent them off to school, took the garbage and recycling bins out to the curb, made my breakfast (omelet with ham and swiss cheese), fed the dog, and parked in front of the TV to eat and watch the pilot episode of ‘Saving Grace'(I had rented the first season DVDs
the day before).

The show had finished and the credits were rolling when I got a sharp pain in the middle of my back. I went to my room and got the high density foam roll that the physical therapist had given me after my last back surgery – laying on it usually takes care of my back twinges. While I was in the back part of the house, I grabbed my daily ration of pills and took them – there was starting to be a hint of indigestion and I hadn’t yet had my daily dose of prilosec. Went back to the front room – by that time a sharp stabbing pain in the middle of my chest had joined the party. I laid down on the foam roll and a couple of vertebrae popped, but not the joint where the pain seemed to be. The chest pain changed from a point source stabbing pain to a burning pain that spread over 6 inch circle. There was also a sensation of pressure, like I needed to belch. I got up and sat in my chair and tried to belch – no luck.

I sat there for a few minutes and though about my boss who had apparently suffered a myocardial infarction at lunch one day He came back to the office, stayed at his desk until 1600, got in his car and started to drive home. He made it 2 or 3 miles,
pulled off the freeway at an off ramp, turned off into the weeds and fell over dead. There was a nurse in the following car who wondered why he was driving off the road, saw him slump over and stopped to help. She said he was dead when she got to him,
all attempts by her, the ambulance crew and the ER to resuscitate him were futile. I thought about that and decided that this was no time to try to live up to the “tough old bird” label once given me by the neurosurgeon who fixed my back.

I told my son to hand me the phone and that I thought I might be having a heart attack. I called 911, answered “ambulance” to the police, fire, or ambulance query. She asked for the reason – told her that I thought I was having a heart attack. She asked for the address which I gave, and explained that it was the second house north of the intersection on the east side. She asked for symptoms, which by now included sweating and feeling weak. She asked about medications, then told me to bring them
to the ambulance which was on the way. So I went to the bathroom and got the bottles. As I was going back to the front room, I thought about our front porch and steps – decided that getting a gurney through there and around the corner would be
awkward, so I went out on the steps to meet them. When they got to the intersection they turned the right direction, but were going very slow and didn’t look too sure of where to go next, so I walked out to the curb and waved at them. I told the
operator that the ambulance had arrived and gave the phone back to my son. The ambulance crew didn’t seem like they really believed me, but invited me into the ambulance, took my shirt off and put the electrodes on me for an EKG. I heard the
printer on the machine run for a few seconds, then one of the techs on the radio to the ER said that the strip was transmitted. A few seconds later he leaned over my shoulder and said “Well Mr K***, it looks like you were right – you are having a heart attack. We are going to do some stuff right quick and then we will transport you.” He continued asking about meds I had taken, gave me some aspirin to chew up, sprayed some nitroglycerin under my tongue, started an IV and gave me a shot of something – he told me what but I don’t remember – explaining that it was a synthetic something or other for the pain. He started oxygen, put a belt over me and we rolled for the hospital.

At the ER things were kind of confusing, but I answered all the same questions again – I didn’t really care, the good stuff was starting to kick in. I heard them talk about “getting to the cath lab” but having to wait a few minutes until it was ready
– my daughter later told me that it was less than 5 minutes from in the door to moving to the cath lab. Total elapsed time from onset of symptoms to the cath lab was probably 35 minutes max. Fifteen minutes to decide to call, 5 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, 10 minutes in the ambulance for treatment and transport, 5 minutes in ER.

In the cath lab, they moved me onto the treatment table (which the guy supervising the move called “the popsicle stick” because it was so narrow). He cautioned me to lie still so I wouldn’t fall off. I got an injection (which hurt like hell) in the right groin area, and I could feel something happening there. People were talking, but I didn’t pay much attention, the good stuff was really working and I mostly wanted to sleep. I drifted in and out, and every few minutes someone kept asking me about my pain level. One time he included the information that “You put us through a work out there -you went into a really nasty rhythm”. At one point he told me that they were going to give me something to help them find the blockage which would make me feel warm all over, and probably make me feel like I had wet my pants, not to worry, it only felt that way. A few seconds later it felt like I was sliding into a tub of very warm water – the warmth just washed over me.

Another time as I woke up I felt 3 brisk pushes on my chest and wondered why. The business end of what I assumed was some sort of x-ray machine kept moving around in front of my face, sometimes bumping into the oxygen mask. I remember the mask
(respirator?) trying to breathe shallower and faster than I wanted to, and someone said something about the mask that I didn’t quite understand, and a hand loosened the mask and tilted it sideways so that I could breathe at my own pace. Every once
in a while it felt like a needle poked into the inside of my right thigh which was very painful. Once I remember jumping and yelling “OW!” To which one of those voices said , “He said OW”, like that was somehow very amazing. I still haven’t figured out
what was causing that, because it was in a different area from where the procedure was happening, but I remember the doc saying, “Mr K***, we will put some more numbing in place before we continue”. Next time I was asked about pain level, I
realized that although my back still hurt, the pain in my chest was almost gone. What hurt the most right then was my left shoulder (I had rotator cuff surgery there in mid December). I told them my shoulder hurt and someone propped my arm up so it was more comfortable.

Pretty soon, I was moved back onto a gurney and wheeled away. In the elevator, one nurse was telling someone “and they shocked him 10 times! You should have seen how his arms flew up (I got one eye open at this point and saw her straighten her arms and raise them in front of her, then spread them and drop them back down – looked like she was doing a back stroke in the pool) and then flop down off the table – no wonder he complained about his shoulder hurting.” She also told several people that
I had said “What is this dizziness that I’m feeling?” I don’t remember saying it, and never stayed awake long enough to get the whole context of the situation, but she seemed to think it was quite funny, and I do remember hearing her tell it at least 3 times. And I remember thinking “hey, maybe this will be the new Sleep Talking Man thing.”

After I got to the CCU, the doctor came in to talk to me. About all that I remember was him telling me that they had performed CPR on me for “quite a while” and that I would probably be very sore from it. And that they had aspirated the clot that caused the problem and placed 2 stents and I should be just fine. My wife and daughter said they were told that I had “arrested” twice while in the cath lab.

I spent the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday in the CCU. I was very tired and slept most of the time. Friday I was moved to the telemetry ward where I was wired to a small brick that I carried in the pocket of my gown instead being of hard wired into the equipment pedestal in the room. Which was nice because I could go for walks around the ward. The nice young nurse out at the desk even showed me which screen was my monitor.

Saturday evening I got to come home. Sunday morning we went to church, and Sunday evening we went to a benefit concert that we had tickets for. Monday I went to physical therapy and grocery shopping. Today I mostly slept in and watched TV –
think I over did it Sunday and Monday. I can take a deep breath again, but my chest still hurts if I push down with may hands when getting up from a chair. The slight  burns from the electrodes have faded away, and the rash from the adhesive on the chest electrode is mostly gone.

Pain wise, this was barely in my top 3. For out and out pain, the gall bladder attack and the time part of a disk broke off and wedged against my spinal cord both rate a lot higher in the “Ow” category.

For once in my life, I believe that I can serve as a good example instead of an example of what not to do. Learn the symptoms, pay attention to what your body is telling you, and if you think it might be your heart, call for medical assistance – now, not later! If I had waited 10 or 15 minutes longer to call, I would probably be dead now. With a timely call for help, I was attending a concert 5 days later.

All in all, I think I’m doing great and I’m glad to be alive!

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