Survivors share their heart attack stories

I ASSUMED IT WAS HEARTBURN "I assumed it was heartburn. Nearly 20 years ago, at age 50, I was walking out of the cafeteria at work with my morning coffee, when I felt a sudden onset of

pain in the center of my chest. I assumed it was heartburn and kept walking. I stopped at a friend's desk to talk and got very light-headed. He told me I looked gray and offered to call

our emergency number. I declined and chose to walk to my desk which was a long way down a large corridor. My legs were so rubbery as I approached my desk that I had to hang onto the cubicle

walls. There was nobody else around yet. I felt a little better so I walked to my truck and drove myself home. My wife, a former heart cath tech, insisted on driving me to the urgent care.

As soon as they put an EKG on me, they told me I was having a heart attack and called an ambulance. I had a 90% occlusion in my right coronary artery and they put in a stent. I have been

fine since and am taking statins to lower my cholesterol. I was not overweight and had no previous symptoms. My high cholesterol had been ignored by my PCP." -_ Posted by shadowman3320_

I SURVIVED A WIDOW-MAKER "I survived a ‘widow-maker’ in June 2019. From that attack, I learned two major things. First, while we should not ignore or minimize the symptoms of an active

heart attack, my heart attack could have been avoided had I been more attentive to the screaming warnings that my body had been sending me for months. Among those warnings were shortness of

breath upon minor physical exertion, waking up many nights in a cold sweat, and four days prior to the attack my ankles swelled abnormally large during a camping trip. The second thing that

I learned was that an EKG, even when showing other classic signs of a heart attack, is often of marginal value when diagnosing a cardiac event. I was given an EKG by paramedics and was told

that my heart appeared normal. Fortunately, my son, a former first responder, insisted that I have my wife take me to the ER. At the ER, I was given a second EKG that also showed nothing

abnormal. Due to those two results, I was sent to the waiting room where I remained for four hours. Only after I told the receptionist that I was leaving was I taken to a triage room where I

was placed on IV blood thinners and had blood drawn. My cardiologist said that the blood work should have been an ‘automatic’ performed immediately upon arrival. That night, I had the very

same jaw and chest pain that I had earlier. At that time I was wearing a heart monitor. I was given a third EKG. The nursing staff insisted that all was well with the monitor and the EKG

results. Yet, they gave me a high dose of blood thinners and nitroglycerin for the chest pain. In the morning, my cardiologist came in and told me that I had elevated enzymes that indicated

that I had a heart attack. After a serious conversation with the hospital staff, he made immediate arrangements to get me in the cath lab, where I received a stent in left descending artery

to open a 100% blockage. The cardiologist said I was a living miracle given the extended delay in diagnosis." - _Posted by SamuelT267439_ IF IN DOUBT, CHECK IT OUT "NO SYMPTOMS —

At the age of 77 I woke up ‘panting’ and had heard of ‘shortness of breath’ being a heart attack symptom. Not having any other symptom I waited til I got the wife up, dressed myself, and

drove 20 miles to the hospital. Asked the nurse in ER what ‘shortness of breath’ was and she said ‘anything not normal for yourself.’ I was taken to the Cardiac Stepdown Unit. After ECG,

Angiogram, and Stress Test I was told I had scarring showing that I had had a heart attack & I had not noticed the first one. I am now on 8 medications and exercise, liquid and diet

restrictions. My new motto: IF IN DOUBT CHECK IT OUT." _- Posted by rs5727_