Recent Blogs

Blog Archive

Monday, July 14th, 2008
WRITINGS IN THE SKY

On Saturday May at around 8:30AM I experienced a heart attack. I should have known better from the get go because I usually sleep in on weekends. Me being outside working at 8:30AM was almost unheard of. I felt a very bad discomfort and pressure on my left upper chest an lower shoulder.The discomfort did not last long, but it was something I will not forget. I was working on our boat "MISS BITCH".
She is a 26 foot cabin cubby which my famiy and I love very much. I was working on her to get ready to get her into the lake the following day. Mike Morris, a friend that I work with has a large truck and had agreed do this for us.

I also have another job. I am on-call when I am not working my regular full time job. I am on-call 37 hours a week including every-other weekend. I work for a company where I am an Electronic Technician. I work on arcade style video games, pinball machine and other assorted amusement games.

Well, around 10:00 AM, my beeper went off and I had to go to Chatham to work on a video game.I went in the house to let my wife know I was leaving. She said I looked hot and I should wait a few minutes and drink some water. After this I left and drove to Chatham ( We live on the extreme north end of Springfield).
On the return trip, on I-55 just prior to the Sangamon Ave exit, my chest starting the discomfort and pressure again. I had a passing thought of driving directly to the ER, but just as I did the feelng went away. I decided to just continue home. When I got home my wifes best friend Jackie was there. I no sooner walked in the house, my wife and Jackie both noticed I was flushed and just "not right".
My wife yelled into my sons room and asked him to come and see for himself. I remember her saying that she thought I was having a heart attack. My son ( who works part time at Prairie Heart and has some knowledge of basic cardiac issues ) came into the room and said "give him 3 baby aspirins and call the paramedics".
They arrived within 5-10 minutes. Fire truck first, They took my vitals and put me on oxygen. Just after that the paramedics arrived and kind of took over.
I heard a paramedic ask my family if I had any medications. My son said he gave me 3 baby aspirins. They were impressed with that knowledge and told him that what he had done was a very very good thing. They gave me 2 more baby aspirins and 2 doses of nitro-glycerine. They put me on a gurney in my dining room and started an IV.
They then took me to Memorial. By this time I was feeling OK but just very weak and frightened.
The paramedics in the ambulance placed me on a heart monitor and radioed the ER to let them know we were in route. We arrived and I was immediately taken into a exam room where 3-4 nurses and technicians started work on me. They asked me if I was still having chest pain and said yes i was. They started putting small sticky tabs all over my body. I asked what they were for, they said an EKG.
My wife and son arrived in the room about then and I could see on their faces they were as scared as I was. They drew blood from 1 arm while they started an IV in the other. A nurse said the blood was being sent to the lab and that they would know some results ASAP. A doctor came in next and asked about the pain ( it had diminished a bit but was still there ) He said they were going to take some xrays of the heart to see it there was any visible damage. X-ray people brought the machine into the exam room and took some pictures. A few minutes later the doctor came back in and said that there was some visible damage and that the blood tests had also identified a chemical that the heart releases only if it is in distress





to be cont'd