Posted

Feb 28th 2006

Mood

Upset

My husband had a heart attack.

In a nutshell, this is what happened:

Saturday morning he went out to get firewood. He came home around noon complaining of chest pain and swore up and down that he'd pulled a muscle moving a log (HUGE logs!!) and just needed to soak in a hot bath for a while. He felt better after that and we went out for the afternoon and evening.

Sunday he spent all day in bed. Said he felt like "there's a 400 pound gorilla" sitting on his chest. I was nagging him to go to the ER, but he continually refused so I just did what I could to try and make him comfortable. He promised that he'd go in to the clinic first thing Monday morning.

Monday he called the central appointments line... they told him that there weren't any appointments available and scheduled him for this afternoon (Tuesday). His boss noticed how miserable he was and finally threatened him with being stuffed in the trunk and taken to the ER.

I'd been up until 0530 painting. I didn't hear the phone ringing downstairs and it was the neighbor ringing the doorbell that woke me up around noon. She told me to call the office because hubby was on his way to the hospital. I called and one of his coworkers told me that another one of the guys was on his way to get me (both vehicles were on base from when I'd gone to meet him Friday afternoon for bowling).

We got lost looking for the hospital but eventually found it. THEN we had to hunt around the different buildings to find him! Third building was finally the right one. We found the CICU and were shown to a waiting room (that place is locked up tighter than Fort Knox!). After about 10 minutes, the doctor came in and approached me. She asked, "Are you the wife?" to which I replied, "Yes, I'm the wife." She said, "Your husband had a heart attack. A bad one." She proceeded to tell me about the cardiac catheterization and stents and my knees took off for parts unknown at that point and I sat down again.

I was finally allowed to see him. He had more wiring than the entertainment center, was scared, in pain and miserable. I spent most of yesterday afternoon crying off and on and I was on the phone until after midnight calling family and close friends.

As of 1130 A.M. my time...

I spoke with the doctor who initially saw him yesterday. He said it wasn't a total blockage of the artery, so the heart was still getting SOME blood. Hubby called and he sounds a LOT better. Said that "there's still some heaviness" in his chest and I could tell that his breathing was still laboured. There's significant damage to the anterior wall of the heart but they weaned him off the pumps and the heart is pumping normally. They just removed the cardiac catheter and are prepping him for transport to the military hospital. He'll call me again once he's settled in to his new room and I'll go see him.

All the guys at his office are being wonderfully supportive and keep calling to check on me and make sure I'm okay. The neighbors are doing the same (and offering to cook for me). I'm keeping in touch with our family and friends via phone and e-mail.