On Saturday, August the 4th, I had a heart
attack. I was walking down the dirt road by my house when I felt sudden constriction
in my chest, intense weakness, shortness of breath, and tingling numbness in my
whole upper body. I started back toward the house; the pain and weakness grew.
I started to sit down in the ditch but figured I wouldn’t be able to get up
again so I worked my way back to the house and called 911. The paramedics
arrived quickly and after they put a scanner on me a young lady said: “We need
to go now!” I didn’t think that was a good sign.
With sirens blaring, they got me to St. Tammany Hospital in
Covington pretty quickly, with the young woman working on me the whole time. I
never lost consciousness or even felt any real confusion. Mostly I felt fairly
calm since at this point I understood it was all out of my hands. Once at the
hospital they told me that the frontal artery leading to my heart was 100 percent
blocked. They quickly put in a stent. I was then sent to ICU.
I spent two days in ICU, being introduced to a host of new
medications. These made me quite nauseated, meaning I couldn’t eat anything.
Not that I felt very hungry. On Monday evening they moved me to a new room in
the regular hospital, and then released me Tuesday evening, although I was sent
home wearing something called “Life Vest,” which monitors me and apparently can
administer treatment if I have another attack.
The doctors said there was clearly damage to the heart but
they won’t know how much or how much recovery I might expect until several
weeks have passed. I’m hoping for good news on that front and am trying to
follow all their protocols. I’m weak and can move only slowly. Still no
appetite. I’ve been able to process some emails but not much else. I’m going to
try to build my strength slowly. I do plan to be back at school for my classes
though there are contingency plans for me easing back into that.
Thanks goes out to all the folks from the paramedics to the
housecleaners who got me through my stay at the hospital, particularly the
nurses in ICU, who were very considerate and kind and helpful.
Also, of course, to Lana, who has been a rock. She was at
work when it happened and was working the phones at the desk when the call came
through for her. I understand it was quite a shock. She’s taking a few days off
work to stay home with me while I begin to mend.
I always suspected that I would need a stent or stents
eventually. My brother has had to have them. But I thought I’d get some kind of
warning of trouble before the actual attack. It didn’t happen in my case so any
of you out there with the risk factors, get yourself checked.
