Lucky to be alive

[DMCNY]

On Thur. Dec. 1st, I woke up for work like I usually do and got my kids up and ready for school. My whole upper body was hurting like I had worked out too hard the day before, even though I didn't. Not thinking much of it, I just continued out my day. Brought my kids to school and went to work. A few times through-out the day I would get this strange feeling in my upper body. It was hard to describe, I could only think anxiety. Even though I wasn't feeling anxious about anything or overly stressed more than usual. It just didn't make sence. The feeling would come and go, so I didn't worry much about it.

By the time I got home from work the feeling was getting more pronounced and harder to ignore. I told my wife I was going to try and lay down for a while to see if that would help. Laying down just made it much worse. I told my wife I was going over to the ER just to be checked out. My thought was I was just having an anxiety attack, and if they could just confirm that for me I'd probobly calm down a bit.

When I got to the ER I did have very slight chest pain and mostly forearm pain. They did an EKG on me and the Triage nurse said it didn't look too bad, but she would have to give it to the Doc to look at. They called me right in, in front of several people who were all ready waitng. My mind is starting to freak a bit now. After sitting in the ER for a while, the pain in my forearms starting getting much worse, like a crushing pain.

They ran blood tests and the Doc said it showed signs of possible heart muscle damage. At this point I'm like, WTF? The Doc says he wants to admit me to the hospital. I'm freaking out at this point because all I can think about is how I have to go to work tomorrow and get my kids off to school. I almost left at that point. If the Doc had said to me, "Well, it's up to you"... I would have been out of there.

That night, I couldn't sleep at all from the pain. Next morning Doc comes in and says he thinks it's my heart and that I should have a cath done. They do the cath and spot a 100% blockage in my heart. He said they could do a stent right there and fix it. I of coarse agree and they had it done within a matter of a few minutes. He confirmed right there that I did have a heart attack.

I'm 37 years old and will be 38 on the 13th of this month. Looks like I may see my Birthday.

The Doc said part of it was hereditary, but also part of it was my health habits. I DID smoke a pack a day, but havn't had one since the night I walked into the ER. Changing my eating habits. I'm 6'2" 213 lbs. so I need to lose a few. Working hard now at changing my lifestyle.

If you think you might be having signs of a heart attack, don't brush it off like I almost did.

[dvonk]

yikes, close call! :shocked: glad youre alright!

[opethmike]

Holy shit! Very good to hear you made it through alive!

[DMCTek]

Your a lucky guy! Thanks for sharing this. I hope you quit smoking for good!

[SIMid]

Wow!

Was a warning and time to make the next 38+ years count!!

[DMCNY]

Thanks a lot guys.

I'm not going to lie, the not smoking has been tough at times, but having a heart attack makes not doing it a lot easier.

[Cory W]

On August 25 of this year, my tenth wedding anniversary of all days, my father in law did not show up at work.

Phone calls did not reach him.
Knocking on the door did not reach him.
Police were called, who knocked a door down.
They found him lying at the edge of his bed, remote control still in hand.
Sixty four years old.

They figure it hit so hard and so fast, he didn't feel much pain.
Earlier in the evening, when he was visiting his son, he was complaining about chest pains, and a small tingle in his arm. He wrote it off as the A/C in his vehicle affecting him. My wife is a nurse, knows exactly what to do in a cardiac situation, but he told us not to come over because he was going to bed early, and he'd see us the next day.

Oops.

It can happen to anybody, anywhere. It's good you chose not to ignore it, and even better you had it checked out in time. You'll adjust without the cigarettes, which is better than everybody you care about adjusting without you.

Now I'm going to go back to mostly silent these days...

[john 05141]

For all of you smokers out there thinking to quit.
I know a very effective, very quick and very cheap way to quit smoking.

Take your car and drive to the nearest (serious size) hospital. Walk to the oncology department (that is where they threat cancer patients). Have a seat in the waiting room and sit, look and listen. You'll see those people with hats covering their bald heads waiting for the next radiation or chemo. Listen to the coughs those ex-smokers are making,... Just soak it up. thow away all your sigarettes, and promise yourself a treat if you stay away from smoking for a month. If the feeling comes back, go back to the waiting room of the hospital.

It is a little weird, but with your nose pushed to the facts, it works very good.

A colleague of mine had the same complaints I read here. He drove to Berlin in Germany 800Km away, complaining about chest pains. He was driving 800Km while getting a heart attack. He survived luckily. Be aware, you can enjoy your Delorean much more in health.

John

[Mike C.]

Man Andy, I'm glad you are doing ok! Kudos for getting help and not trying to be too much of a tough guy.

I have to tell you all, PLEASE do not be afraid to go to the ER. I'd rather spend $250 bucks to make sure it IS nothing, instead of sitting home HOPING it is nothing.

Lately my diet has become horrible lately, telling myself that fast food is better since my schedule is too hectic. After Andy's story, im going back to my old eating ways.

Hope your recovery is going well Andy!

[dvonk]

talking about stents (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stent) makes me stop and think (again)... its amazing how many lives have been saved by such a simple device.

ive been directly affected by them as well: when my girlfriend (28 years old) had a stroke this year due to her carotid artery collapsing (scary!), she had two stents installed to restore blood flow to her brain. also, my father is cardiologist and installs stents on a regular basis.

modern medicine is truly incredible. im glad you got help in time.

[sean]

So glad you went and took care of it! It's great you have this opportunity to change.

[Dangermouse]

+1

Healthy lunch for me today!

[Farrar]

What a close call! Glad you made it :-)

Farrar

[Iznodmad]

Wow, quite a story and glad you are here to share it with us. Reminds me of something that happened just last week. As some of you know, I am an eye doctor. A patient was in my office picking out new glasses, I had seen him last in June of this year. He motions me over to where he is at and says he wants to thank me for what I did for him. Honestly, I didn't remember what it was that I did. He explains that while I was examining him I saw cholesterol in his ocular structures, which is rare for someone whom is 37 years of age. This guy had not seen an internist in a few years. I told him to get a physical and get everything checked out, just to be on the safe side. He took my advice and when he got the bloodwork, his cholesterol values were through the roof! They started checking other end organs, and found something wrong with his heart. He then was sent to a cardiologist, whom did more testing and found 100% blockage in a coronary artery; and had already suffered a couple of heart attacks and didn't know it. He had the same procedure you did. The cardiologist asked him how a guy his age figured this out, and the guy replied to him that it all started with his eye doctor! So he was thanking me for saving his life! He has a young daughter 5 years old as well, so he was glad he could continue to be a father for his little girl. I think we have all learned not to skimp on taking care of your health, b/c without that you literally would have nothing.

[DMCMW Julee]

Andy,

So happy to hear that you are on the mend, but even more happy to hear that you didn't ignore what your body was doing such a good job of telling you!

We truly are an amazing piece of intricate machinery! :smile:

[sztybel]

If this doesn't make a person stop smoking, nothing will. Never pick up another cigarette, man, and stay healthy.

[DMCNY]

Thank you everyone for the well wishes.

Earlier today I scanned in the photo's they gave me from the procedure. It's the before and after.

(Before)
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t165/andygarand/heart1.jpg


(After)
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t165/andygarand/heart2.jpg

[Renee_1632]

Yikes! Glad you're all right, and that you decided to get it checked out.

[Jonathan]

Happy birthday Andy :)

Thank you so much for sharing your story. Good advice and good perspective. I have confidence in you that you'll conquer the quitting smoking bit. You have some unique incentives that not everybody gets... or really that most people get in a desirable order.

I had my last smoke about 6 years ago. Originally quit in 2002 after smoking what I would guess was 1/2 pack per day (that's a Canadian pack with 25 in it!!!) for the better part of a decade. I used patches and gum and will power and it lasted for about 2 1/2 years until I had the brilliant idea of having one with some friends after dinner one night. Whoops. Had about 1,000 more after that and quit for good on October 16th, 2005. Never to have another one again. And I am thrilled with my decision as I am sure you will be thrilled with yours too.

A couple things helped me in the early months where it was tougher. I decided to make a little money jar and put $5 per day in it to represent what I wasn't spending on smokes. Every month I would take about $150 and put it in a savings account at the bank. You know what was labelled on that old washed out pickle jar I used as a container? I made a little masking tape no-smoking sign on one line, and the words "DeLorean Fund" on the other. While it didn't cover the whole purchase price, it definitely got me started. And 3937 is living proof that I succeeded.

The other thing I did was drink coffee like a mad man. People say oh I'll have to quit drinking or going out or drinking coffee, but instead I would use the urge to have a smoke as the queue to have a coffee but without the smoke. If that tricked me for even an hour, it was an hour further into the ex-smoker world. I do recommend patches or gum or something to help. Those things are there for a reason and there is no extra honor later on being able to say you quit cold turkey. If someone said there was something as unmacho as sucking on a soother instead of a smoke and that would help me quit, I would have done it. Find something that works for you and run with it. And also don't tear yourself down if you have a momentary lapse as many people (myself included) only succeed at stopping smoking after a couple of attempts.

Good luck and we'll look forward to hearing about how you're progressing :)

[DMCNY]

Thank you guys for the kind words.

I'm using Life Savers like their going out of style, but it seems to be working good for me.

Coffee I've already been drinking for years and apparently too much of that, too according to the Doc, so I've cut down to 1 cup in the morning.

The $$, yeah. Here in NY it's about $10.00 a pack. I had switched to "roll your owns" about a year ago and that brought the cost down to about $30.00 a carton per week. That $$ will now be going to DeLorean upgrades. :)

[Dangermouse]

It's funny what works for different people.

For my dad, who had smoked for 50 years, since he was 14, it was meeting a friend who was celebrating "One Year Smoke Free", and he said to himself "if I don't quit, I will never celebrate "One Year of Non Smoking", and so he quit that day!

He had previously tried to quit a few times over the years, but it was that one simple goal that kept him smoke free ever since (almost 15 years now).

[DMCMW Julee]

Happy birthday Andy :)
A couple things helped me in the early months where it was tougher. I decided to make a little money jar and put $5 per day in it to represent what I wasn't spending on smokes. Every month I would take about $150 and put it in a savings account at the bank. You know what was labelled on that old washed out pickle jar I used as a container? I made a little masking tape no-smoking sign on one line, and the words "DeLorean Fund" on the other. While it didn't cover the whole purchase price, it definitely got me started. And 3937 is living proof that I succeeded.

Great incentive idea Jonathan! To be able to look at what our choices cost us (and not only monetarily speaking) makes it so much more real.

[Karin]

Glad to hear you are doing okay and you had that taken care of what you did.

Well, I'd encourage everyone to stop smoking and the best way to not have to go through the pain of stopping is to not ever start. That's my opinion. However, since I never started, I can't do that money-in-the-jar that sounds like my free key to a new DeLorean someday.

[Citizen]

I have a couple of stories on this subject, but I won't bore everyone with them. I just wanted to say that this thread is a perfect example of why I appreciate the moderators allowing non-DeLorean subjects to be started. This thread could same someone's life. Thanks for posting!

...

[DMC3165]

Wow I just read this now. Glad to hear your ok Andy. I know I've had my battles with cigarettes and poor diet as well. Just this year after my wife got cancer I went back to smoking after four years of not smoking. Losing my job in September only made it worse. For me I have to quit now because my new job is in a 100% non smoking facility that I can't leave until my shift is over. It'll be tough to quit again but I have to. Hopefully you will too.

Best of luck. Hope you feel better.

[eagle-co94]

Just saw this Andy and wow, those pictures really help tell the story. I'm glad I don't smoke and am relatively fit. This just helps remind me that I need to get back to the gym this week!