Its taken me a while to post to this. First I am so glad everything turned out for the best for you Kathi, and of course Amy and I have talked about her husband and I am more than thrilled that he is doing so much better.
My story is a bit different and shows just how things can change very fast. Four years ago this coming October 26th, my husband, Audie, was not feeling to good. He had what we thought was a sinus infection the previous day and just felt bad. Most people that know me know, never got to meet Audie but to see him you would never think he was a heart attack waiting to happen. Audie was 6 ft tall, 180 pounds, never smoked, never drank and was very active. This particular Friday night we had been out to eat like we always did but instead of going to the movies, it was what we had done on our date night since we got married, he wanted to come home and rest, he had to work the next day as well. At 9:30 he had eaten his ice cream sundae and by 10 he sat up in bed. I asked him if he was ok and he told me he was, he just couldn't get comfortable. He got up, walked around the house and came back to bed, but just sat on the edge for a minute. I could hear him breathing rather raspy sounding and I again asked him if he was ok, he again said he just couldn't get comfortable. Never did he have any pains, he just was uncomfortable. By then I told him to get dressed, we were going to the ER. By the time he got his jeans on, he couldn't catch his breathe and I called 911. The rescue squad was only two miles from the house but a friend of Audie's who was an EMT, lived just around the corner. He was there in 2 minutes, by then Audie couldn't catch his breathe, the rescue squad was there in 5 minutes, the ambulance was there in 8 minutes. I couldn't have asked for faster response time. They wouldn't let me ride in the ambulance with him so I had to wait for my daughter to get home but we were almost right behind him. When I got to the ER they had him sedated and ready to go up for a cardiac cauterization to see if they could put stints in. Well the tests said no, he needed surgery for 4 blocked arteries. I got to talk to him before surgery, he couldn't talk, he had been intubated but he would blink his eyes and he could hold my hand and squeeze it. Thats all I needed, just to know he knew I was there and that I loved him so much.
The surgery was successful but because something stupid that could have been prevented, Audie never woke up. He lived 4 more months in a coma until I finally found the strength to let him go. I told him I would be OK and that if he needed to go, it was OK. He passed away 2 hours later. He weighed 120 pounds by then. I was so glad I got to tell him I loved him before the surgery. I didn't know it would be the last time he would answer me.
Anyway, my story had a bad ending but not because of the heart attack. But he never had any chest pains, never any pain in his arm or anything. He just didn't feel good. He had no classic signs and he was not someone you would think was a heart attack waiting to happen, but I did realize of everything you can inherit from your parents, heart disease is the worst.
The one thing I would change if I could rewind life and do it again would be make him go to the doctor for a check up. The doctors told me Audie had already had two minor attacks that we didn't realize had happened. I don't know if they would have found out before his heart attack but what I did find out was he was diabetic and never knew it. Again no symptoms to suggest it at all. So don't think any of this has clear signs, it doesn't. You have to pay attention to anything that is unusual happening with your body and check it out, don't try to explain it away.
Again Kathi, I am so glad your going to be ok, and I know your husband is too.
