Early one morning several years ago, I was out running. The weather was good, same route I had taken numerous times. But this morning was different – I noticed that there was an odd sensation. The best I can describe it is like the feeling of “butterflies in your stomach” – except that it was in my chest! I decided to have it checked. After some tests, the cardiologist told me I had about a 30-40% blockage. I wasn’t particularly concerned at that point. I was in my 40s and figured if it took that long for that amount of blockage, it would be a number of years before it was an issue. I didn’t follow up with the doctor. Wrong twice!
Two years later, while out running again, I noticed it was getting more and more uncomfortable, and was running shorter and shorter distances as a result. I thought back to the previous situation and decided to get checked again. The cardiologist I had seen was out of town for two weeks and it would be three weeks before I could get an appointment. I decided, since I wasn’t having any issues other than when running, I would just take it easy and wait. They stressed for me to not hesitate to call 911 if needed during the wait. That was on Tuesday.
Thursday afternoon, at work we were moving some rather heavy items and though holding back, I still worked hard. When we finished, I really did not feel good! Mostly in my chest. The thought crossed my mind to call 911. But after a couple of minutes, the discomfort faded. I decided to wait…
Friday morning. Getting ready for work. Taking a shower, thinking about the previous day and wondering if I should have gone to the emergency room, when I felt twinge in my chest. Talk about power of suggestion! By the time I had finished my shower and dried off, I decided it was more than just the power of suggestion and asked my wife to bring me the nitroglycerine tablets from two years previously. They were out of date, but I decided it was better than nothing. The instructions were to take one every five minutes and call for an ambulance after the third. I didn’t even make it past the second tablet when I told her to call 911.
Without going into a lot of detail (maybe another day)…
The ambulance arrived and after fighting the north Dallas morning rush hour traffic in the pouring rain, we finally arrived at the closest hospital they deemed best for a possible heart attack.
It was indeed a heart attack! There was a 70% blockage that had broken loose due to my exercise routine. As I talked with the cardiologist after the stent, I commented on the exercise causing it. He said, “That’s the wrong way to look at it. It was what made it survivable…” I later learned that blocked artery is the one often called the “Widow-maker.”
I’d had several warnings and ignored them. Yet I knew that something wasn’t right…I could feel it. All I can add is, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t be “macho”, don’t be stubborn, don’t be stupid! Get it checked out!
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