A SILENT HEART ATTACK
Came knocking on my front door
I escaped out the back window
A personal story :
This story is about my heart attack experience near the end of a hot summer in 2026.
I AM A WRITER ~ ~ ~ I AM NOT A MEDICALLY TRAINED DOCTOR.
I am an observer ~ ~ ~ I am not a medically trained Advice Nurse.
My experience can not be used as a guide for your personal health decisions. Your primary care physician knows you best and can keep you healthy, with your cooperation.
Right Now :
My heart is working well.
I am listening to and following the directions of my health care team to improve its function. The future looks bright, but complications might arrive later, depending on many conditions.
I have a lot of work ahead of me, and here is what I have observed so far.
During the heart attack :
I felt older than the 80 years I am now.
After the operation :
I started feeling younger and smarter.
Smarter? :
“You little dummy.”
An expression I heard my Mom say when I didn't listen. I felt real grown up when she started using, "You big dummy."
I didn’t always listen to Mom's advice after leaving her kitchen. Like the importance of eating healthy.
Gimme Hamburgers and French Fries; that seemed like healthy eating to me when I was young and dumb.
I had convinced myself that I was an exception to the rule.
I am not the exception :
This experience has taught me that if I follow the rules of eating tons of ice cream and mountains of potato chips, the rule of a heart attack will come and pay a visit.
And it did! :
On Friday morning, September, 12, 2026, I woke up and stood up.
I walked a few steps and felt pressure above my elbows in the back of my arms, the kind I had when I worked out with weights to build my triceps.
My chest felt like I’d just finished a long race. My calves had stiff knots in the muscles, my thighs were tired, and I noticed a few seconds of soreness on both sides of my jaw.
I had a sharp headache.
Alarm Bells! :
This was a first-time experience, and the bells did not ring loudly. It was nothing to worry about.
Dummy Me! :
A heart attack? ~ No way! ~ I’m as fit as a fiddle! I did not know that I had an unstable string known as a LAD artery that was out of tune and 99 percent clogged.
Warned Again! :
By 4:00 pm, the bells started ringing louder and more intensely; now it was time for action.
Urgent Care! :
Rosalinda drove me to an urgent care center close to our home. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
NOT.
Next time, I’m calling 911. I’m going first class, not economy.
Urgent care did routine tests and sent me to the nearest hospital. The hospital did more tests, and they prepared to send me to a second hospital via ambulance.
Next Day :
Saturday morning around 1:00 am, I arrived at the bigger hospital on September 13. I am glad it wasn't Friday the 13th.
I felt like a VIP. They followed the same steps as the first hospital. More tests and more questions that seemed to repeat every two hours.
My Answers :
I don’t have shortness of breath, but every so often I need to take a deep breath.
I don’t have any stomach pain.
(In the past, I have had pain in my brain because my stomach looks like a pot belly stove.) The person taking notes didn't crack a smile and moved to the next question.
Yes, I do feel pain in the middle of my chest, like a bad case of heartburn. And pain in my upper back.
No. I don’t have stomach pain.
Decision :
The hospital decided to keep me and put me in a room on the 3rd floor. Time passed slowly, and I wasn't hungry, nor worried.
It seemd like every two hours, they checked my blood pressure and took more blood samples. They watched my sugar levels.
I later learned they saw my troponin rising. It is a protein found inside heart muscle cells. It shows up in blood tests when the heart muscle starts dying.
Zero troponin levels may indicate little or no problems.
When troponin rises, trouble is quickly coming around the mountain.
Saturday Morning :
It is now 10:00 am, and I am in the operating room.
The clock on the wall saw it all. I am lying under a white sheet. I looked at the clock while I lay on the operating table. I am thinking, “That was quick. There is no turning back now.”
The room was white, with a tall ceiling that I stared at, waiting for what would happen next. A giant grey TV screen hung above my left, and I sensed the doctor on my right. I heard different voices around the operating room as they prepared for action.
I just remembered :
In Britain, an operating room is called an operating theatre, or simply theatre. In my eyes, I was the star attraction during this scene.
But wait!
The doctor would determine this scene’s success. I am a stage extra who will be paying the bill.
One more time :
Before the doctor started, he leaned over and explained once more the steps needed to implant two stents in two different arteries inside my heart. When I heard them the first time, I was as calm as a cucumber.
Step one :
We will insert a catheter through your right or left wrist.
Step two :
If I encounter problems, we will use the right or left groin.
Step three :
If I encounter problems, we will open the chest to insert the stents.
OH BOY! :
The third choice did not register when I first heard it. Now I need to start worrying.
I knew that I should have pulled all the weeds last Thursday. That is the first thing I will do when I get back home.
Conscious Sedation :
I was under local anesthesia that kept my body still and my eyes and ears fully functioning.
My eyes saw A giant white room with a big screen TV to my left, and I sensed that the doctor was close by.
My ears heard Letters and numbers spoken, with a response of the same letters and numbers.
The doctor would speak, “I need ABC123.” A voice would respond, “ABC123.”
Next, I heard the doctor describe the steps he was taking.
11:00 am :
I was finished in under an hour. I felt relaxed and cool as a cucumber.
I had two brand-new stents, and I was ready to roll off the table and onto the gurney heading for the recovery room.
Recovery :
While in the recovery room, I could see the doctor through the door in the distance, typing notes in the log file.
REALLY? :
NO! I couldn’t see his screen. But I was sure he was not tapping the like button for his favorite influencer.
For two more hours, two nurses watched me carefully. The curtain came down on this scene as everyone prepared for the next act.
Road Trip :
The curtains rose as I was returned to my room for more observation and was discharged with a new list of medications.
FINALLY :
The play ended in the best possible way, and I am here to stay for the remainder of my time.
And for those weeds in the backyard that I forgot to pull last Thursday?
They need a second chance to experience a full life, like the second chance I just got.
Last Conversation :
The doctor came for a final visit before I was discharged. If I understood him correctly, this is what I learned.
The second pacemaker I had installed 2 years earlier kept me from feeling more intense pain until it could stand no more. My heart started screaming at me.
I've had a pacemaker for eleven years to correct an electrical problem. My heart would slow to a low of 33 beats per minute.
Before it was installed, I would have dreams of drowning and wake up gasping for air.
After it was installed, the drowning dreams were gone.
Comment :
When I hear someone complain about the lazy youth of today, they haven't met anyone who works long hours in hospitals to make sure I made it.
I am not the only one. They provide the same level of care to every patient.
YES!
They may be an exception to the norm, but they show up for their shifts to help patients and forge paths for others to follow.
Observation :
In 1956, I was ten years old. It seemed like all my friends went to the hospital to get their tonsils removed. I wanted to go because they told me about the ice cream they got to eat.
70 years have passed, and now many of us are showing up in hospitals to get a stent or two installed.
The first stent implantation was performed in March 1986, forty years ago.
A M A Z I N G