Paramedic saves heart attack patient's life while having a heart attack himself

[Belthos]

I would add that I never had a heart attack, I was just on the fast track to one.
Trust me it's rough enough recovering from open heart surgery, you don't want to add in damage to the heart muscle on top of that.
They cut your sternum in half and spread your chest like a turkey.
They wire you up with stainless steel wire similar to baling wire and it takes a minimum of 3 month for the bone to heal.
It's common for people to crack it apart in the early days by sneezing hard or exerting themselves.
I spent the first couple of days after surgery learning how to breath again, that sounds funny but trust me it's not.
The pain wasn't fun but it reminds you that your are still alive and that beats the alternative.

Nearly 2 years later I have recovered 85% of the feeling on the left side of my chest, when you first come out it's totally numb for months.
I have no restrictions and my recovery has been, so far, better than my cardiologist had hoped for.
I'm physically capable of doing anything I could do before and my odds of dropping dead without warning are vanishingly small.

I asked the surgeon for the extended warranty but they laughed, I'm stuck with the original lifetime warranty on my heart.

 

[tRidiot]

The heart scans are $50 bucks or less. What is your life worth to you and your family?

I'm trying to figure out what kind of "heart scan" is $50 or less?

 

[BadgeBunny]

The heart hospital here in OKC does them for that ... They send out blanket mailings. Looking to drum up business, I'm sure. Even sent the results to my PCP for me ... I had one done a couple years ago ...

Belthos, that is an amazing story!

 

[tRidiot]

I'm assuming that's a calcium score... not sure, though. Not a bad screen to show increased risk, but a low score does NOT mean you're in the clear, so be careful of the false sense of security it could provide. :/

 

[Fyrtwuck]

I'm trying to figure out what kind of "heart scan" is $50 or less?

They advertise them on the radio all the time. I think whats happening is that they have new equipment for trial studies and the lower cost gets them subjects for their studies and in some cases they find problems with the patients and more trouble is avoided.

I've got two stents myself. Every time I have indigestion or pain, I run down an evaluation list in case of heart problems.

Chest pain?
Shortness of breath?
Sweaty?
Pain in arms and/or back?
Pain that radiates or moves around?
Pressure like someone pushing or standing on your chest?

If I have several of those symptoms, I go to the hospital. But, you also have to evaluate a little bit to see if there is a reason for any of those symptoms. If I went to the hospital every time I had a single one of these symptoms, I'd be there daily, sometimes more than once. After awhile the ER folks see you coming and "yup, here he comes again, I wonder what it is this time".

I'm sure the Doc can expand more on the symptoms and causes for the symptoms and their reasons.

 

[tRidiot]

They advertise them on the radio all the time. I think whats happening is that they have new equipment for trial studies and the lower cost gets them subjects for their studies and in some cases they find problems with the patients and more trouble is avoided...

<snip>

I'm sure the Doc can expand more on the symptoms and causes for the symptoms and their reasons.

Hehe... yeah, prolly so.

 

[Belthos]

It was at Saint anthony's hospital in nov 2011, The numbers had something to do with calcium.
It was some kind of mri that they said was better than a normal mri. Or maybe it was some other kind of scan, I wasn't paying a lot of attention to what it was after I got the results, but I might be able to dig up the print out one of these days if people are really curious, it had pictures and numbers that I am not qualified to understand.
You have now exhausted my knowledge.

I wouldn't pretend to indicate that the test was exhaustive.
It was just inexpensive, results within minutes and in my case accurately predicted I had a problem even though I was Asymptomatic (or some such similar word) meaning I wasn't showing expected symptoms.

If you are curious you can call them and ask about it.

I personally assumed they ran the test cheaply to either drum up business or to find a way to sell unused time on the machine to help lower their costs.

 

[caojyn]

When I was 22, on a bet, I did a shot of tequila (matador gold ) with 10 drops of pure capsaicin in it. The bad part wasn't my mouth being on fire, I couldn't catch my breath for 20 minutes or so and my left arm went completely numb. There was a moment in there when my brain just couldn't process logic, and I thought I was having a heart attack. I ended up chugging a carton of iced down Half & Half and about a gallon of water. I still hold that bar record, thank the gods no one has attempted to break it.

 

[BadgeBunny]

When I was 22, on a bet, I did a shot of tequila (matador gold ) with 10 drops of pure capsaicin in it. The bad part wasn't my mouth being on fire, I couldn't catch my breath for 20 minutes or so and my left arm went completely numb. There was a moment in there when my brain just couldn't process logic, and I thought I was having a heart attack. I ended up chugging a carton of iced down Half & Half and about a gallon of water. I still hold that bar record, thank the gods no one has attempted to break it.

Dude ...