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The story of my dad's heart attack (2 weeks ago)
I gues it didn't really hit me until yesterday, when I was seeing my own PCP for back pain, and my PCP said "wow, that is a really incredible story, he's so lucky" and I'm like "yeah, I guess he is."
My mom and dad were camping in their RV in a remote campground somewhere in south east VA. My oldest brother happened to be with them - he had driven his fishing boat down to join them for a weekend away.
My dad wakes up at 4:30 am with chest pain, and he sits up in bed, thinking "hmmm, I've been doing a lot of lifting lately, maybe that's it" etc. My brother just happens to wake up to use the bathroom, and he sees my dad awake - the pain gets worse, they wake my mom, they agreee to call 911.
911 in this remote place has - get this - an answering machine. So they call the local police. Again, an answering machine. I actually don't know what happened next, but they finally did get a hold of someone. An ambulance can come get him, but the nearest hospital is 35 miles away. They ask if my dad/mom/brother can get in the RV, drive up a certain highway, and meet the ambulance halfway in a Food Lion parking lot.
They pack up the RV (if you've ever stayed in an RV you know that takes a while - you have to unhook the water and electricity and sewer, and latch everything down), and get the Food Lion. The ambulance is already there. They come to find that the ambulance thought my dad should have gotten there sooner (I imagine they didn't know that the RV had to be unhooked, etc.) and so they had sent out a second ambulance to the campground! Thorough.
Dad goes to this small hospital, they do some tests, and they decide he needs to be "scoped." My brother says OK, we'll just drive back to Northern VA and get it done at Fairfax hospital. The doc says, that's like 5 hours drive, right? My brother says yes, and the doc says, no time. I've called the helicopter and it'll be here in about 15 minutes.
My dad gets into the helicopter with a nurse and a pilot. He's chatting them up, finding out that this is a new copter and it cost $1.5 million. He asks why they're wearing life vests on the copter and they sort of chuckle, "in case of water landing." 
Anyway, the fly him to Centara in Norfolk, and they get a stent in an artery that is 99% blocked (later we find out the artery is called "the widow maker" apparently - though of course the hospital did not tell my mom that). Meanwhile my brother and mother and two boxer dogs are driving to Norfolk in the RV.
By the time they parked the RV (hard to do at a hospital by the way) and walked in to where dad was, he was resting in the ICU.
From chest pains to the stent was about six hours. That was the incredible part, says my PCP. The meeting at a Food Lion, the helicopter, the quick work putting the stent in - he was really impressed.
I guess because it's pretty darn impressive. Dad has already written emails to both hospitals naming all of the doctors and nurses he dealt with and thanking them for their effective work. He told me after everyone was so calm cool and collected - that it never occured to him to get scared. I think that's pretty darn good. Maybe I watch too much ER but I was picturing a flurry of activity and doctors shouting out orders - apparently, not the case.
My dad went to his follow up appointment and apparently doesn't have many restrictions. He's taking a blood thinner, and he's meeting a physician's assistant today to talk about nutrition, but other than that - incredibly - not much has to change. They even told him he can go fishing soon!
Re: The story of my dad's heart attack (2 weeks ago)
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Wow, what a story! I'm glad your dad is recovering well.
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Holy crap! He is one lucky fella. Perhaps he should invest in some lottery tickets?
I'm glad he's on the mend. How scary.
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I'm so glad he's Ok and yes, he's very lucky.
not to hijack the thread but something kind-of-similar happened to my Dad too but I didn't post about it at the time (4mo ago). He had an appt to check his heart and the machine (the one you run on and they track your heart) broke, so he came back 2 weeks later, on a Friday, and they immediately told him to get off the machine and check into the hospital. That night he went to Fairfax (they have one of the best cardiovascular depts in the US, we are so lucky in this area) and spent the weekend there. He was under observation b/c he was a heart attack waiting to happen. On Monday they tried the stents artlvr's Dad got but when they went in, they realized stents will not solve his blockage. The stent Dr called the surgeons and told them my Dad had to have surgery immediately. That afternoon he went in and they did SIX bypasses. There is not even a word for it, I always thought quadruple was the most you could have. He is one lucky man and I keep telling him to buy lottery tix! And btw, my Dad has never been a pound overweight, works out several times a week, his whole life, is a 2nd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do. But bad genes and bad cholesterol were the culprits!
Wow. That is some story. I'm glad your dad is ok!
Side note - your dad sounds like a really nice guy.
I didn't post about it because I wanted to wait until his follow up appts. - sort of the "rest of the story." I guess he's gonna be fine. Whew!
Wow - what a catch! And six bypasses - it's amazing what modern medicine can do, isn't it? Hope your dad is recovering well Sofka!!!
My dad is a really nice guy - thanks for saying that!
and the apple does not fall far from the tree!
my Dad is back at work and doing well, thanks!
Wow, that is an incredible story. Your dad is extremely lucky!
A couple of months ago, DH was having intermittent chest pains while working out. He figured he'd pulled a muscle and while his PCP also figured that was the case,still did an EKG. He was sent straight to the hospital.
Turns out that his "widowmaker" was 95% blocked and it was not believed that he would have survived the pending heart attack.