My husband was taken via helicopter from our local hospital to a bigger hospital about 50+ miles away. He had a heart attack and they did a cardiac cath on him and put a balloon in on artery but were unable to unblock three more. He is going to need a quadruple bypass later this week.
I was in my room eating and I thought I heard him call me...his room is at the other end of the house...not that it's a huge house but there is a kitchen,living room, and bathroom between the rooms. I went into his room and his eyes were opened, he was saturated with perspiration and cold and clammy...he was not breathing and I could not find a pulse. My oxygen concentrator was running and I kept yelling his name and then I unplugged the concentrator and grabbed him and he regained consciousness. He was in shock and wanted to get to the bathroom...he kept asking me to help him so I told him to lean on me so I could get him to the bathroom. He weighs 220 lbs, I weigh 112 and have a really bad back but I managed to get him to the bathroom just in time for him to start vomiting. I told him we were going to the hospital...that I was going to call an ambulance. He said, no, don't do that. I called our son and asked him to help me get his father to the car. I told him I was certain that he was having a heart attack. My son and his wife were here in less than five minutes and helped to get him to the car. I grabbed his license and his Medicare card and we went to the ER...the triage nurse came out and I told her that I really felt he needed a gurney. She insisted that he could be transported in a wheelchair that reclined so I helped her to get him into that and we got him inside. They started asking questions about insurance and date of birth, etc so I handed them the cards. His EKG showed a clear heart attack in progress...they gave him plavix to see if they could break up the clot(s). They insisted that he had to go by helicopter to their hospital in Roanoke...I wanted him transported by ambulance to a closer hospital but they kept pushing and pushing and when I said no...they went to my husband and son and basically told them that he would not make it to the other hospital by ambulance. In the meantime, we waited over 20 minutes for the helicopter to arrive and he could have been AT the other hospital by then. I told them that there is NO WAY that we can afford that helicopter and that I did not believe that he would not survive the ambulance ride. I lost...once he was taken from the hospital, I went home to take care of my cats and get the feral cat inside. I also needed to turn off all of the lights, the television, and lock the doors. It is close to 2:00 AM, I am exhausted, I told my son and his wife that we cannot all go and sit there all day, it is not going to do HIM any good, he needs to rest and I cannot do that, I am not in the shape to handle it. We had to park so far away that I thought I might pass out trying to walk...and we were in the handicapped area. UNREAL.
Please keep him in your prayers...I won't know anything more until tomorrow.
Love to all,
Ellen
