I found my husband in his room not breathing and with no pulse, he was cold and clammy. I knew he had to have just stopped breathing because I heard him when I walked into the house, I had been at the store. I THOUGHT I heard him call my name but he swears he didn't. I was terrified, I could not possibly get him down off the bed to start CPR, he is over 200 lbs and he was on his bed...there would have been no way to get him off without seriously risking injury. Instead, I delivered the hardest blow I possibly could to his sternum. I knew that if he had gone into arrest within a minute or so, he would come up. He came up alright, sitting straight up and begging me to help him get to the bathroom, I told him to put his hands on my shoulders and pretend that I was a walker...I managed to get him to the bathroom and he started vomiting profusely. I called our son and he and his wife were here in less than three minutes...they drove us to the hospital, he was airlifted to another hospital and was scheduled for triple bypass surgery four days later. It had to be at least four days after he was treated in the local emergency room because they gave him an anticoagulant and it needed to get out of his system.
Today, he went for a stress test, he has been nervous for a couple of weeks as the anniversary approached. His stress test was abnormal, he has two blockages. One is likely scar tissue from the heart attack but the other is larger and he will probably need a stent. He will be scheduled for cardiac catheterization within a week and will have the stent placed at that time if it is deemed necessary. If I am less present than usual, that may be why. He is pacing tonight, clearly terrified of what is going to happen. The PA in the cardiologist's office said he needs to take it easy until the cath, I told her that's no problem, he has been taking it easy since his heart attack a year ago. He needs cataract surgery and likely a new hip replacement. I am exhausted and so incredibly sad that I cannot stand it. My son and his wife said they will help with driving. The hospital is more than an hour away. He will have to stay overnight if he has the stent put in.
Please keep us in your prayers...
Love,
Ellen
