A Good Day That Went Bad For Me

It began as the last day of the month in March 2003, a normal day I thought to do the payroll for my Fire Department. I had arrived at the station and had an achy feeling like the flu, but decided to continue with the task at hand. The first thing that I noticed was that my left arm started to hurt more and also my left side of my face, then it felt like about 400 pounds was on my chest. I called to one of the Captains on duty and told him to get the ambulance ready. He proceeded to ask me why and I explained the symptoms I was having, he next asked if this was a test ( I had been giving the personnel quizzes on medical treatment). I again explained that this is a real Heart Attack, because I was an EMT Paramedic and knew I was in trouble. The ambulance was ready but the on-duty Medic wasn't, he proceeded to cause Hematomas in 4 veins due to using the wrong size catheter. I was the one who managed to get the catheter in my left arm and the IV started. We arrived at the hospital in Lewiston Idaho,but they do not have a Cardiac Care Unit, so they Doctor put me on Nitro and I fell asleep in the Emergency room. I was awakened by the talking of 3 people in blue flight suits who were there to take me to a Spokane Washington Hospital with a Cardiac Unit. Upon arrival at the Hospital in Spokane I was taken to the Cardiac Care Unit to rest.

The next morning when I awoke a Cardiac Doctor was there to tell me what to expect in the Heart Catheteritization that I was going to have in the next hour. Now for those that do not understand what this procedure is I will explain. You first sign a paper that tells you that the procedure can cause a stroke, another heart attack and result in your death. When you begin the procedure you are semi-conscious because when the catheter is near you lungs the doctor will tell you to hold your breath. The catheter is started in an artery in your upper thigh and run all of the way up to your heart so that the doctor can see the amount of blockage in your veins. I got to see all of this in living color on a large screen TV while the testing was being done. I was told that I had about a 95% blockage in 3 areas on my heart and that the operation would be done right away. Now this occurred on April 1, 2003 and I thought it was an April Fools joke (not really). A nurse approached me with a hypodermic needle, I asked what it was for and she said "Good Night" that is all I remember.

I heard someone calling my name "Ken, Ken". I wear glasses and when I opened my eyes I saw 4 people in white and bright lights. The first thing I thought of was people dying and seeing bright lights. I was asked then to see if I could breathe on my own, now that is a question that knew I could do because I had been breathing for 56 years. I was wrong it is like trying to breathe through a drinking straw and I went back to sleep in the recovery room.

I awoke the next morning with 3 tubes coming out of my chest, wires going everywhere and 5 IV bottles hooked up to me. My exact thought was this did not go well for me. A nurse came in and asked if I was hungry or thirsty, neither of which I was. I told her that I thought my surgery did not seem to be a success, she explained that the tubes and wires were normal. Normal, tubes sticking out of my body is not normal. My next visitor was the Thoracic Surgeon who performed the operation the previous day. He checked me out and said " You do not have any permanent damage to your heart, but that he had to do a triple by-pass". He explained that the chest tubes were there to eliminate a fluid build up around my heart and that he was going to take 2 of them out, 1 was to stay in on my left side because the lung had collapsed during surgery. He told me to take a deep breath and let it out, then take another and let it out when I let the second breath out he pulled the 2 tubes out and I passed out. When I came to he said the nurse would be in to take the urine catheter out, Huh? I didn't know about that one. The rest of the day went uneventful, alot of sleep and rest, Oh and they the nurses tell you that if you have to cough or hiccup hug your pillow and it will help the pain.

My 3rd day in the hospital early morning, I heard them call a code blue for someones room, the next thing that happened was everyone came rushing into my room with a crash cart. It appeared on the monitor at the nurses station that I had flat lined, it wasn't me but the battery in the wireless cardiac monitor I wore that was dead. In the afternoon a nurse came into the room with a small oxygen bottle and told me to get up and go for a walk with her. Whoa I just had heart surgery and now she wants me to get up! She explained that by walking even a short distance would help me from getting blood clots, needless to say I was out of the bed. I walked about 10 feet from the bed and the 10 feet back and felt like I had run a marathon. The Cardiac doctor came in and gave me a book that explained the surgery, with a diagram of where the by-passes were on my heart, it also said that I had been on a heart and lung machine for 78 minutes during the surgery. I am glad they could jump start it after that length of time.

For the next 3 days I learned how to walk greater distances and walked 3 times a day for those 3 days. A person who helped a great deal during those days was Lisa my nurse, she encouraged me and explained things that I needed to know in great detail. On the day I was to go home while I was waiting for a friend to arrive, Lisa said to shower and shave and get dressed, but laughed at the clothes that I was going to put on. It seems that she had never seen a firefighter's station wear, I had a dark blue t-shirt, dark blue pants and dark blue underwear. She said" You are the only man I know that color coordinates his clothing right down to his underwear". On the way out of the hospital Lisa explained what I cannot do and what I can do to help with the recovery. I had to explain that I lived alone and things around my apartment needed to get done, like cleaning, laundry, etc. Well I did have to get someone to clean my apartment for about 1 month.

I found out that sleeping in a bed flat on your back after this type of surgery was out of the question, I ended sleeping in my recliner in the living room for about 1 month. I did increase my walking by starting to walk around the block once 3 times a day and then twice around 3 times a day. I had the operation done 13 years ago and I still walk a lot, when I left Idaho I was doing 7 miles a day every day rain or shine. I took a job working for the military in Iraq in 2006 and every where we went there we walked so I have kept up the walking, I live in Thailand and the only days I don't walk is when the monsoons come in and you would get drowned if you tried walking in that kind of rain. I eat Thai food which is healthy because it consists of rice, meat or fish, fresh fruit and vegetables.

I will explain in my next writing how I used this event in my life to help others through humor and motivational speaking.