PSA: Serious As A Heart Attack.

Monday night I suffered a heart attack while driving. Obviously I survived but hopefully my story will prove helpful to someone else someday.

For starters I am 57 years old, have never smoked and in what I thought was pretty good health. Regular doctor exams, on blood pressure meds but cholesterol always well within acceptable limits. Maybe 15-20 lbs overweight but no issues with shortness of breath or problems with physical activity.

Monday started a little messed up. I was supposed to leave at 9:30 AM for about a 9 hr trip from Hebron, KY to Princeton, Ind and back. Pretrip truck and start the 3 mile drive to customer when I get the call that the load had canceled. Since I had already started my clock I pulled over to call and see what they wanted me to do. They had nothing and said to check back or they would call. I live about an hour away so I really didn't want to drive all the way home so I made plans and met my old corporate world boss for lunch.

Eventually get called in for a 5 hr round trip to Springfield, KY. I leave out at about 3:30. When I get to Springfield the drop lot was all jacked up and there was only 1 open spot and it was very tight with trailers on both sides being very close to the lines and crooked. As I'm doing my GOALS I have traffic backed up in both directions. No one was being impatient but I still felt a little stressed.

Get it dropped and grab my loaded trailer and bills and headed back towards the Blue Grass Parkway. As I am driving I start to feel a soreness across my shoulder blades and I felt chilled. Thinking I must have tweaked something doing my drop and hook I pull over and grab a water and an ibuprofen and lay down for a few minutes. I get feeling better so I head home. During the drive back I did not feel bad, just a little off. The soreness actually lessened but did extend to my right arm and chest but it still just felt like I had strained my chest muscles messing with the trailers.

Get back to Hebron around 9PM do all my post trip stuff and get in my car for home. During the ride I call my wife and she stated something that had started to develop in the back of my mind. "Are you sure it's not a heart attack?" When I get home we talk about it and try decide what to do. During this time I am looking online and starting to get a little worried Final straw was when I grabbed something to eat and my jar was very sore, another symptom my research had turned up. Finally made the call and said I think we need to get to the ER. We have a very good hospital with a great cardiac unit about 20 min away so she just went ahead and drove me there.

I get to the ER about 11 PM and tell them what is going on. They quickly do an EKG and send me back to the waiting room. I had barely sat down when a lady ER Doc walks in calling my name while talking on the phone. She asked if I have ever had a heart attack. I said no and she said well you are now. She said she was on the phone activating the Cath Lab and that things were about to happen very quickly. They take me into the ER and at least 10 people were working on me. Whole time I am alert and really don't feel that bad. The cardiac surgeon shows up and said they were going to go up through my arm to my heart, find and remove the blockages and install stints as needed. Also told my wife to notify family members!

End result was that I had a 100% blockage of the LAD coronary artery, the widow-maker. They removed the blockage and installed a stint. I got to the Cardiac ICU about 3 AM. 2 days in ICU and one day in regular room and got out yesterday. Luckily there does not appear to be any permanent damage and I start rehab next week, just got back from trip to the grocery and feel fine. Seems like some extra steps to get my physical back and I am off duty for at least 60 days. Thankfully at this year's annual enrollment I opted for the optional "Mac Daddy" ST disability coverage so I'll have close to full pay.

Everyone there said that I most likely would have been dead by morning if I hadn't went to the ER. Lesson is that if your body is trying to tell you something "LISTEN".

Omg wow this is so scary! This is one of my biggest fears and it seems no matter how good of health you are in it could happen to anyone. One of our drivers passed away a couple of months ago while driving. He had enough bearings to pull over to the shoulder of the road and proceeded to have a massive heart attack. I am truly sorry to hear that you suffered this but I am very happy to hear you are okay now and that you made the right decision to go to the hospital. Always listen to your body, very good advice and thanks for sharing this.

Glad to hear your OK. Hope you recover quickly and are back to normal life soon!!!

Most of us men have the tough guy it’s probably nothing, it’ll go away attitude. Thank god the women are here to push us to the doctor.

I had pancreatitis about 12 years ago, thought it was a stomach bug or food poisoning. Went to work in pain for 4 days thinking it would go away. Finally gave in on my stubbornness and listened to wife, went to hospital, she saved my life!!

Glad to hear you made it through that scary situation to say the least. Wish you a speedy recovery.

Most of us men have the tough guy it’s probably nothing, it’ll go away attitude. Thank god the women are here to push us to the doctor.

Most of us men have the tough guy it’s probably nothing, it’ll go away attitude. Thank god the women are here to push us to the doctor.

Some of us women feel we are tough also. I let my AFib go for 3 weeks before calling to get an appt with my VA doc and then it took 3.5 weeks to get in. Now I'm still sidelined trying to get the VA to get it under control }:-(

Laura

Hey Laura, I hope you get yourself fixed up soon and back to normal as well!

I didn't mean for it to sound as if women aren't tough, you guys are tough as nails when it comes to dealing with pain. You guys give birth and go through hell every month as well as other issues that may pop up. I was just stating that most women listen to their bodies and get checked out before things get bad where as most men wont go to doctor until things are real bad

DelcoDave,

By tough, I meant like men....not paying attention to what is going on. I should have hit a VA while on the road but really didn't think it was much of a problem. Dumb, I know. At least I can feel the damn AFib, annoying as it is....my brother didn't feel his and had a minor stroke. Fortunately he was parked for the night.

I've talked to a couple Veterans, including a retired Navy brother and have some tips on how to get them to do something. I've never had trouble with any VA and it baffles me why they haven't stopped the irregular heartbeat. Oh well, hopefully soon. At least it's keeping me out Wyoming and all the closures ;-)

Laura

Thank God you had a great wife, and an excellent team of professionals at your local hospital, Greg.

No rushing as you recover. Take it from me when I say you were extremely fortunate, and every day is a gift, indeed.

Thankfully at this year's annual enrollment I opted for the optional "Mac Daddy" ST disability coverage so I'll have close to full pay.

Everyone there said that I most likely would have been dead by morning if I hadn't went to the ER. Lesson is that if your body is trying to tell you something "LISTEN".

Thanks for the story!

I also opted for the "Mac Daddy" ST disability coverage this year. Hopefully it's not a sign :)