On July 19, 2011, while working as a CNA on the night shift at the Maples in Har-ber Meadows, I had my second heart attack. I have to say it was different from my first heart attack. With the first one, I had chest pain for several days prior to going into V-fib at the emergency room. With this second attack, I had no prior warnings other than I was living an unhealthy lifestyle that included a horrible diet as well as a great deal of stress and depression.
I had lost my wife of 27 years to liver cancer in March of 2009. In August of 2010 I had remarried, but that ended disastrously and I fell into a deep depression I wouldn't wish on anyone. I realize that we bring on most of our own stresses in life and I blame no one but me. But I will say that I believe stress can kill you -- and so can depression. These kinds of things can affect your health, or your heart, almost as much as an actual heart attack does. I knew I was living dangerously by not taking care of myself, but that doesn't mean it looked like an easy thing to climb out of. It didn't.
That night I had just had a bite to eat (a pint of chocolate milk and candy bar), and was helping a resident get ready for bed. I assisted her in getting to her feet and just then I felt a sharp pain in the front of my left shoulder. At first I thought I had pulled a muscle, but it didn't take long for me to realize I was having another heart attack. I broke out in a sweat. It felt really warm in the resident's room, so I went out into the hallway to get some fresh air.
I looked down towards the nurses' station and called for help. A nurse came running up and I told her I was having a heart attack. I kneeled down on the floor and put my back to the wall. She called 911, then got a wet washcloth and put it on my forehead as I lay with my head in her lap. Other staff came up to see what was going on.
I had nitroglycerin tablets out in my car, but nursing home policy would not allow them to get it for me. In fact, they couldn't give me anything themselves, not even an aspirin, so we were stuck waiting for the EMTs to arrive. The pain was terrible -- much worse than the first time. I shifted my weight around, but nothing seemed to help. I asked the nurse to squeeze the washcloth over my heart to let some of the cool water fall on it. This helped take my mind off of the pain. I think it took maybe 15 minutes or so for the EMTs to get there. It seemed much longer.
They immediately had me chew two adult-strength aspirin and gave me some sub-lingual nitroglycerin for the chest pain, but it never touched my pain that night. On the way to the hospital they gave me some more, with no discernable effect. As they were wheeling me out of the nursing home I saw a young CNA looking real worried as I rolled past.
I looked at him and said, "Relax Ernie, everything will be alright." I smiled at him and he smiled back. And that was my last day of work there.
When we got to Springdale Hospital, they took me in through the emergency room entrance, on into an examining room where a doctor began to ask me some questions. I felt nauseous and thought I would throw up. I sat up in bed and threw up a bunch of coffee grind-looking stuff I suppose was dried blood. Immediately afterwards I felt that same feeling I had had with the first heart attack. I felt I was about to pass out. I told the doctor how I felt and that's the last I remember.
I again went into ventricular fibrillation and they had to shock my heart to get it started again. I came to with an overwhelming pain in my chest and, again, the driest mouth ever. They gave me some small ice chips to suck on. I kept asking for something for the pain, but they said they had given me all they could for now. I am allergic to morphine, so they couldn't give me any for my pain. They were in touch with a cardiologist who was on call, but he never came in -- just told them what to do over the phone. A number of hours later they decided to try Dilaudid for the chest pain. It worked! I got a little relief. The only problem was, it was short-term relief. But it got me through the night.
The next day a team of doctors stopped in and informed me that I needed bypass surgery and I needed it as soon as possible. I wasn't really open to the idea of having my chest cut open. In fact, I was quite closed to the idea. Later in the morning, though, a nice cardiologist, by the name of Dr. Ahmad Elesber, stopped by to see me. He was very polite. He told me I really needed the surgery and that it would help me quite a bit. I told him they could go ahead and do it. I literally hated the idea of open heart surgery, but felt I had no choice at the time.
Dr. Couch and his team, of Springdale, performed the surgery. They took a vein from my left leg to use as bypass material around the blockages in my heart. They performed a total of five bypasses. The incision on my left leg ran from high up in my groin area down to my ankle bone. My leg looked terrible after the surgery, with massive bruising and the incision running the length of my leg. I spent a few days recovering in the hospital. The night before my release, I went into atrial fibrillation, which isn't life threatening but can be bothersome. It can also increase the chances of a stroke. It woke me up anyhow. A nurse poked her head in the door and asked me if everything was alright. I told her I felt kind of shaky.
"That's because you just went into A-fib," she said, "I saw it on your monitor. I'll call the doctor to see what he wants me to do."
They put me on a medicine designed to treat A-fib, but I didn't respond right away. After a few hours they changed medications in the hope it would make a difference. If this didn't work, their next option was to shock my heart to get it back into what is called "sinus rhythm." Just before they were scheduled to try the shock treatment, my heart went back into a normal "sinus rhythm" and I was spared from having my heart stopped and then started again. I was on my way home to a new life with five bypasses and a very sore leg.
Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 04/20/2016