A Good Day for Me That Went Bad Aftermat

To begin with I need to explain some of the things that happened in the hospital for those who did not read the original short story about my Heart Attack.

There is humor in a hospital if you know where to look or who to talk to about your problem. I was fortunate to have a nurse who had worked with Cardiac patients for quite awhile named Lisa. The day after the triple by-pass surgery I was told to get out of bed and walk. Walk! I had just had major surgery. Lisa then explained that to keep from getting blood clots in my legs I needed to walk, OK get me up and moving! Walking a distance of 10 feet felt like a marathon run, needless to say I was very tired.

After a short nap I was asked to get up and get weighed, OK, I got up out of bed again and stood on the scale, what a surprise it showed that I weighed 180 pounds. The scale is broken, was my reaction I have never wieghed more than 155 pounds in my life. Lisa explained to me that it was fluid build up from the surgery and she said "look at your knuckles" my knuckles? To my surprise there were no wrinkles at the hand joints because of the fluid build up. It was also explained that the problem could be corrected in a minute. Lisa came back to my room with a syringe and gave me a shot, well I told her to move because I had to go and I mean go now. I was in the bathroom going for about 15 minutes and the nurses were worried that I had passed out, No I was busy going. I was weighed the next day and was back to 155 pounds, I don't know what the injection contained but it worked.

On the day I was discharged from the hospital, I was about to shower and shave and I was naked, Lisa walked into the room "Hey I'm naked" was my response, hers was "I'll tell you if I see anything I haven't seen before". She noticed the clothes lying on the bed and commented that she had never seen a man color coordinate right down to his underwear. In the Fire Service (I was a Fire Chief) station wear consisted of a dark blue T shirt, dark blue pants and the underwear was just a pair that I grabbed from the drawer the day of the heart attack that just happened to be dark blue. I answered a knock on my door thinking it was my friend who was coming to drive me home, wrong it was 5 nurses who wanted to see the guy with the color coordinated underwear, and I could hear Lisa laughing around the corner.

While I was being wheeled out of the hospital, because they make you walk when you have a room but when you leave you can't walk. Huh? The fire alarms were going off, strobe lights were flashing and an announcement was made that the Fire Chief was leaving, Lisa again with her humor. The humor that she showed to me is what made me happy during a difficult time.


I had been home from the hospital about one week when The doctors at the hospital had prescribed Ambien to help me sleep, it works wonders for sleeping but you can only take it for 7 days. The reason for only 7 days is that it is a Psychological Narcotic, it will definitely put you to sleep but walking is kind of difficult.


I returned to work about 1 month after the surgery to do the administrative duties only, no firefighting because there was surgical wire holding my chest together and it takes quite awhile to heal. When I returned the firefighters had my office decorated with the Ironman character everywhere and joked about it. The friend who had driven me home was one of my firefighters and listened to everything that Lisa had explained about you can't do this and you can't do that and decided to do my grocery shopping for me. Now I appreciated Randy doing this but he bought everything Fat Free, so I sent him back to exchange it for Low Fat. The human body needs some fat in its diet, remember I was a Paramedic at the time and understand what is needed to stay healthy. The Cardiologist did tell me in a later visit that my blockages were caused by the Rheumatic Fever I had contracted when I was 12 years old and it took 44 years to cause the heart attack.


I had continued walking and people noticed that I was doing this rain or shine and asked "why"? It was in the book that was given to me at the hospital that if I didn't do anything just sat around that I would be back for more surgery or be Dead, that's why I walked. I was invited to go to see a play at a dinner theater and met someone from the local Rotary Club, he listened and laughed at how I told my story. He asked me to come and speak at a Rotary dinner the next month and I accepted. It is a proven fact that people who have Cardiac emergencies become depressed and the percentage of people is around 90%. The reason is that they realize they are not as immortal as they thought. The Rotary Club talked to other groups such as the Elks Lodge, Moose Club and others. I had been asked to speak to them all when I lived in Idaho. I had taken my problem and used it to help others cope with the humorous tales I told about Lisa and the waking up in the recovery room without my glasses and seeing bright lights and people dressed in white. Now you all have heard about people coming back from being almost dead and seeing bright lights, well when you are recovering from a General Anesthetic you can imagine what went through my mind.


I now live in Thailand and it is 9 years since the surgery, I still walk and have been studying Tai Chi for exercise. I am a School Teacher here in Thailand teaching English as a Second Language. I have a beautiful Thai wife, 2 daughters and 1 son living here with me; they understand about the past surgery and sometimes worry about a recurrence. I have found that Thai cuisine is very healthy, because there is no fat in the cooking. The meals consist of Rice, meat or fish and vegetables along with fresh fruit. I hope that this writing will help explain along with the original story the problems people face with heart attacks and how to help others along the way.