Heart Attack - My Experience

[monthefish]

Mastiff said:

Please guys and girls, have a think for a minute. I wouldn't wish my last three years on anyone. Nevermind all the hospital stays, the pain, the nine tablets a day, it's everything that goes with it.

The pressure on family and friends is huge, to see people you love worrying about you and altering their lives around you to help is humbling. The inability to offer your best either at work or at home, is infuriating to say the least, you just want to get on with it and be your old self but you just cannot get on with things whilst all this st hangs over you.

Things you don't even realise are going to be effected become tiresome, travel insurance is a bh, you need to declare if going for a job, that sort of thing. The knock on never seems to stop.

If you are living life to the full, make sure that you enjoy every minute but for crying out loud give yourself a break every now and then because I assure you, there is almost certainly going to be a price to pay.

My apologies if that all sounds a bit patronising. Just feeling a bit sorry for myself today, I guess...

Best wishes all.

Sorry to hear you're still having troubles.

What is it we should be doing to avoid this (i.e. what is it in your past that you think is the main cause of all of this? I think you cited 'smoking' in an earlier post)

[Ballon]

Glad to hear that you have got through this.

Very sobering indeed.

[jagracer]

Ruskie said:

Mastiff said:

GT2man-2 said:

Mastiff said:

Time to make that call methinks and divert the driver to A&E at the Royal Surrey, Guildford.

...

My guy also none to pleased with what the ECG is indicating, suggests filling me with morphine (gotta love BUPA)

Royal Surrey + Royal Brompton are NHS hospitals no ? How did being in BUPA help ?

(Interested BUPA member..)

Your story is sobering stuff indeed.

Many thanks.

Royal Surrey and Royal Brompton are both indeed NHS Hospitals, and I have had extraordinary treatment from both. I am also sure that the same treatment is available on the NHS. I don't know what to say here, really.

I just have always found a very good level of service from BUPA? Is that what I am trying to get across without insulting the people who work very hard throughout our system? They have certainly covered all bar the most minor costs regarding this treatment, outpatients visits, tests etc. I've seen the bills, it ain't cheap.

I am unsure how long I would have to wait for this operation otherwise. I get my own room, which in hindsight is a great advantage to everyone else actually because I snore like a fking freight train.

jagracer said:

Mastiff said:

Shortly after my first episode, the surgeon caught me at a tired and emotional moment,.............
He looked at me and said "Do you smoke?" I replied that I did and he simply said "Well, there you go then".

Not much I could say to that, really.

Except that's a crap statement for him to make. Truth be known they don't know what causes a lot of heart trouble and you can't lay the blame solely on smoking.

A bit of poetic licence here possibly (mine, not his). I think we can all agree that smoking is not good for you, and that this (in his professional, and my completely unprofessional opinion) is most likely to be the major cause of my problems.

To be fair, the guy could tell me he was taking his kids to the moon on holiday on a bit of stilton and I'd believe him.

Not sayin that this may apply in your case but as far as NHS and Operations go it can go like this in best case scenarios.


Chest pain > 999> Ambulance> ECG shows Heart Attack on going > Appropriate criteria met > Straight to nearest receiving Cardiac unit > Stents etc fitted.

999 call to actual operation time in my area is set at a target of 120 mins I think.

As I say this may not be relavent but just a rough guide to show how it works excellently on the NHS at times.

Not always the case. My uncle went into A&E with chest pains last week, they did all the tests and decided to do an angiogram. It's been decided he needs a stent but they can't do it there as they don't have the backup if things go wrong. He now has to wait on Kings for a space to do it.
I will admit if he had been having a heart attack they would have done it there and then or taken him somewhere that could do it.
One thing that puts me off private treatment with this type of thing is that my wife used to work in ITU and they used to get lots of blue light jobs from the local private hospital when their operations had gone wrong and they couldn't cope with the problems.
Although the NHS may be slow and chaotic, my experience is that they have always come through when an emergency has happened with any of my family or friends.

[Ruskie]

jagracer said:

Ruskie said:

Mastiff said:

GT2man-2 said:

Mastiff said:

Time to make that call methinks and divert the driver to A&E at the Royal Surrey, Guildford.

...

My guy also none to pleased with what the ECG is indicating, suggests filling me with morphine (gotta love BUPA)

Royal Surrey + Royal Brompton are NHS hospitals no ? How did being in BUPA help ?

(Interested BUPA member..)

Your story is sobering stuff indeed.

Many thanks.

Royal Surrey and Royal Brompton are both indeed NHS Hospitals, and I have had extraordinary treatment from both. I am also sure that the same treatment is available on the NHS. I don't know what to say here, really.

I just have always found a very good level of service from BUPA? Is that what I am trying to get across without insulting the people who work very hard throughout our system? They have certainly covered all bar the most minor costs regarding this treatment, outpatients visits, tests etc. I've seen the bills, it ain't cheap.

I am unsure how long I would have to wait for this operation otherwise. I get my own room, which in hindsight is a great advantage to everyone else actually because I snore like a fking freight train.

jagracer said:

Mastiff said:

Shortly after my first episode, the surgeon caught me at a tired and emotional moment,.............
He looked at me and said "Do you smoke?" I replied that I did and he simply said "Well, there you go then".

Not much I could say to that, really.

Except that's a crap statement for him to make. Truth be known they don't know what causes a lot of heart trouble and you can't lay the blame solely on smoking.

A bit of poetic licence here possibly (mine, not his). I think we can all agree that smoking is not good for you, and that this (in his professional, and my completely unprofessional opinion) is most likely to be the major cause of my problems.

To be fair, the guy could tell me he was taking his kids to the moon on holiday on a bit of stilton and I'd believe him.

Not sayin that this may apply in your case but as far as NHS and Operations go it can go like this in best case scenarios.


Chest pain > 999> Ambulance> ECG shows Heart Attack on going > Appropriate criteria met > Straight to nearest receiving Cardiac unit > Stents etc fitted.

999 call to actual operation time in my area is set at a target of 120 mins I think.

As I say this may not be relavent but just a rough guide to show how it works excellently on the NHS at times.

Not always the case. My uncle went into A&E with chest pains last week, they did all the tests and decided to do an angiogram. It's been decided he needs a stent but they can't do it there as they don't have the backup if things go wrong. He now has to wait on Kings for a space to do it.
I will admit if he had been having a heart attack they would have done it there and then or taken him somewhere that could do it.
One thing that puts me off private treatment with this type of thing is that my wife used to work in ITU and they used to get lots of blue light jobs from the local private hospital when their operations had gone wrong and they couldn't cope with the problems.
Although the NHS may be slow and chaotic, my experience is that they have always come through when an emergency has happened with any of my family or friends.

Yeah it does differ from region to region and case to case. For example if the patient has had chest pain for over 12 hours they may not be able to have a stent in via the 999 route. We can also thrombolise patients who fit a certain criteria if rejected for angio. But the prognosis is not as good and the risk is greater.

[Tony 1234]

Mastiff, what was involved in the "Thalium" test, I get out of breath when I bend down and I had Stents fitted last year at age 63.

Thanks

[skeggysteve]

I was going to address this to the OP but I thought it might be of more wider interest - sorry if I got it wrong.

OP as I have said before you have my best wishes.

Recently I had cause to be very grateful to the NHS. They had the ability to nonjudgmental, had a bed in ITU, had staff that were really concerned about people not just numbers.

I have experienced the doctors attributing everything to smoking - even a broken bone

So I suppose, on balance, the NHS is good and bad. But it begs the question - how do we make it better?

[ali_kat]

Best of luck!

[Jasandjules]

Wow, awesome write up.... Glad to hear it was all a success.

[Mastiff]

Guys, this was NEVER a thread to put down the NHS, and all that work hard within it. On both occasions the NHS has served me wonderfully, diagnosing the problem and getting me to where that problem could be dealt with the quickest.

I have BUPA cover and we all took the opportunity to take advantage of it, the NHS included. What happened on 8th November led to me being dealt with in the right facility, by the right surgeon, at the right time. I should think that if I did not have that cover, the same would apply. Perhaps I would have to wait longer for the follow up treatments, but I genuinely do not know.

I did have the cover and I am still here to type this. In the end, that is all I really care about!

Tony 1234 said:

Mastiff, what was involved in the "Thalium" test, I get out of breath when I bend down and I had Stents fitted last year at age 63.

Thanks

Hi Tony, the Thalium Test comes under the attractively titled Nuclear Medicine!

It involves a hospital visit (not overnight, hopefully) where a small dose of radiation is injected into the blood stream, whilst you pedal gentley on a sit down bike. As I understand it the pedalling is not to test fitness levels, just to keep blood pressure up as the treatment can lower it. This last about 6-10 minutes. No real ill feeling, just a bit of an amyl-nitrate type headrush (for the old school amongst us!)

You then lie very still in a scanner for about 15 minutes, sit around for an hour and then back into the scanner again for another pass, to get a second image for reference. The whole thing took about 3 hours including waiting times.

They then forward the results to the cardiologist who checks to see that you are glowing in all the right places. This is how they have discovered that I may still have issues.

[DangerousMike]

thalium?!!/?! jesus. I'm sure the radioactive thalium they put in you is appropriately wrapped up inside some organic molecule that you can wee out, but thalium... jeez. I have worked with thalium compounds and ~10 mg of some can give you complete alopecia!

[Mastiff]

For the more technically minded amongst you I found this....

Extremely Clever Surgeony Type Bloke Wrote said:

The finding was as follows. The left main stem was normal. The LAD was occluded within the previously stented segment. The circumflex was occluded proximally. The right coronary artery was chronically occluded. I proceeded to disobliterate the LAD and circumflex and left an intra aortic balloon pump in him overnight. He made a reasonable recovery, but because he had been so very unwell I took him back to the Lab to study the arteries again on 12/11/08. The findings were as follows. The LAD and circumflex remain widely patent. The LAD was diffusely diseased, but there was no critical stenoses. There were important lesions in the circumflex in 2 places, firstly within a stent and secondly at the ostium of a small distal obtuse marginal. Furthermore, I noted that there was a higher lateral circumflex that was completely occluded. I went on to treat all three lesions. I stented the distal circumflex lesion with a 2.5mm x 12mm Taxus. I dilated the ostial distal obtuse marginal lesion with a 2.5 mm balloon and disobliterated the higher lateral circumflex. The end result was satisfactory.

I have no idea what all this actually means, but I am VERY pleased that he does...

[DangerousMike]

disobiliterated

[Chris_H]

Mastiff, as a fellow 'Club Stent' member, I wish you all the best. I only have one (left circumflex) which I received in 06/2004. I also recently had a thallium test. However, when I went for the results of this, the consultant told me it was very open to interpretation and not a definitive test. I was a bit put out as it is done over two days and was quite time consuming (and I had to make and take a sandwich each time ). I think he was saying that as my 'plumbing' is pretty good, it's difficult to discern a small issue with this test. The other thing he told me was that the stented part of the artery was probably the best bit of coronary artery I have. Mine is a bare metal stent so if they make six months without blocking, they should never give a problem!! I think the drug eluding stents are the weapon of choice nowadays although they seem to be controversial!!
Anyway, hope all goes well on Wednesday.

Chris

[Tony 1234]

Chris_H said:

Mastiff, I think the drug eluding stents are the weapon of choice nowadays although they seem to be controversial!.

Chris

Yes, the "Taxus" stents (as mine and Mastiffs) are the drug eluding stents.

Tony

Edited by Tony 1234 on Friday 6th February 10:50

[Mastiff]

Hi guys and girls.

Well, I made it!

Had a rather nasty reaction to the contrast (injected so that he can see what he is doing on the xray screens), but I am still here. I basically went a rather funny shade of puce and my throat swelled up making breathing difficult.

The worst part of it all was that I suffered the most outrageously itchy bks that I have ever had the misfortune to deal with. I ABSOLUTELY had to do something about it. Let me tell you that when you are in your birthday suit, on your back with your arms behind your head surrounded by about nine people, most of them female, with a tube up your groin and a surgeon digging about in your heart, it is not as easy as that Sunday morning scratch under the duvet! Anyway, all done now and back to work.

Unfortunately, I now weigh in at a rather alarming 105kg (16.5st in old money)! 10kg up on my weight in Nov when this all started. I knew I had put on some pounds but oh dear. Off the beer and back to the gym 3 times a week to get this lot off I suppose. If anyone has any suggestion about how to shed this, all advice greatly appreciated. Preferably without working too hard

Anyway, I thought I'd just pop up a quick post to thank you all for your support and pm's, it meant a lot to me as I was feeling very fragile at that time and you will not know how good it felt to (sorry about this) get it off my chest.

On that outstandingly bad note....

[CraigW]

there he is!!!!

wayhay, good to see you back fella.

I'm sorry to say it, but your comment about your nuts almost made me choke laughing.

All the best for a full recovery, balanced diet, bit of exercise, take it gently, off the beers and it'll fleece off you.

[pies]

[ali_kat]

pies said:

+1