"My heart attack"

Initially I felt “faintish” and a heavy sweat came upon me. I sat down and was just soaking with sweat. This lasted about 10 minutes. I had no pain. I made my way home with the help of my wife and lay down. At this stage I thought I felt pain in my chest.

My wife phoned 999, she was advised to give me Asprin. An ambulance arrived within 20 minutes. The paramedics carried out several checks and advised me to go into the hospital. They took me to A&E where I was monitored for 24 hours before being sent to the cardiac ward. The following day an angiogram was carried out and fortunately no muscle damage was recorded. A few hours later a dye test was carried out in the CAT Lab which revealed blockages in two arteries. A stent was fitted in one of them.

The following day I was sent home knowing I would be called as a day patient for the second stent.  Six weeks later I was called up. I arrived at 9:30 had the procedure done at 3:30pm and released at 9:00pm.  All went well for five days when I then had to return to A&E suffering a nose bleed which was cauterised. The following night I had a major nose bleed and had to return to A&E. It was due to the blood thinning medication. I got home 4 days later. It was quite a traumatic experience. I was readmitted the following day and had another cauterisation. Fortunately it has settled down now but I notice the slightest scratch can bleed very easily and take a little while to stop.

Prior to any of this I had three similar fainting episodes but without the severe sweating. For the first two I went to A&E to get checked out. Nothing unusual was found and I was sent home. My consultant this time felt I should have been sent to the cardiac ward on these occasions.

Since that I have attended  eight weekly classes as part of my Cardiac Rehabilitation and Secondary Prevention. I found these most beneficial lasting 90 minutes each. The Cardiac and Secondary Prevention Nurse Specialist and Cardiac Rehab Physio Specialist were very knowledgable and easy to talk to. The session began with a one hour workout guided by the Physio Specialist. The Cardiac Nurse monitored heart rate, blood pressure etc through the workout. This was followed by different speakers giving talks on different aspect of a healthy lifestyle.  Q and A time was given at the end of each session, and these gave more insight into heart conditions.These sessions allowed us to talk and compare well being with other sufferers. On the final day a comparison of fitness from week one to week eight was carried out. I’m pleased to say in my case a good result was shown.

Having completed these sessions I have taken up the offer of a further twelve weeks at the local leisure centre at a favourable rate for further rehabilitation.