After the heart attack

Last week, on December 2, at 8:10 AM, I had my first heart attack. I was at home, helping to get my nephew Luke get ready to leave for school, when out of nowhere I felt a powerful pain in my chest, like a fireball was burning me from the inside. I told my wife LeAnne I didn’t feel well and sat down. She called 911, and within five minutes of her call, the EMTs from the Renton Fire Department arrived and started talking to me.

This was not the first time I felt something that I thought might be a heart attack. Almost a year before I had a numbness in one arm which quickly spread to my other arm and then to my chest. It was much less intense and faded after an hour. LeAnne drove me to the ER that day, and after many tests and scans they were unable to find a root cause.

But this attack was very different. By the time the EMTs arrived, the attack had intensified to the worst pain I can remember feeling, and spread to my arms, hands, neck, and head. LeAnne noticed I was sweating and said I looked pale.

Before long the ambulance arrived and I was given pain medication and driven to Valley Medical Center in Renton, then taken to the cardiac unit. Working through an artery in my right arm, they found a blockage in one of my arteries, removed the blockage and placed a stent there to keep the artery open. Within about two hours after it started, the pain was gone. By the next morning I was back home.

I was surprised that this happened to me. I have been eating a healthy diet for many years, with almost no red meat or fried anything. But since the pandemic, I have been getting less exercise than I used to. And I always have coffee in the morning. And there have been a lot of stresses in my life the past few months.

As I write this, five days after the attack, my focus is on resting and recovery. Later this week I will meet my cardiologist to talk about the next steps. I am adjusting to taking new medications and expect to make more lifestyle changes in the coming months to reduce the chances of this happening ever again.

I was lucky that the attack happened at home, and with family around me to help me. I am grateful to be alive, and to be at home with my family. I am grateful to all the people at Renton Fire and Valley Medical who cared for me. Also to extended family and friends who reached out. I am feeling good overall, and hopeful about the future. This has been hardest on my wife LeAnne who was sick with worry and has had to take care of me and take up the slack at home as I care for myself.

I am going to try to start working again at my job as a software engineer tomorrow. I will take it day by day and take more sick days if needed. I am fortunate to be able to work from home.

I am still working on my novel. I wrote 600 words last month, and 300 new words in one evening since the heart attack. I enjoy writing it and feel like working on it will help my recovery.

I look forward to a wonderful Winter Solstice and Christmas with my family. I will appreciate the time with them more than ever.

UPDATE 12/10/2021: I talked to my cardiologist today, she said I am recovering well and can resume normal activities. To reduce risk of another heart attack, I need to exercise more and eat a "Mediterranean diet" which is very similar to what I already eat.