I thought I was growing old. Hiking up the hill behind my home, a climb of 800 feet, was turning into drudgery.

Then one afternoon, when walking up 30 feet to my house (on a hill) I got very tired. My shoulder ached. I slowly went up the rest of the way, sat down in an easy chair, and rested. My shoulder hurt; I assumed it was a pinched nerve, so I stretched, but it did no good.

At 10 pm I went to bed, but was very uncomfortable. Finally I got up and sat back in my easy chair. I was still uncomfortable. I read a book and few hours went by. I got back into bed, but it made my shoulder feel even worse. Back to my chair.

Finally I thought I should call the “Advice Nurse” at Kaiser. I called, and was put on hold. I recalled that my MD had expressed some concern about my heart; this clearly wasn’t associated with that, but while I was on hold I Googled “heart attack”. I read down the list. Yes for that symptom; check. Neck pain! Check that symptom. Check. After 3 checks, I hung up on the Kaiser wait and dialed 911.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked.

“I’m not sure, but I think I may be having some symptoms of a heart attack?”

“Is your address …” Yes, I said. “Is there someone there who can open the door?” Yes. “Someone is on their way and should be at your home in 5 minutes.”

Wow. 911 worked just as it was supposed to!

I met the ambulance down in the street. “I’m the guy who called.” They told me to get in. (My wife couldn’t come, because we were babysitting our granddaughter; she arrived later that afternoon.) On the ride they measured my blood pressure, took my pulse, took a blood sample, and did an EKG which they emailed to the hospital.

In the ambulance, I told the nurse that I wasn’t sure I should have called. She laughed. She said I had waited too long. “I get two kinds of people,” she said. “Those who wait too long, like you, and those who call because they have a splinter in their toe.”

When I arrived, I was sent immediately into an emergency room and examined by a doctor. They injected me with a blood thinner. Within a half hour the blood sample confirmed I had had a heart attack. It was mild (it turns out that there was only minuscule permanent damage) but it was real.

They asked me if I would prefer open heart surgery or stents. I chose stents. They were inserted that afternoon. Since I had requested no anesthetics (other than local) they let me go home that evening.

Three weeks later I (with doctor’s permission) climbed to the top of Vernal Falls in Yosemite. At the top I did a “Rocky Balboa dance” celebrating my recovery. But even more joyous was to discover that I had only had a heart attack. That was quite a relief from my prior self-diagnosis that I was having trouble walking because I was “getting old.” Heart attacks are treatable; getting old isn’t.

All this happened back in 2011. Today I feel great (but I carry a nitroglycerine pill with me just in case). I hiked the Mist Trail up to the top of Vernal Falls again, about a month ago, along with my two grandchildren.


Source: https://www.quora.com/What-does-a-heart-attack-feel-like-2


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May we be saved from this ordeal called "heart attack." Only those who survive it can tell the story.