What Happens When You Have A Heart Attack

bysiskiyoujim

182 followers

Updated 3 years ago

What Happens When You Have A Heart Attack?

I've been absent from here for a long time now. Last week I had a pretty good size heart attack and now I suddenly have the time to put together some more work on my online businesses.

My business cleaning carpets really took off this year, and I've been working many weeks 6 days a week, and long hours to boot.

The week leading up to my heart attack I totally missed all the warning signs, even though the thought was in the back of my head that this might be more than acid reflux or GERD. The doctors and nurses told me most people miss the signs the first time around, so perhaps this will help someone else here who is ignoring their body and brain.

Lets change this up a little, and I'll tell this story as if it happened to you, okay?

You had a busy week ahead, but you felt really good. Life and business are going good, you're happy, making good money, no stress filled relationships. You are experiencing a moment in a busy, active, healthy and peaceful life. It's wonderful isn't it?

Monday during the day, you start to have a little indigestion, a few burps, some minor heartburn, and you drink some cold water and it feels a little better, so you finish the work day and head home. Maybe like me it was a ten or twelve hour day in which you put in 5 or 8 hours of very physical labor, or maybe you had a good workout at the gym.

Arriving home you continue to drink water and relax, but the heartburn surging up from your esophagus and into the area just below the center of your rib cage isn't going away completely until you take some calcium carbonate, or drink some aloe vera juice, or have some ginger, or maybe have a little baking soda in water. Lying down makes it worse, and getting up makes it better.

At bedtime you take a little melatonin and feel nearly total relief. Ahhh.... It must be GERD or acid reflux, right?

As the week goes on, you have several 10 to 12 hour days, and the pain slowly grows worse and less controllable.

For me, I worked three 10 or 12 hour days, plus I

• officiated a funeral in a city two hours away,
• had a family reunion Friday, Saturday, and Sunday filled with swimming, fishing, bowling, and lots of food and fun.
• prepared and preached a 45-minute church service on Sunday morning

Heartburn or Heart Attack?

You get those articles in your news feed all the time if you are in the right age group. You know the ones, they tell you the "10 things" you should do, or eat, or drink in order to correct or avoid some life issue or condition.

I do too. I got and read the one about the "Single Most Important Thing To Do If You Have a Heart Attack" or some version of it.

Last week was really busy for you, and Sunday night you had your heartburn flair up so badly you slept in the recliner because it made you feel more comfortable. About 8 in the morning, you get up to use the bathroom, and the pain shoots across your entire chest like a wildfire, and your shoulders ache like they got punched a hundred times, and the pain throbs down your arms and into your wrists.

Any other time that much pain in your wrist would be difficult to handle, but at the moment it feels like nothing in comparison to the pain in your chest and shoulders. You think to yourself, "What should I do now?" You run to the medicine cabinet and grab an aspirin, and chew it up because you heard that was the right thing to do, at least that's what I did.

You wake your spouse and tell them the never before uttered words, Get up, I need you to take me to the hospital. Better yet, you call 911 and get an ambulance on the way.

The reason I knew it wasn't heartburn anymore was because it was different from anything else I had ever experienced. It was the worst pain I've ever had. At the hospital they asked for my pain level on a scale of 1-10. Mine was a 9 or 10, and after 2 doses of pain medication, they got it down to a 4 or 5.

After the Heart Attack

I'm really fortunate, because I am home and recovering from my heart attack after only two days in the hospital, both in the critical care unit. It's been a week today since I had the event. My journey is just beginning because now I need to reevaluate how I'll generate income.

I'm looking at several things right now, and just prior to the heart attack my wife and I were introduced to a really exciting business opportunity that helped us make several hundred dollars right away. It couldn't have come at a better time. We've already gotten paid a few times in our first month.

On top of that, we still have our carpet cleaning business, but I'll need to hire a little help to keep going.

And, as you know if you are reading this blog I'm a part of the fantastic community and business mentoring here at Wealthy Affiliate.

Even though this is a major bump in the road, things are not hopeless, and we are not helpless. If you need a hand getting started or a few ideas on how to generate a secondary, or even a primary income after a major health or personal setback, feel free to contact me. I'd be glad to help.