RE: Welcome to the bypass club campinfan

[mike4947]

 
I had a quintuple in  96. Don t worry the soreness will go away. If you haven t already; look into the availablilty of Cardiac Rehab. Can t say enough about that program and the way it got me back into shape.

[Garrett]

 mike4947
This is one club I hope I do not ever join.  But you never know.  Good luck and take care of yourselves.

[CampNfan]

 mike4947
Garrett,
 I hope you! Or no one! Has to ever join this club.
 mike4947,
 Glad you started this thread. Now I am going to add to it. Gives me a chance to tell everyone what happened and ?why??. Maybe it will kick someone so they don?t fall over with a heart attack. I was one of the lucky ones, believe it or not!
 I started smoking at age 15, up until May of last year when I stopped; I smoked probably about a pack and a half a day. That was a big thing for me to do, quit. I tried everything from the Patch, gum, pills, I even called NIH (National Institute of Health) and was a ginny Pig for a computer thing they where trying out. The name of it was ?Lifesign? I believe they are still testing that idea? Quitting smoking was the first of many things I have planned to try and stick around for my 6 year old to see him Graduate and hopefully live long enough to see him get married. I am 43 years old now so you see I needed to start ASAP! First and foremost was the smoking. DID IT! Thank God too. Because it makes what I am going through now much easier.  My New Year resolution this year is to work on weight and heart. Those of you that know me know I am not a small person. So I slowed down on portion sizes of what I ate. I started walking toward the middle of January. I set up a couple of different routes each around 2 to 3 miles. So after I put my youngest to bed I would grab the dog and go for my walk, every night! At first I felt chest pains about 10 or 15 min into my walk after about 20 min they would go away. Never really hurting all that bad but noticeable. I figured what the hell, Of course you feel pain you been on your butt for how many years? Well after about 3 weeks they really started hurting bad. I almost called my DW to come pick me up in the car a couple times. The pains where getting worse not going away? I was telling a friend of mine about this. He said RICK! Go to the doc. I was doing just what his Dad had done but he ended up having a heart attack. He is ok today. I had what he called ?Walk through angina?? I went to Doc that Mon. Lots of things could have gone many different ways but ended up by Fri. I was diagnosed with needing a triple bypass. Good thing about this is I was walking in and I was walking out! No heart damage! No damage to anything else in my body. Doc say?s I am lucky to catch this and if I had had a heart attack well let?s just say????We don?t know the ending of that story. But the ending of this one is that I am Alive and plan on living with my new plumbing for a long long time.  Bottom line?..You got a slight pain?.you think? Don?t think? Go to the Doc. Get it taken care of before there is any damage! Hope this helps just one person!
 I am going to ask my Doc. about getting into Cardiac Rehab when I see him next. I do have one worry...that is that I will not be able to ride the roller coasters with my son. I am hoping I can? another question for the doc I guess?
 

[lhuff]

 mike4947
Mine was in  94 at 47 young years.  I felt like my cat was lying on my chest.  No pain, no real discomfort, just tightness/pressure.  After two days I decided to go to the hospital.  I found out I had had a mild heart attack and was shippped off to another hospital for quintuple bypass surgery.  Last week my annual stress test showed some abnormality so I had a cardiac cath last Tuesday and am pleased to say all is still great.  
 
 I smoked a carton a week for 18 years but had stopped in 1982.  I don t know if smoking caused the problem or not, but I m sure it didn t help.  
 
 Campinfan - hang in there.  You ll feel better than you have for a while and in a while you ll forget about the whole thing unless reminded.  I agree with Mike4947, find a good Cardiac Rehab and stick with it.  I believe it made a huge difference in how quickly you recoup and it was actually a great deal of fun.
 
 Best wishes!!

[NCSunshine]

 mike4947
Glad to hear all are doing better.  My Mom just came home from the hospital today.  She had three new stents put in her heart yesterday.  Comes to a total of eight.  Today was her birthday, she turned 80.  The doctor is very pleased with her progress.
 
 I guess we all need to do our best at making ourselves healthier.
 
 DH will turn 44 and I will turn 42 this year and the kids are 2, 4, and 9.  We need to be around a long time to take care of our kids too.

[brainpause]

 mike4947
Rick,
 
  I appreciate your words. I hope other fellow campers listen to your words, as they may listen to yours better than mine. No, I haven t had to quit smoking, no I haven t had to quit drinking (never started), no I haven t made any diet changes (but I need to). But as a cardiac nurse, please, fellow campers, take care of yourselves, and pay attention to those signs that you want to deny or ignore (see Rick s story). We want you at the campground!
 
 Larry

[CampNfan]

 mike4947

UPDATE!

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Back to work Monday, 1/2 Days for 2 weeks. Then back to full swing!
 I just want to thank everyone for keeping me company and being by my side through all of this. What a great group of folks we have here.

[/color]

[brainpause]

 mike4947
Woo Hoo!
 
 Just enough time to get your strength back up for the Rally in June! And there are still campsites around me and Holly available for you to reserve!
 
 Larry