Emergency Wake up Call

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So the last few days I’ve spent pretty much every waking hour in various units of several different local hospitals. While I was not the patient(s), and all turned out just fine, it was about as stressful as it gets.



After a nice dinner and movie at my Mom’s house with my brother and my wife and I we called it an evening and headed home around 8:00. We were watching TV around 10:00 when my younger brother came in the front door, looking wild eyed, panicked and speaking gibberish. We assumed it was a stroke, called 911 immediately and from the symptom’s onset to him being treated in the Emergency unit of the closest hospital specializing in Strokes was less than 30 minutes. Fortunately for him, at the moment, he is staying in his RV parked in my yard.



After tons of testing and treatments for a day and a half he was moved to a hospital specializing in cardio care where my mom was already scheduled for an angioplasty tuesday morning. He ended up with the same procedure monday and needed two stints to open a completely blocked artery. Mom’s came out much smoother, no blockages and “Kraffty’s Medical Transport” delivered them both home by late tuesday afternoon.



My brother is showing no adverse signs from either the heart attack or the Mini-stroke by some miracle, if anything he say’s he feels better than he has in the last year or so. Mom’s fine and ready for a week long family vacation at the end of the month and my wife and I are glad to be back in the office enjoying the stress free environment of work.



It’s certainly the typical “wake up call” you hear about, realizing it could happen to you, and even a better chance of it happening since it’s in your family history. While we don’t smoke and we eat very healthy 90% of the time, I guess I’ll have to take my exercise level up from “zero” to somewhere around “at least adequate” and start knocking off some of those extra 35lbs. that have mysteriously and suddenly appeared over the last 10 years.



Stay well everyone and kiss your family often!

Mike
 
Wow, so glad this has a good ending. How fortunate that your brother was close by when all this happened.
 
Hmmm, that zero exercise to adequate hits home on this end. Thanks for that wake up call (though I'll get a small lecture from my older brother when I see him this weekend, since he's a cardiologist).

Glad to hear everything turned out well!
 
Wow is right! The emotional rollercoaster you just went through is as real as it gets. And so scary when you’ve got no control of the situation. Now on the mend you can take a breath. And it feels good.
Went through a very similar scenario with my youngest brother about 2.5 yrs ago. He was bartending down the shore-went to ER with chest pains. Ambulanced to philly. Congestive heart failure at 25yrs old. Mini stroke in the hospital. Massive stroke 2 days after being released. Airlifted to Penn hospital. Yada yada yada.
Scariest time of my life. Painful to watch your loved ones deal with the damage from strokes. Fortunately he is able to work and live a normal life with minimal lingering effects. (Strokes were byproducts of his bad ticker) Aside from meds and defibrillator they put in him- living a very healthy life is a big part of his recovery —naturally that rubbed off on us. It was certainly a wake up call. But sometimes I hit the snooze button. Your post is a great reminder. Thank you. And best of luck to your family.
 
Whenever I hear a story like yours AJ, where someone has heart problems and/or stroke at 25, I can't help but wonder how I got to be so lucky.

Glad that things turned out ok.
 
Whenever I hear a story like yours AJ, where someone has heart problems and/or stroke at 25, I can't help but wonder how I got to be so lucky.

Glad that things turned out ok.
Me and you both.

Well just as @Kraffty said,
Stay well everyone and kiss your family often!
Silver lining is that it brings the family closer together and gives new appreciation of your loved ones. And to not taking anything for granted.
Mikes post prompted me reach out to him last night-just to shoot the breeze for a while- which I haven’t done in a little bit.
 
So glad folks are in recovery mode! Too many people do not know the symptoms of heart attacks / strokes. One afternoon I had indigestion, and couldn't get comfortable. Then the sweats started and since I was alone, I called 911. There was no chest pain, just WebMD telling me to call the paramedics each time I entered my symptoms. Turns out it was a heart attack. Happy member of the Stent Club now. Lot of guys in Cardiac Rehab said the same thing so next time you have indigestion, take note. As for the ladies, they often complain about numbness or tingling in the shoulder as their only symptom.
 
It's great to hear how all these stories ended relatively speaking so well but each is a true reminder how fragile life really is and that however good doctors and hospitals - and yes, family members can be - there are no guarantees in life and one minute everything is fine
...and the next... not always so good.
 
Glad it went well for both involved. Continue drinking your resveratrol. Best thing for it.
 
This is exactly why I started drinking wine about a year ago!! I had a similar situation, I needed an unexpected stint. My wife has taken me on this heart healthy trip and wine was one of her prescriptions. I’ve been drinking 1-3 glasses of Tannat from South Africa or Cabs from Washington, dropped 20lbs., no pork or processed foods, beef 1 x a month. That’s it brother- all my numbers are great now and they were really bad. This was less than a year ago. Super happy to hear all turned out good for all in your house.
By the way, this is the coolest group on the internet. All of you are saying very nice things. Good job internet.
 
Mr. Joe, it's great to hear you took that so seriously. We also took that situation to heart, I was at 220lbs back when it happened and am now at 185 and my wife has lost quite a bit also. While my brother is still doing well but I have to admit he hasn't made many changes to his lifestyle. He vapes instead of smokes but still eats out 2 or 3 times a day and spends the majority of his spare time sitting and watching TV or computer. Hard to tell a 50 year old man what to do when he doesn't want to hear.

You're also right about the group being supportive and kind. Something very rare on internet forums these days.
Mike
 

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