General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Forty-seven years ago today, the world changed--a revisit and a revision of a seven year old post: [View all]DFW
(54,280 posts)In April, 2004, I noticed some twinges in my shoulder and some shortness of breath. Since two of my grandparents had died of heart attacks before turning 70, I had read up on recognizing symptoms of heart trouble, and those were two big danger signs.
I called up a cardiologist in my town in Germany and asked to see someone right away. They assumed I was on the regular German health insurance system, and told me there was an appointment open in 2 months. I said I was an American "passing through," and would pay my bill upon receipt. Oh, in THAT case, I could come in that afternoon at 5:15. I did, and the doc said there was definitely "something" there, and asked if could come back in 2 days for an echo-stress test. I said sure. So, two days later, I went back there.
During the test, he said, OK, that's enough. In my office, please. Umm, OK. He said I needed to get my ass up the cardiac clinic in Essen ASAP. This was a Wednesday. I said I had some stuff to do, but was free as of Monday. He said, no, not Monday, not tomorrow, NOW. I said, "THAT drastic?" He said that without performing surgery, he couldn't tell for sure, but I REALLY needed to get there THAT DAY. I canceled everything, dropped everything, and my wife drove me up the the clinic that night. The next morning, the top surgeon came in, looked at my chart, and said, "clear my schedule, this guy comes on at noon." An assistant of his came in, and I had to sign a form acknowledging that I was aware of all the evil things that MIGHT happen. They were all fatal. I said why don't you give me a gun and let me call my wife, and get it over with? He said, no, don't panic. none of that stuff had ever happened there, but they were required by law to inform me that it could. Oh. How reassuring. But, OK.
After going down to surgery, having the whole procedure done, Star Wars gadgets orbiting, things flying around me, stents put in, the surgeon told me I was going to be OK, but I was the luckiest man in Europe that day. He showed me the before and after (stents) pics of two forward coronary arteries. They had been 99% blocked. I was a fatal heart attack waiting to happen, as in any second. He said it was a miracle that I had been brought to him before anything really evil had happened. He could save 70% of the patients brought to him if they were still alive, but he wasn't sure I would have been in that category. So, my second birthday was on April 29th, 2004.
Like you: JACKPOT.