MARCH 2022. Blues Vol 38 No. 3

DARYL LOTT
daryl’s deliberations
Heart Attacks and Miracles
(Medical & Divine)
“Sir, you have had a heart
attack,” said the ER doctor in
New Port Richey, Florida. These
words were directed to me on
Tuesday of last week (01-25-22).
I am recounting my experience
in the hopes it may save a life
by demonstrating the issues of
a “coronary event” and what it
looked like from my perspective.
Normally, I wouldn’t put
something so personal on public
display, but I feel compelled to
share my experience for educational
purposes.
Becky and I traveled to Florida
via Southwest Airlines to visit
our daughter, Bethany, and her
husband, Joel, in the Tampa Bay
Area. We landed without incident
and went to a boat show
in a nearby harbor. I was on my
feet for a couple of hours and
walked 3 1/2 miles at the outdoor
boat show according to my
iPhone data. I had no issues other
than a touch of arthritis in my
right knee.
On Monday, I went to Countryside
Country Club and played
golf at that very nice facility in
nearby Clearwater, FL. When I
got through, my muscles were
a bit sore which is normal for
me. We ate dinner as usual with
Bethany and Joel who recently
moved to Florida in order to sail
a 31’ boat around So Florida.
The next day (Tuesday) was
cold and rainy so golf was not in
the forecast. Becky and Bethany
got dressed early and were going
to the school where Bethany
works as a counselor. It was at
that time I experienced an unfamiliar
sensation. My sore muscles
from the day before became
a bit more pronounced and I
started to sweat from my forehead.
I got on my cell and called
Becky back inside the apartment.
They were still on the parking
lot and came right back inside. I
then had an overwhelming urge
to walk around in circles, which
I did.
Becky was going to drive me
to the hospital, but nobody knew
where one was since we were
visiting and Bethany just moved
there. So that idea was quashed
after about five seconds and 9-1-
1 was called. The dispatcher told
them to give me aspirin, but all
we had was coated baby aspirin.
She told them that I needed to
chew four baby aspirin while the
ambulance was enroute, which
I did.
The ambulance arrived in a
few minutes. The EMT’s put me
on a stretcher and placed me in
the back of the ambulance. They
put me on an EKG and started
asking questions.
“How much pain are you in?”
“None.”
“Anything radiating down your
left arm.”
“No.”
“Right arm, legs?”
“No.”
“Heartburn or nausea?”
“No.”
“Your EKG and blood sugar are
both normal.”
“Your BP is 154/97 and pulse is
100.”
“That’s very high for me.”
“How are you feeling?”
“The same.”
“I need for you to close your
eyes and clear your mind. I want
you to take your finger and place
it on the epicenter of this sensation.”
That was almost like a field
sobriety test and I wondered
how many accident scenes the
fireman had been on.
I really didn’t think it had an
“epicenter”, but I followed his
directions and it did. I pointed
to my torso where my sternum
comes to an end near my abdomen.
We arrived at the hospital
ER and I was taken in and they
masked me up.
The ER doctor and nurses
began to examine me, asking
me those same questions. I did
tell them I battled through some
nausea spells about a month or
so ago where my liver enzymes
had spiked. They didn’t think that
was related. They did an EKG
(normal), CT Scan with contrast
dye (normal), and they drew an
extraordinary amount of blood.
BP was still high. Pulse rate of
over a hundred. They started an
IV solution of Heparin which is
a blood thinner. They gave me
an injection of it as well to bring
me up to therapeutic levels.
There is an enzyme called
troponin that is only produced
by the heart. If that enzyme is
elevated, the doctor will tell the
patient (me), “Sir, you have had a
heart attack.”
I was admitted to the hospital
and placed in my room. The cardiologist
came by and told me
that my troponin level was elevated
“mildly” and that the only
way to know for sure what was
going on was through a heart
catheterization that he would
perform first thing Wednesday
morning. I stayed on Heparin and
other blood thinners with constant
monitoring until I went to
the “Cath Lab.”
I woke up (not sure I ever went
to sleep) Wednesday and was
taken directly to the Cath Lab.
The doctor ran a catheter (little
wire) into my artery through
an injection site on my right
thigh/groin. I was conscious,
but groggy and I dozed off a bit.
The procedure did not take long
(20-30 minutes). The doctor said
I had a 99.9 percent blockage of
the “widow maker” artery. Becky
took the photo of my blocked artery
that accompanies this essay.
He performed an angioplasty
(balloon) to remove the blockage.
He then placed a stent in the
artery and told me what a lucky
man I was. His nurse told me she
got goosebumps when she saw
the blockage.
The nurse took me to Recovery
and told me that I would have
“residual chest discomfort” but it
would go away. I did have it and
it went away after 24-36 hours.
Recovery was another room and
another experience. I had to lay
flat on my back, which is easier
said than done. There were two
nurses assigned to me. There
was the issue of the catheter that
was still in me. The nurses told
me that I was going to be in considerable
discomfort for about
30-40 minutes and that the first
five minutes were going to be
extremely uncomfortable.
They took the catheter out. One
nurse pulled it out and the other
one applied constant very hard
pressure to the site. The danger
is that of bleeding out: especially
with all the blood thinners in
play. After about twenty minutes
(there was a clock just over
their shoulders), the catheter
was out, but the one nurse dared
not reduce pressure for another
twenty minutes or so. The
skill and physicality involved to
remove the catheter and keep the
artery clamped using only their
fingers still amazes me. Never
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