[Author's note: this picture is added in later in case it helps anyone. While this picture is descriptive (and I did have all the symptoms here plus more), the attack still will surprise you. For example, the symptoms don't all appear at once, and some can be so severe as to mask others.
And they can vary depending on if you are sitting or standing. For instance, upon standing, I experienced a numb pain from my left shoulder to the tip of my left ring finger. That numbness did not completely go away for another two years. My advice is pay attention to any one symptom and call 911 if you get any two, take no chances. Because I almost "winked out".]
Heart attack. I woke up about 4 a.m. with a burning tightness across my whole upper chest. Breathing was easy, but painful. I remembered stories about pleurisy, so I went back to sleep. Up again at 6 a.m., this time a bit of nausea, but not stomach nausea. I walked over the Hialeah Hospital. They ran a couple of tests and launched into panic mode. They shot me up with blood thinner and I was off to Mt. Sinai Hospital for surgery. I’m writing this on Christmas Day, 2003.
How serious? They don’t seem to have a method of stating it plainly to the patient, but the closest was a Dr. Aeropagita, who told me, "Millions of people have this type of heart attack every year. Half of them (he many have said 85%) don’t even make it to the door." From what I gather, there was no specific cause, but all my “averages” were high. High cholesterol, blood pressure, stress, body temp overall.
I now have a stent and a life-long prescription for blood thinner.
[Authors note: years later I look back on this episode as the ONLY interruption in my life of otherwise nearly perfect health. Some of the staff at Hialeah Hospital still remember me because they could not believe I had walked there. While I knew something was seriously wrong, I never really had any point thought I was dying and I certainly never felt I was dying. But it is a pain like little else.]
Something of particular interest was that they originally left me to die (because they thought I was uninsured). They propped me up in a stretcher and were taking my blood-pressure around once an hour, saying it was sky-high and apparently thinking it would come down on its own. Why they thought this is unknown. They did give me some pink blood thinners.
They could not find my medical insurance records. I could see the clerk fiddling with the computer behind the reception desk and that she was coming up with nothing. My main sensation was having trouble breathing and it took me a couple of hours to get her attention. When she finally got close enough that I could talk to her I said, "Lady, will you quit looking in Florida, my medical insurance is in Texas.”
She went back to the terminal and on the first try pulled up my Texas Blue Cross. Within moments four or five doctors and interns appeared out of nowhere, taking my pulse, strapping on monitors and taking samples. Suddenly I was precious cargo. Within a few minutes an ambulance was pulling up to transfer me to Mount Sinai. I later discovered the ambulance billed Blue Cross $8,000 for that little ride. (The joke is next time I'll rent Air Force One.)
You've all heard of the high prices of medical care in the USA. I tell you though that there are several price tiers, and the only one you hear about is where people have insurance. The doctors, clinics, ambulances, and everybody vastly over-bills when insurance is involved. The second tier is when you have no insurance but can afford to pay something. The third tier is when you can't pay very much at all. The horror stories apply to insurance. For example, when I'm unemployed, I can go see a Canadian doctor and get a checkup for $65 (a Canadian doctor with a Montreal billing address, but located just up on Federal). If I have insurance that exact same checkup is $400 - $600.]
ADDENDUM
This part is written years later, in 2012. December 23, 2003 changed my life. While I had tons of insurance, I did not carry long term
[Author's note 2016-06-16: my co-pay was $8,500. I signed away my car for it. The final tab for that stent was $88,500.]
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