JackTerp
5 year old buck +
Well, I am back.
As most of my friends know, I had a heart attack while on vacation. Deer hunting can be very nerve wracking. :)
Thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes. I especially want to thank all the people in East and West Finley Twp. who helped get me the medical attention I needed at the time. They really were fantastic. Thanks to the personnel and medical staff at Washington Hospital. They made the best of dealing with a cranky deer hunter.
It is very hard to believe that less than a week ago I had a heart attack, in a treestand, 2.5 miles from my car, 3/4 of a mile from any help and 16 feet in the air.
I would like to alert those of you that are active that heart attacks don't always feel like we think they do. It is not necessarily the chest grabbing, gut wrenching pain we see on TV. Mines was just a very "wrong" feeling. I know that doesn't help some, but I just felt "strange". I had just climbed into my stand for the day. I sat down and un-zipped my heavy clothing to cool down a bit. I had not been there 5 minutes. I just suddenly felt weird. I was light headed, slightly dizzy and a little disoriented. When my hands and feet began to tingle, I knew something wasn't right. My first thoughts were to get the hell out of the treestand without falling. I calmed myself down and managed to get to the ground but had to sit on a stump for about 10 minutes to regain my composure. Then I tried to walk the 100 yards to get to my ATV. I made it about half way and had to lay against a large log to rest. I couldn't move any further. After about 10 more minutes I got up and got to the ride. The only problem was that the trail I had come in on is the worst and most difficult trail on the property. It is straight up and straight down and in poor condition. A really fun ride when you are healthy. Not so last Tuesday. I had to go about 3/4 of a mile to get to my hunting partner. Half way down that very steep hill, the front right tire lost most of it's air. This made steering the ATV very difficult, but I managed. I then had to climb a hill to get to Dave's stand. If I had been able to breath, I could have yelled for him but as it was I could barely talk by this time. I drove to his stand and told him he needed to get me to a hospital NOW. The only problem was that we were about 2.5 miles from our cars. So, I took off for the cars and Dave ran about 300 yards to his ATV and followed. By the way, we both left a lot of very expensive equipment hanging in our stands. We didn't have time to grab anything. Dave recovered all our gear the next morning.
After we got to the car we decided Washington Hospital was the closest cardiac unit. I was still convinced it was a lung problem as I have COPD which I have been under Drs care for about 8 years. Dave wasn't so sure. Because I wasn't feeling any better now that I could sit back and rest, we decided to stop at the East Finley Twp. road maintenance facility that was only about 3 miles away. We had to drive past it anyways, so we figured more help might come in handy. The 3 or 4 guys, I really can't remember, jumped on it and got EMS coming from East and West Finley in seconds. Someone also called Washington and had them dispatch an ambulance. As it turns out, stopping for help probably saved my life. Within 25 minutes, I had three ambulances, EMS, Paramedics and all kinds of support personnel doing their jobs so efficiently the I was well on my way to the hospital. It seemed like it took hours, to me, but I was in the ambulance with IV's started in 17 minutes from the first phone call.
By the time we got to the hospital, The Paramedics. had sent an EKG to the ER. They had already determined I was in the middle of a serious heart attack. I spent about 4 minutes in the ER and they literally ran me up to the cardiac unit. They had Dr. Campsey was already waiting with a team. They did the cardiac cath, determined that I had 100% blockage in one artery and then installed a stent in less time than it took to write this post. Recovery was very good and I was released on Friday. That is amazing to me. I still don't feel like I had a heart attack. It is almost a surreal experience, but my wife keeps reminding me that I was within minutes of dying. IT DID NOT FEEL LIKE ANYTHING I EXPECTED. Please keep this in mind. Many of my friends are my age and probably have the same thoughts I did. If it feels "wrong" see a Dr. immediately. Nobody knows your body as well as you do.
AS Dave keeps telling me, "All's well that ends well." Already planning next years hunting trip to PA.
As most of my friends know, I had a heart attack while on vacation. Deer hunting can be very nerve wracking. :)
Thank all of you for your prayers and well wishes. I especially want to thank all the people in East and West Finley Twp. who helped get me the medical attention I needed at the time. They really were fantastic. Thanks to the personnel and medical staff at Washington Hospital. They made the best of dealing with a cranky deer hunter.
It is very hard to believe that less than a week ago I had a heart attack, in a treestand, 2.5 miles from my car, 3/4 of a mile from any help and 16 feet in the air.
I would like to alert those of you that are active that heart attacks don't always feel like we think they do. It is not necessarily the chest grabbing, gut wrenching pain we see on TV. Mines was just a very "wrong" feeling. I know that doesn't help some, but I just felt "strange". I had just climbed into my stand for the day. I sat down and un-zipped my heavy clothing to cool down a bit. I had not been there 5 minutes. I just suddenly felt weird. I was light headed, slightly dizzy and a little disoriented. When my hands and feet began to tingle, I knew something wasn't right. My first thoughts were to get the hell out of the treestand without falling. I calmed myself down and managed to get to the ground but had to sit on a stump for about 10 minutes to regain my composure. Then I tried to walk the 100 yards to get to my ATV. I made it about half way and had to lay against a large log to rest. I couldn't move any further. After about 10 more minutes I got up and got to the ride. The only problem was that the trail I had come in on is the worst and most difficult trail on the property. It is straight up and straight down and in poor condition. A really fun ride when you are healthy. Not so last Tuesday. I had to go about 3/4 of a mile to get to my hunting partner. Half way down that very steep hill, the front right tire lost most of it's air. This made steering the ATV very difficult, but I managed. I then had to climb a hill to get to Dave's stand. If I had been able to breath, I could have yelled for him but as it was I could barely talk by this time. I drove to his stand and told him he needed to get me to a hospital NOW. The only problem was that we were about 2.5 miles from our cars. So, I took off for the cars and Dave ran about 300 yards to his ATV and followed. By the way, we both left a lot of very expensive equipment hanging in our stands. We didn't have time to grab anything. Dave recovered all our gear the next morning.
After we got to the car we decided Washington Hospital was the closest cardiac unit. I was still convinced it was a lung problem as I have COPD which I have been under Drs care for about 8 years. Dave wasn't so sure. Because I wasn't feeling any better now that I could sit back and rest, we decided to stop at the East Finley Twp. road maintenance facility that was only about 3 miles away. We had to drive past it anyways, so we figured more help might come in handy. The 3 or 4 guys, I really can't remember, jumped on it and got EMS coming from East and West Finley in seconds. Someone also called Washington and had them dispatch an ambulance. As it turns out, stopping for help probably saved my life. Within 25 minutes, I had three ambulances, EMS, Paramedics and all kinds of support personnel doing their jobs so efficiently the I was well on my way to the hospital. It seemed like it took hours, to me, but I was in the ambulance with IV's started in 17 minutes from the first phone call.
By the time we got to the hospital, The Paramedics. had sent an EKG to the ER. They had already determined I was in the middle of a serious heart attack. I spent about 4 minutes in the ER and they literally ran me up to the cardiac unit. They had Dr. Campsey was already waiting with a team. They did the cardiac cath, determined that I had 100% blockage in one artery and then installed a stent in less time than it took to write this post. Recovery was very good and I was released on Friday. That is amazing to me. I still don't feel like I had a heart attack. It is almost a surreal experience, but my wife keeps reminding me that I was within minutes of dying. IT DID NOT FEEL LIKE ANYTHING I EXPECTED. Please keep this in mind. Many of my friends are my age and probably have the same thoughts I did. If it feels "wrong" see a Dr. immediately. Nobody knows your body as well as you do.
AS Dave keeps telling me, "All's well that ends well." Already planning next years hunting trip to PA.
