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Carol M. shares her story:
Once there was this wonderful, tall, good-looking man. We fell in love, married and moved away from the warm, sunny South to the Great Northwest Territory, took a side trip to Oklahoma and then back to the Great Northwest. We were involved in all sorts of activities. He towered over me, showered me with his love, and made life wonderful. In 1999 I was working as an ICU nurse. My husband never called me at work, but that day he did and I knew immediately something was wrong. While keeping him on the phone, one of my co-workers called 911 and they brought him to the hospital where I worked. He had experienced some chest tightness, palpitations, and nausea. He was given the usual workup in the emergency department at that hospital. We (the ICU staff) cleared a room for him, thinking he would be admitted, but to our amazement he was sent home with a cardiology consult. Through the next several weeks I helped him through the difficult steps of trying to navigate the HMO process. We went through halters and EKG stress tests. His enzymes were elevated at the emergency department, but no further tests were done. Like any normal man, he grew tired of the process and at a point did not pursue further tests. I watched, listened, asked questions, worried at times. In 2002 my husband and I were at an Cowboy Action Shooting event when he dropped suddenly to the ground. There were numerous nurses, emergency medical technicians and law enforcement in attendance who helped with immediate care. We were unsure if he had been shot since we used "live" rounds and he had a gash on his head. But he was just so tall and good-looking that when he fell, he hit a fence and got a huge gash on his forehead. We found out later that it was a heart attack!! I prayed for God to please not take my husband, while my friends gave him immediate care. We were 16 miles from the closest town but the rescue team arrived within 12 minutes, although it seemed like hours to me. He coded in the field, then was transported to the closest hospital, and was coded again in the emergency department. He was finally stabilized and transferred to ICU, where and for the next four days my friends helped me take care of that tall, good-looking love of my life. After many talks with the cardiologist, neurologist and all my friends and family, the ultimate decision had to be made. My husband had been without the support of much-needed oxygen while his heart was stopped. Just one year prior to this heart attack he had made his wishes known that he did not want to be on life support if something should happen to him. When you love someone as much as we loved each other, you try to make him or her happy and follow their wishes. When do you know you are doing the right thing? ... I had been given five days with Larry to learn what had happened, to learn more about what happens to the body without oxygen, to learn how devastating this condition can be to loved ones... I have always felt I needed to share my story. We need to do all we can in health care to prevent loved ones from being "shot down" by heart disease. I would like to wear a red dress proudly and let people know there is help and it is increasing each day. |
