Dad had a heart attack over weekend. A warning to all.

mothermachine

mothermachine

mothermachine

Associate
Joined
8 Oct 2004
Posts
2,283
My dad (64) had a heart attack over the weekend. Cardiac arrest, stopped breathing, no oxygen to brain for a while, 4 paddle shocks - the whole lot. Was 100% a goner for sure except:

1) my mother acted SUPER fast to dial 999 and was very clear to them when giving address out etc.

2) she did exactly what was asked of her by the 999 operator. Most of all she did SOMETHING. (we know that ANYTHING is better than nothing when in these situations).

3) 2 ambulances and a paramedic team in a 3rd van arrived within only 3 minutes - super fast.

4) all the medical professionals were and are ******* amazing. We're extremely fortunate to live in a country with an NHS and one this good. When we need it, it's there, and it's top-notch most of the time.

He's now in a very serious but stable and improving condition and we're all extremely hopeful that there's no lasting physical or mental damage. Seems to recognise his immediate family and is slowly becoming more able to talk and react. He's an extremely, extremely lucky man.

This isn't a "please give me some sympathy" post - I just wanted to post here to remind you guys that no matter who you are, how you live, or what you do, we're all extremely vulnerable. We need to take care of ourselves, monitor our lifestyle choices and try to think ahead a bit more. And most of all, please, please, if you think you or a loved one is feeling a bit "off" (heartburn, sudden unusual tiredness etc.) - ACT ON IT. Go and check it out - NOW. Don't wait until it's too late.

Also, crucially, if you were thinking about stopping smoking or cutting down on the booze, or getting that exercise regime going, or trying to reduce your stress levels - make that time NOW, not next week or next month or next year or in 30 years from now. Do it right now and don't look back. These things are what led to his current predicament, directly. They nearly killed him, basically, there's no debate about it.

Life is short, guys, it really is. Look after yourselves and your families. Make changes now if you need to.

Cheers,
 
I think your location has a lot to play, theres no way an ambulance would have got to us in 3 minutes if anything similar happened, we would have to rely on First Responders.
 
PiKe said:
I think your location has a lot to play, theres no way an ambulance would have got to us in 3 minutes if anything similar happened, we would have to rely on First Responders.
Click to expand...

Definitely. On one hand the local A&E wasn't equipped to handle the operation he needed (stent) so he had to go another 10 mins away, which might have had an effect. But on the other hand the local ambulance dept. was obviously REALLY close by. Regardless paras are often first on the scene and are able to do a huge amount, and they did in this case it seems.

They left in such a hurry with him that they left a load of gear behind. Had to come and pick it up again later the next day.
 
mothermachine said:
Also, crucially, if you were thinking about stopping smoking or cutting down on the booze, or getting that exercise regime going, or trying to reduce your stress levels - make that time NOW, not next week or next month or next year or in 30 years from now. Do it right now and don't look back. These things are what led to his current predicament, directly. They nearly killed him, basically, there's no debate about it.,
Click to expand...

My Dad quit smoking 30 years ago and hardly drinks except for xmas but he's eating himself to death. So i'm super worried, his belly is like a beach ball and eats nothing but bread, cake and coke. With no exercise :(
 
robgmun said:
My Dad quit smoking 30 years ago and hardly drinks except for xmas but he's eating himself to death. So i'm super worried, his belly is like a beach ball and eats nothing but bread, cake and coke. With no exercise :(
Click to expand...

I read this thing by someone on Reddit a while back - he wished that he'd really pushed his dad to stop drinking, but he didn't because he was scared they'd fall out. But he deeply regretted it in the end because ultimately you can't be close with someone if they're dead. Horrible but true. I said this pretty much to my mother yesterday, as she's just as bad as my father if not worse. I think she really listened and wants to make changes, and of course we haven't fallen out at all.

Hope things work out for you and your dad. Sounds like he needs you to push him if he can't push himself.
 
It's easy to say to get rid of stress, but when you're my father with family problems, a house which is in negative equity, which even his pension won't cover, with children and lots of other issues, I can't see how to reduce the stress. :(
 
hope he makes a full recovery

my dad had a mild one while lying down one day
had a heart bypass op a few years ago. he has changed his lifestyle a bit, getting out a bit more walking etc
but prevention is better than the cure of course
 
Sorry to hear that, but really, we all know that too much smoking, drinking, fatty foods and no exercise will kill us faster.

We just choose to ignore it, until things like this happen.
 
Sorry for you to hear of it but relieved that someone capable was there, and good luck to him. NHS is a valuable institution indeed.
 
mothermachine said:
You could try showing him this thread.
Click to expand...

Doesn't work for some people. My grandad (dads dad) loved alcohol and smoking and no matter who told him it was killing him he always said it's my time and I'll do with it what I please. He knew it wasn't doing him any good but it was the way he lived and he wasn't going to change it, only lived till 59.
 
Something similar happened to my dad last year. He went out for a run and collapsed on the floor and didn't get up. Some woman on a bike was at a junction near and when she saw him not getting up went over to see if he was ok.

He was not so she called an ambulance which were apparently there after about 5-10min, I'm not too sure about the details next but supposedly they took him to hospital whilst trying to revive him.

Since he did not return home for a while (20-30min) since he was only going "down the road" for a run, my mum went to her work worrying about it. When she got back about 2-3 hours later he was still not home which is when she called up the hospital to find out if he was there gave them a description and left them with her phone number.

About 45-60mins later the police came knocking on the door. They explained he was in critical care and had a heart attack. They took my mum up to the hospital and I followed in my car.

The critical care people had a word with us to explain the situation, but apparently his heart was stopped for 20mins before they were able to revive him. We later found out it was more like 40!

He spent just less than a week unconscious on critical care after the first couple days he started moving his arms and legs (same motions over and over again).

After 5/6 days they then moved him to another ward. He woke up the day after and he contracted pneumonia which they then treated him for. Over the next week he started to move his arms and legs in a more controlled way. He couldn't talk but he tried to sometimes which came out as a very faint whisper that we couldn't make out.

He kept pulling out his feeding tube and trying to get up. We managed to get him to nod once and when mother mentioned his boss was coming to see him he sort of grunted lol.

After about 8-10 days on that ward he got pneumonia again (possibly due to keeping pulling out the feeding tube) and died the following night :( He was 52 and it was 2 days before his birthday.

I was going to post this last year but decided not to. This thread reminded me of it and thought I would share my experience.

I hope your dad makes a full recovery!
 
That's awesome how fast they got there, I think the last encounter I had with something like that was at a party, an old guy had a fall called an ambulance and it took 30mins to arrive which wasn't great, luckily he was OK ECG shown no signs of anything and they decided not to take him in.

Where I live now however a First Responder parks a little way away however closer than the hospital so could probably get here within <10mins.

It's not just the NHS however that do this, there are many charities out there that help with things like this.
 
Had an insanely fast response when my dad came back from work early a few years back with chest pains (late 50's).

Had a first responder outside the drive within 5 mins, phone hadn't even been put down yet, there is a St Johns station down the road from us but this was a proper NHS vehicle so no idea where it came from.

Then about another 10 mins and an ambulance turned up.

By comparison, in a car, driving from house to main hospital would take 20-30 mins.

They couldn't find anything immediately serious so packed him up and took him to the hospital to have a better look. More tests.

Came back with a clean bill of health thankfully so perhaps a false alarm but no harm in being prompted that it could happen and that odds can be improved.
 
Just over a year ago, whilst we were trying to start a old car, my father was covered on his face and arms with burning petrol. We managed to extinguish him but it was evident very quickly that this was a little more than just a flash burn.

We called the Ambulance and got my Dad inside and soaked his wounds in water and wet towels. Given that my parents live properly out in the sticks I was impressed with how quickly the paramedics arrived, we'd sent someone up to the road to flag them down.

Once in A&E I was impressed with how well they reacted given that it was a Saturday night and I had imagined it to be full of drunken idiots.

After being "put under" and brought too he spent a few nights in ICU before discharging himself and doing day visits, he is now a lot better.

I fully understand where you're coming from, that day still haunts me now (for various reasons I feel partly responsible for the events) and I honestly thought we'd lost him.

I couldn't praise the paramedics enough and am very proud that my GF is training up to become one.

I hope your Dad has a speedy recovery and takes this as a warning to change his lifestyle!
 
PiKe said:
I think your location has a lot to play, theres no way an ambulance would have got to us in 3 minutes if anything similar happened, we would have to rely on First Responders.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about this the other day, my nearest police station is just in the next village but the nearest ambulance or fire stations are probably at least 10-15 minutes away even on blues.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom