Good health is an important part of the SalonLife message and so we thought we’d share with you the following message from Emmett Hickey, husband of NCA Board member Beth Hickey, and a longtime member of the salon industry community of manufacturers.  Emmett recently had an unexpected heart attack and had the good fortune to live to tell the tale – and share what he learned in the process.

I Thank God for My Heart Attack

It was a typical Wednesday morning around the Hickey household. Beth was up at the crack of dawn, maybe earlier. It was 6:20 a.m. when my feet hit the floor and the day was off to a great start.  First, brush the teeth, then put on the sweats and tennis shoes and hit the fitness room.  By this time Beth had finished her 20 minutes on the tread mill and was completing 20 more on the elliptical trainer.  I would be happy to get in 20 or so, on the tread mill, get breakfast and off to work.  After 4 minutes on the mill I felt this nauseating pain in the throat and neck, so much that I stopped for a minute before returning to an easy 4.5 mile per hour pace.  Less than one minute passed when the same aching, nauseating pain crept back.

Later Beth told me at 12 minutes and 44 seconds is when I said, this does not feel right, and went to the kitchen for a healthy protein drink for breakfast.  This breakfast drink is quick and easy.  It involves oatmeal in the blender to make it a powder, whey protein powder, flaxseed, blueberries and skim milk.  It is best consumed in front of the computer trying to outwit some idiot in Europe at your favorite poker website.  What a great way to stimulate the brain and get the day started.  It doesn’t hurt to add $200 to $300 to your bankroll which is exactly what I did that morning.

On the way to the shower that morning the aching nauseating pain returned, except this time it did not stop in the neck.  I’ll lay down for a couple of minutes and it will go away.  After 30 seconds of this lying down technique I knew something more serious was going on.  Beth also knew I was not well and asked if we should go to the emergency room.  I agreed.

My goal for telling this story is to maybe help someone else dodge the mistakes we made on January 30, 2008. So if you are paying attention you have already picked up on some of the stupidity.  If not, retrace the events and think about it.  You would have to be living under a rock for the last 40 years to not know the symptoms of a heart attack.  Maybe I just did not want to admit it.

Error #1.  I allowed almost 50 minutes go by from the time I suffered the first symptom on the treadmill.  Remember, I was on the mill almost 13 minutes then walked to the kitchen made breakfast, drink breakfast in front of the computer, tried to lie down, got dressed and went to the emergency room.  All of this happened in about 50 minutes. (What should have happened? Call 911 at the first sign).

Error #2.  I allowed Beth to drive me to the emergency room.  Don’t get me wrong, Beth is a good driver but the 15 minute trip to the emergency room was crazy.  Can you say 911?  Had we called 911 in 5 minutes trained medical emergency professionals would have been at our door to diagnose a heart attack and further start treatment to stabilize my condition.  (What should have happened? Call 911 at the first sign dummy!)

Error #3.  Maybe it is not as bad as I make it sound.  After all, Beth got me to the nearest emergency room in Arlington Texas.  That was smart.  Oh, did I mention the nearest emergency room was not staffed or equipped to handle cardio care?  It turns out that not all emergency rooms handle every kind of emergency.  Had we called 911 the EMT would have known where to take me for the best care for my condition.  (What should have happened? Call 911 at the first sign idiot)

By the time we arrived at the emergency room the pain was in my chest, arms, back and throat.  My breathing was short and hurried.  My hands were trembling, I suppose from the heart trauma. Little did I know I was on the edge of disaster.
 
As it turns out my heart was in great shape.  Two of the main arteries feeding oxygen rich blood to my heart were clogged with sticky plaque build up.

Error #4.  You’ve probably never heard of this but smoking cigarettes can cause heart problems.  Smoking causes the plaque we all have running through our veins, to get sticky and, well, stick together causing blockage.  That is what happened to me. It does not happen overnight.  Forty years of smoking and bad genes caught up with me. (What should have happened? Stop smoking Einstein.)

It’s not like I did everything wrong.  The Doctors and nurses kept telling me, “It is a good thing you work out, eat right and take your aspirin every morning.”  Without those things going for me it is likely you would be getting a funeral announcement instead of this story.

I am lying flat of my back on the gurney in the emergency room,  IV plugged nicely in the big vein of my left arm, and breathing is difficult the pain is so bad I almost don’t notice it; black spots are forming in front of me and the attending physician yells, “He’s gone V Tach, get the crash cart”.  (Ventrical Tachycardia) Read, your screwed.  Beth is asked to leave the room.

My conversation with God gets more serious; If you are ready for me I am ready to come home, but maybe you could reconsider the timing with the grandkids and home remodeling undone and all.

I must be a pretty good salesman after all.  The crash cart was not needed.  15 minutes later the nurse removes the crash cart, the morphine has really kicked in, and my vitals are stable and good.  The EMTs have arrived to transport me to the hospital where my cardiologist is ready to make an incision in my groin and perform Percutaneous Coronary Intervention, or Angioplasty.  I am awake during the whole procedure and did not feel a thing.  Two hours later I am in a room on the Coronary Care Unit.  The routine stay for this procedure is three days.
 
Thirty two hours after this all began my Doctor tells me everything looks great.  No damage to the heart.  Take it easy for two weeks.  No travel, avoid stressful situations and quite smoking.  Then he releases me to go home.

Giving cigarettes up has not been as difficult as I thought it would be.  The real test will be at the next show in Vegas.  I think I can handle it.  I do thank God for my heart attack.  I survived it.  The rest of my life will be better for it because of an improved lifestyle.  Funny how your appreciation for people and things are enhanced after an event like this.  Beth has always been a beautiful person but somehow she is more beautiful today. I noticed some of the art on the wall in our family room today.  It has been there for years and today I noticed the detail of Windberg and Adkinson.  And yes, the songs are sweeter.

To comment on this posting, click on the “comments” link below.  If there is no comments link below, click here and then click on the comments link that will be below this paragraph.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 1:48 pm and is filed under Salon Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.