Topic: Heart attack

[demon78]

Well guy's it seems I've had a heart attack and been through the socialized medicine system, in Canada and to all you that say uhh socialized medicine is bad go #$%* your hatbadge,  an old curse from a time long ago. What happened was Monday morning at about 0230 I was woken up with massive pain in my upper body and I figured , heartburn so I grabbed a couple of antacids and sat there for couple of minutes and went back to sleep got  up had brecky, had pills pain comes back so in an  hour or so took a couple more tums still there waited a bit took some Tylenol still there, what bs I wonder what is going on so off to emerg  who said it looks like you've had a heart attack  we  will see who can take you, a couple of hours later we got a spot  for you, ambulance  to hospital in town where my doctor is snooze wake up and doctor says you my son  (he's a Newf) are off to the best facility in Ontario  possibly North America where they will treat you one more day sleep next day off to St Mary's and a bit later in with the roto  rooter ah there it , it's not that serious no need for a stent OK, so life style change, chemicals, take it easy, walking a lot and back to hospital sleep and when daughter shows up sprung. Yes.  Now all of this took place from Monday to I'm home on Thursday and in a town of 8000 people cost ? 0 nothing, , Nada. In true demon fashion nice looking lady surgeon asks if something goes wrong no extraordinary measures? That's right says I be aware if I figure that that I'm being poked and prodded to much I will tell everybody to #$%* off and leave me , lady surgeon laughs and says you are straight forward daughter gasps and says  Dad, nurse giggles nervously, any how I guess I didn't piss the lady sugeon off too badly I'm still here, mind you when the wire was somewhere in the arterys I did think of asking her if she was married but got distracted ahh well another oportunity lost.
Bill the demon.

[bwaller]

 . Cheeky bugger! I'm sorry for your troubles Bill, but happy everything turned out ok. I'm with you, when push comes to shove our health system works. Now, just do what they tell you...

[RevDoc]

Glad you're O.K.!

BTW, you could always schedule a "follow-up" visit with the good looking lady surgeon to "make sure everything is still OK".

[demon78]

Ah Brent I will possibly, I refuse to be one of those people that curls up and dies. One  of my hero's is Emilio Zapata that said, "It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees." That seems a bit unpopular these days but that's the rest of the world but not us.
Bill the demon.

[petercb750]

Good luck Bill, look after yourself

[bill440cars]

       Whaaa?? My Buddy Bill had a heart attack? Whoa Boy, Who am I going to look up to, if you aren't there? Good to know that it wasn't too bad and didn't require surgery or worse. Was this because I am more Out, than In here? No, I doubt that. Joking, of course. Take care of yourself, Buddy. Us "Old Hands" need to be around here, in case needed.
                                                     

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

Bill, be careful with the nitro tabs and the doc. Kinda like Viagra 

[demon78]

Oh really hmm Viagra you say hehehe.
Bill the demon.

[mick7504]

Glad that everything worked out in the end Bill.
You make sure that you keep that lady surgeon on her toes ol' mate. 

[Retro Rocket]

Love your attitude Bill, Keep doing what the good lady doctor says mate, you may just impress her enough to put your new found viagra to good use...   Keep moving too big fella,  when you stop, everything else does too...

[chewbacca5000]

Glad to hear your Ok, and there is not expense to you.  After reading post here makes me want to go to another country with better medicine.  Our system here is messed up.  Even with insurance you can still go bankrupt.

Rest up.  I be sure to let the hot lady surgeon get back to you after dinner!  ha,ha,ha

[Stev-o]

Thats a great story, Bill.

I especially like the ending!

[kghost]

I had a quadruple bypass a year and a half ago.......

So I hope you feel better soon

[RAFster122s]

Bill, sorry to hear of the heart attack.  Follow their advice and instructions and you should do well. Side benefit of "improved" diet and exercise will be you will trim down and tone up a bit more than currently. Keep putting one foot in front of the other and appreciate what you have and where you have been.

David

[BobbyR]

Went through it about a year and a half ago. I knew what was happening to I got up from my desk and drove myself to the Hospital of my choice. I called my Doctors office and told them to call the Hospital. The difference in my story is that I went to the Hospital that had a top catherization lab.
I walked into emergency and the walked me into the room and had 5 people around me hooking up to  tubes and wires. They told me i was having a heart attack shove aspirin and nitro. They rolled me right into an elevator and wheeled me into a room. Shot me up with drugs and the guy went in and vacuumed out the clot and debris. He ballooned the artery and set a stent.

The thinking around here is they want to stop the heart attack, which they did. There is a "golden hour".  When they checked my heat with ultrasound my blood flow is a bit above normal. I have no nitro, and there is no way to tell it ever happened.

The US has a #$%*ed up system, but we have good hardware and centers of excellence. The trick here is to get good health insurance, and be where there is a center of excellence.

People ask why I risked driving myself. I knew where I had to go. and I am not the type to have some ambulance people take me to a place they could do very little, and then waste more of my hour carting me off to some other place. I picked my own place where they could do the work.       

[333]

The problem that I see with that is 9 times out of 10, they won't let you drive home.

Glad you're still kickin', Bill.

[demon78]

I think the major difference Bobby is I live in a tiny little town 2000-2500 population. That little town is 25 or so miles from a town of 21,000 and I wound up in a town of 200,000+ (2.5 hours) away to get the work done. Yeah I would expect faster in Toronto, Hamilton, London but I'm from 3.5-4.5 hours  away by me driving and dodging cops of those places. So I figure not bad. Now I would like some form of Air Ambulance but given the times and the costs to the taxpayers (me) we/I have to wait for cheap quiet VTOl aircraft.
Bill the demon.

[Redline it]

cool that you're still around, "life style changes?" that'll only make you soft. They say exercise is the best thing for you, but to take it easy on the heart? If you take it easy on the heart everything else turns to jello. Don't cut it any slack.

[demon78]

Yeah triple 3 but everyone ganged up on me and said no, driving not that I wanted to my goddam crotch was sore ( "you know this will pinch a bit") soon as that phrase comes out your pucker string tightens at least when I giggled nervously the lady surgeon had the grace to stop and say no this will hurt you'll have to stay still my response of course was yes ma,am and freeze, any how no driving.
Bill the demon.

[BobbyR]

I think the major difference Bobby is I live in a tiny little town 2000-2500 population. That little town is 25 or so miles from a town of 21,000 and I wound up in a town of 200,000+ (2.5 hours) away to get the work done. Yeah I would expect faster in Toronto, Hamilton, London but I'm from 3.5-4.5 hours  away by me driving and dodging cops of those places. So I figure not bad. Now I would like some form of Air Ambulance but given the times and the costs to the taxpayers (me) we/I have to wait for cheap quiet VTOl aircraft.
Bill the demon.

That is true Bill. I am 45 Miles from Manhattan. Several of the local Hospitals have been bought by the major NYC Medical centers. They have brought in services you would never find here normally.

Having said that, our healthcare system sucks.     

I am truly glad it worked out so well for you Bill. Stay well.

[vfourfreak]

Hey Bill (the apparent Demon)
Glad you are telling us this tale !!!!
Take care mate. We need you here. Glad to hear the Canadian Health service emulates the French one.

Prends soin de toi !!!

Kev

[bear]

Look after yourself Billy, glad it turned out ok.

Cheers,
Brian

[Bob Wessner]

Also glad you're ok. Get as fit as that "nice" doctor will allow. 

[Redline it]

We can build and fly a device to and past Pluto, taking pictures and sends them back, while going pretty fast. Why couldn't they send you home with a little battery powered stand by heart in a box the size of a rubiks cube already tied into the important arteries, so then if you ever have another on, hit the switch and bypass the whole #$%*terie, until you can get to the hospital and they can fix or put a new bigger one in.

[demon78]

Well Kev I may be getting close to one of the original Demon's at 76 there will be older one's left but all of us had fairly rough lives when we were young and being in an anti shipping/submarine squadron with  it's demands and rhythms took a toll, we had enough retreads to ensure that the squadron would party when we'd met some challenge like squadron parties in the  Commonwealth airforces during the war rather than what some of our brethen did. Anyhow the Demon squadron 407 has survived wars, political crisis, cutbacks and is going strong into the 21 Century so being proud of my old squadron I took a moniker of Demon because it's easy to remember and shows clan affiliations as it  were, if the gov decides to do something silly and close it down I shall have to change my name to reflect their collective stupidity so that every time I post their perfidity is exposed I know, I know, a small  thing but my days on the barricades are limited .
Bill the demon.