My Story

September 13, 2014 is a day that I will never forget. I was doing yard work and stopped to take a break and went inside since it was an unusually hot day. I took a nap and when I got up, as I walked into my kitchen, my eyesight went black for a few seconds and I got extremely weak. Sitting at my kitchen table, I could tell that something was wrong. My heart was beating really fast but I didn't think it was a problem.

Eventually, I asked my wife to see if she could see what my pulse was, since I was not able to get it. She couldn't count it. So, I had her take me to the emergency room. Once there they finally hooked me up to an EKG and the nurse immediately knew I was having a heart attack.

My heart was beating too fast and would not slow down. It was over 200 beats per minute to get it to slow down, they had to shock me to "reset" my beat.

I went into ICU and the next morning I had a cardiac catheterization and they found that I had over 90% blockage in one artery and the put in a stint. There was also a blood clot located in my heart too.

I spent the next 4 days in ICU. I felt like I was OK but they just wanted to be sure that if it happened again, I would be in the right place to respond to it.

I left the hospital with a "life vest" that monitored my heart and would shock me if I needed it. Fortunately I never needed a shock from that device.

Four months later, I had an ICD put into my chest. The tested it that night to be sure it worked. Luckily, I don't remember that. Although the next night at home, it did shock me and the doctor told me that it was because my heart was "worn" out from the procedure and the testing.

I have not had a shock from it since then and as of this writing, it have been almost 3 years since the last shock.

Since then I have thrived and recovered very well. After my 1 year anniversary, I bought a bicycle and started riding it to work every day.

I have also done a 5k in June of 2017.