Heart attacks, new and old

I had the shock of my life a bit over a month ago when I had what I thought was persistent and severe indigestion (heartburn and gas), and I finally (after one day) went in to have things looked at, and I was told that I was having a heart attack. And not just any heart attack, but a "widowmaker" involving a total obstruction of my Right Coronary artery, at about the midpoint. And the ECG showed a "tombstoning" pattern, and so they immediately rushed me to a hospital with a cardiac care unit, and they put in a stent, and I felt 100% immediately after that (although they kept me for two days to observe me). And then I had the second biggest shock of my life when they told me that I had had another heart attack years or decades before, involving a total blockage of the LAD artery! Which is normally fatal.....and so that brings up the questions of 1) how did I survive, and 2) how was I not even aware of it at the time?

As far as how I survived, they could only assume that my body had developed collateral circulation around the blockage as it was developing (and seamlessly took over when the blockage was complete). And they said that the LAD artery was calcified at that point, so inserting a stent was an impossibility (so I'm going to have to live with the collateral circulation, unless I have a bypass done).

But now I'm wondering just when that earlier heart attack happened (the doctor said he couldn't tell, but based on the fact it was calcified, it must have been a long time ago). I'm wanting to know because 1) I want to know how long I have had what they describe as "advanced artereosclorotic disease," and 2) I want to look back in my memory and see if I can remember any symptoms I might tie to the event (I am 62 now).

So my question is whether there is any way the timeframe of the older event can be pinned down any better than my doctor could?

David Palmer said...
I had the shock of my life a bit over a month ago when I had what I thought was persistent and severe indigestion (heartburn and gas), and I finally (after one day) went in to have things looked at, and I was told that I was having a heart attack. And not just any heart attack, but a "widowmaker" involving a total obstruction of my Right Coronary artery, at about the midpoint. And the ECG showed a "tombstoning" pattern, and so they immediately rushed me to a hospital with a cardiac care unit, and they put in a stent, and I felt 100% immediately after that (although they kept me for two days to observe me). And then I had the second biggest shock of my life when they told me that I had had another heart attack years or decades before, involving a total blockage of the LAD artery! Which is normally fatal.....and so that brings up the questions of 1) how did I survive, and 2) how was I not even aware of it at the time?

As far as how I survived, they could only assume that my body had developed collateral circulation around the blockage as it was developing (and seamlessly took over when the blockage was complete). And they said that the LAD artery was calcified at that point, so inserting a stent was an impossibility (so I'm going to have to live with the collateral circulation, unless I have a bypass done).

But now I'm wondering just when that earlier heart attack happened (the doctor said he couldn't tell, but based on the fact it was calcified, it must have been a long time ago). I'm wanting to know because 1) I want to know how long I have had what they describe as "advanced artereosclorotic disease," and 2) I want to look back in my memory and see if I can remember any symptoms I might tie to the event (I am 62 now).

So my question is whether there is any way the timeframe of the older event can be pinned down any better than my doctor could?

Well, depends on how you view things, I'd say that God graced you mightily, but others would say, incredible luck. Either way, very amazing and good to hear as not very many people are able to tell us that they'd lived unknown years like that

Hi David,

I don't have much of an answer to your question but I can say that it's possible to have a "widowmaker" heart attack with total occlusion of the LAD & not feel it as a devastating event.

I had just that kind of heart attack in June 2015 & stupidly waited almost 4 hours before calling 911 & being taken to the hospital (where the blockage was cleared & I got a stent). I had discomfort in my chest that I'd describe as "achy" & "squeezy" but not excruciating or like an elephant sitting on my chest as some describe. I was in denial & tried to convince myself that it was some sort of heat stroke since I'd been out jogging on a warm day.

I lay down for several hours & couldn't get comfortable, then finally called 911. Unfortunately, by then there had been quite a bit of damage to my heart & I was left with a weak heart & a 25-30% ejection fraction. But the good news is that I'm still here & actually have very good exercise tolerance & (thus far) no heart failure symptoms.

So I guess my point is that if you had something like I had, with some vague discomfort, & collateral blood flow in your heart took over, maybe after awhile the angina symptoms went away & you forgot about it.

Doug E.