Here's my little story to tell. This summer we went to Howard Prairie Lake to do some tubing and fishing. On the way up into the mountains I started getting "pressure" at the top of my chest and my jaw was killing me. I shook it off and the feeling subsided after 3-5 minutes. This feeling continued the entire 4 days we were up there at random, and I just attributed it to being at high altitude and TMJ (I grind my teeth badly and my jaw hurts sometimes).

Fast forward a week with these feelings coming and going the whole time. On 7/12/07 I was woke up in the morning with my neck and jaw hurting quite badly. The symptoms kept repeating every 15 minutes or so and got longer in duration. At @ 1000 hours I started getting pain radiating down both arms and my fingers started tingling. I knew at this point that it was not TMJ. The feeling was lasting about 10-15 minutes before I finally dialed 911. Approximately 10 minutes later the ambulance arrived and they took me to the hospital. On the way they gave me 3 shots of morphine that did absolutely nothing to diminish the pain. At this point my chest, neck, jaw and arms were in excruciating pain. They gave me another shot of morphine when I got to the hospital and still no relief. They finally had me sign a release for a new clot busting med that just came out. I threw my X down and they loaded me up with K&T (whatever that stands for I dunno). 14 minutes later...Bam! The pain disappeared.

They stabilized me here in Crescent City and put me on a Life Flight over to RVMC in Medford. The doc told me that I suffered a major heart attack due to a blockage in my heart and since they had me stabilized, they were going to do a cath the next day. They put me in the CCCU and did an angioplasty first thing the next morning. They found that the right coronary artery was 99% blocked, and my left was 97% blocked. The doc explained that the "feelings" I was getting for the whole week prior were mini Myocardial Infarctions (MIs), and my body was able to break down the clots and process them. The clot that did me in was way too big for my body to break down, and completely blocked off flow to the bottom portion of my heart.

The doctor placed 2 Texxus Stents in the blocked arteries and opened up the flow. He told me that if I didn't follow his directions, he would just open me up right there and do a bypass. My wife and I assured him that I would follow his instructions, and he put in stents. My cholesterol levels were excellant..."For someone that doesn't have Heart Disease." (Doctor's quote). I just had a stress test done in March and an ECG. Both of those tests never indicated blockages in my heart. I have a family history of HD, but never felt that I was at risk. After all, I am only 43 years old!

Moral of the story. Don't EVER take chest pains lightly. Always have them checked out. I didn't listen to my wife when we got back from boating and I damn near died in front of my 17 y/o daughter that day, because I was hard-headed. The doc said the three things that saved my life were:

1. I quit smoking over 11 years ago.
2. I had the sense to dial 911 when I did.
3. I have a very strong heart.

Please, don't ever mess around with chest pains. Seek attention immediately.