Dear friends, you have no idea how glad I am to be back. Unfortunately my long absence was due to battling a serious and unexpected illness. Heart disease. My beloved wife Leia used to call me "an extremely fit and healthy Elite Endurance Athlete". Unfortunately, after surviving two heart attacks, I am no longer an extremely fit and healthy Elite Endurance Athlete but a heart attack survivor at only 39 years old. However, I am extremely glad to be alive and able to continue to be around to love, care and provide for my beloved wife and three precious sons. cheese_whine
Here's what happened to me:
January 25th 2019: I suffered my first heart attack at 38 years old.
The heart attack began while I was still asleep and when I was woken up by my eldest son Vincent that morning, I had all the symptoms of a heart attack and felt like I was dying. My son dialled 911 and I was rushed to hospital. Unbeknownst to me, despite being extremely fit, I was not as healthy as I thought because I had a ticking time bomb within me - I had a 95% blocked Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery and I suffered a massive, widowmaker heart attack. I had a successful open heart bypass surgery to bypass my blocked artery and ended up on full Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (VA-ECMO) cardiopulmonary life support in the ICU.
My Primary Cardiologist informed me that my Athlete's Heart had developed collateral arteries which supplied blood to the affected parts of my heart and that was what saved me. We believed the reason this heart attack occured was due to my unusual physical exertion the day prior to the heart attack on January 24th 2019 when my office received the new furnitures we had ordered. My employees and I were lifting, moving and exchanging furniture on the office premises. I pulled my weight and pitched in to move the furnitures where they needed to go in order to show off my ability to lift and move heavy stuff. I am 6’ 3” tall and on Thursday morning, I weighted 170 lbs. I have a lanky physique and I am unused to lifting any heavy weights. Since my marriage to my beloved wife, whenever I needed anything heavy lifted at home, I would call one or both of my brother-in-laws over. They would always carry out any heavy lifting for me.
I should have let my younger or older and more muscular employees lift and move the heavy furnitures at work. By showing off my macho-ness, I as good as killed myself. That said, I believe I would have been fine if I did not have a severely blocked artery in my heart. The strenuous activity of lifting and moving around heavy furniture when I was unused to that type of exertion for too many years put too much strain upon my heart with the blocked artery.
My Primary Cardiologist informed me that my Athlete's Heart had developed collateral arteries which supplied blood to the affected parts of my heart and that was what saved me. We believed the reason this heart attack occured was due to my unusual physical exertion the day prior to the heart attack on January 24th 2019 when my office received the new furnitures we had ordered. My employees and I were lifting, moving and exchanging furniture on the office premises. I pulled my weight and pitched in to move the furnitures where they needed to go in order to show off my ability to lift and move heavy stuff. I am 6’ 3” tall and on Thursday morning, I weighted 170 lbs. I have a lanky physique and I am unused to lifting any heavy weights. Since my marriage to my beloved wife, whenever I needed anything heavy lifted at home, I would call one or both of my brother-in-laws over. They would always carry out any heavy lifting for me.
I should have let my younger or older and more muscular employees lift and move the heavy furnitures at work. By showing off my macho-ness, I as good as killed myself. That said, I believe I would have been fine if I did not have a severely blocked artery in my heart. The strenuous activity of lifting and moving around heavy furniture when I was unused to that type of exertion for too many years put too much strain upon my heart with the blocked artery.
February 1st 2019: I celebrated my 39th birthday in the ICU
February 28th 2019: Successfully weaned from Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (VA-ECMO) cardiopulmonary life support
March 1st 2019: Successfully weaned from all intravenous heart drugs and discharged from ICU into the Cardiac Ward
March 11th, 2019: Discharged from hospital
March 25th 2019: I suffered an out- of-hospital Cardiac Arrest at home immediately after my family's Daily Half Mile Morning Walk as a Family Unit which used to be a Daily 1 Mile Morning Run as a Family Unit.
Despite being defibrillated by my Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, I remained in Cardiac Arrest and was clinically dead for five minutes before my beloved wife Leia who is also my Primary Cardiologist successfully resuscitated me with Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation while my eldest son Vincent called 911. I was taken to hospital and was hospitalized in the cardiac ward where I was given the Therapeutic Hypothermia treatment to reduce brain damage and help me survive.
March 28th 2019: While still being hospitalized for and recovering from the out- of-hospital Cardiac Arrest, I suffered my second heart attack along with another Cardiac Arrest.
I was clinically dead for three minutes but was able to be resuscitated by the doctors and nurses in the Cardiac Ward. I was given the Therapeutic Hypothermia treatment to reduce brain damage and help me survive and ended up on full Veno-Arterial ECMO cardiopulmonary life support in the ICU until April 29th 2019.
This was another massive heart attack as it caused enough damage to my heart's electrical systems to make my heart go haywire and resulted in recurrent Cardiac Arrests and Ventricular Tachycardias. My heart had to be defibrillated frequently by my Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. I received 5 or 6 defibrillation shocks every hour and despite being on full cardiopulmonary life support and given painkillers and sedatives, I could feel the defibrillation shocks my heart received and felt like I was dying. I had to be treated with Cardiac Catheter Ablation a few days later. Thankfully that fixed my heart.
This was another massive heart attack as it caused enough damage to my heart's electrical systems to make my heart go haywire and resulted in recurrent Cardiac Arrests and Ventricular Tachycardias. My heart had to be defibrillated frequently by my Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. I received 5 or 6 defibrillation shocks every hour and despite being on full cardiopulmonary life support and given painkillers and sedatives, I could feel the defibrillation shocks my heart received and felt like I was dying. I had to be treated with Cardiac Catheter Ablation a few days later. Thankfully that fixed my heart.
April 1st 2019: Successful Cardiac Catheter Ablation Procedure
April 29th 2019: Successfully weaned from Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (VA-ECMO) cardiopulmonary life support
April 30th 2019: Successfully weaned from all intravenous heart drugs and discharged from ICU into the Cardiac Ward
May 16th, 2019: Discharged from hospital
Thank God I am the Founder and CEO of my own company which I founded in 2008. Otherwise I might have been fired for being sick and unable to work due to being hospitalized twice. Thank God I bought medical and disability insurance for myself when I was younger due to considering myself to be living a high risk lifestyle as an Elite Endurance Athlete too. As a result, I am fully covered by medical insurance.
I am extremely glad I empowered my beloved wife Leia to become a doctor and subsequently a Cardiologist by financing her education starting from when she was studying for her Bachelor's Degree all the way through medical school. Otherwise I might not have been alive today.
I have been in critical condition and ended up in the ICU on life support three times in my life now. I do not wish to wind up in the ICU on life support again for as long as possible. I am still recovering from both heart attacks and any prayers for my recovery will be greatly appreciated.
