My husband had a heart attack

[Lee]

last Friday. He's only 48. He's a painter, & he called me from the job site & said that he was going to the hospital, his chest hurt & he was sweating really bad. He was getting a co-worker to take him there. He wanted me to meet him there. Well, I didn't know where the hospital was, got my Mom to let me follow her there, & called his daughter in the meantime. His heart apparently stopped completely before I got there, but they used shock on him & got it restarted. He looked so very pale laying there, his daughter was crying (Her sister was with her.) & I told her that everything would be OK. They took him by ambulance to another hospital maybe 20 to 25 minutes away. They didn't have the equipment at this hospital to treat him. I followed my stepdaughter there to the other hospital following the staff's directions. They told us to go to the surgery waiting room. It seemed like forever. I could not stop shaking, his daughter & her sister read a book; I listened to Stevie on my iPod & tried to calm down. Finally after an hour, someone took us to another dept. I met his heart doctor who told us that my husband had a clogged artery. It was 99% blocked with 1% of the blood getting through. They put a stent in through his right leg. Took forever to get him in a room. His two brothers came, even the one who hadn't talk to him over some stupid thing. We all took turns going to see him. I was so afraid, but I didn't want his daughter to know. But then he was alert; started to get his color back. Had tubes going everywhere. Yet tomorrow morning, he is going home. And the lesson I've learned is #1 watch what you eat & get exercise. I always told my husband to lay off the junk food. Both his parents had bad hearts; his father actually did die of a heart attack. This now has scared the one brother who wasn't talking to him. He says he's going to take better care of himself. And the #2 lesson is life is short. Don't take anything for granted; it's stupid to fight over petty stuff.

Lee