# My latest new experience. Unexpected hospital trip... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263 "2017-04-26T02:47:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/1 "2017-04-26T02:47:07Z")
Started last Tuesday, about 10:30 PM. Suddenly I couldn’t breath, gasping for breath and all of a sudden it was obvious that if I didn’t take immediate action to get to the hospital it was going to be the end of the road for me. Intubation, restraints, two days of lost time all due to some cardiac issues that haven’t been nailed down yet. Once I got the tube out and came off the sedation I would lazily refer to what happened as my “heart attack” and every time I was corrected by whichever medical professional happened to be nearby. Apparently heart attack has specific criteria and other than me no one called it that. My family history of people dying of congestive heart failure is a pretty good clue as to what’s going on. The fact that I’m so much more active and healthy than my parents were at the same age gave me hope that I had some time before I started having trouble. Guess not. Happy to be alive! 🙂 Amazed at how great I feel one week later. Feel truly blessed to have good insurance and enough money that this won’t wreck me financially. Damn lucky to live three miles from a first rate hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/2 "2017-04-26T03:08:03Z")
Glad to hear you’re out of danger! 🙂 Restraints? ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/3 "2017-04-26T03:17:59Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Glad to hear you’re out of danger! 🙂 > > Restraints? Otherwise you would pull the tube out. I have brief recollection of being absolutely certain that it must be in wrong because it was killing me. Nope…that’s the way it normally feels. Believe me, if I got a hand free I would have been pulling that tube out. Also why they sedate you. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/4 "2017-04-26T03:19:14Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Restraints? Do you know **River Hippie**? Restraints are a given. Every day, at home, especially out on the street. One cannot be too careful. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/5 "2017-04-26T03:33:55Z")
When I came to they asked if I knew where I was . Shook my head yes and I was correct. Asked me if I knew what day it was. I was so confident that I specified Wednesday morning. Actually it was late Friday night. My voice was so low and gravelly after and I honestly hoped it would stay like that but it’s back to normal now. [I sounded like this guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWap4nqM_9o) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/6 "2017-04-26T03:54:11Z")
I hope it gets figured out. Glad you’re still with us. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/7 "2017-04-26T04:03:43Z")
Sounds horrifying. I’m glad you got to where you needed to go when you needed to get there. When you figure out what the “not a heart attack” was, please tell. Best wishes for a full recovery. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/8 "2017-04-26T04:22:52Z")
Glad you are still with us! I, too, am curious about what it was - they obviously treated you for _something_. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/9 "2017-04-26T11:21:39Z")
Glad you made it. Sounds terribly scary. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/10 "2017-04-26T15:41:04Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Do you know **River Hippie**? Restraints are a given. Every day, at home, especially out on the street. One cannot be too careful. 😉 I’ve long been familiar with restraints. Just not me being the one wearing them:D ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/11 "2017-04-26T15:44:23Z")
Glad you’re better! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/12 "2017-04-26T16:01:35Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Actually it was late Friday night. In 2017! Nixon’s gone, but wait 'til you hear who’s president now! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/13 "2017-04-26T22:09:25Z")
So glad you’re ok!! When a friend of mine had some kind of scary heart issue they called it a “cardiac event”. I don’t think they ever figured out just what happened, but he’s doing great. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/14 "2017-04-26T22:23:08Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Otherwise you would pull the tube out. I have brief recollection of being absolutely certain that it must be in wrong because it was killing me. Nope…that’s the way it normally feels. Believe me, if I got a hand free I would have been pulling that tube out. Also why they sedate you. Yep, my brother pulled his out at some point during his “heart attack”. Disrupted things enough that he got a pneumonia later during the saga of his hospital stay. He had restraints after that. Later he was trying the seated commode and then decided to get back to bed himself – slipped and fell and hit his head. This guy can’t get out of his own way. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cabin_fever_1/32/2908_2.png) [@Cabin\_Fever\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cabin_Fever_1)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/15 "2017-04-26T22:37:53Z")
I can relate. When I was going through alcohol withdraw they found a bunch of other things life-threatening. Pulmonary Embolism in both lungs, DVT in my ankle region, gall bladder removal, umbilical hernia repair, Barrnet esophagus syndrome, dilation of esophagus so I could swallow without vomiting. I spent more time in the hospital the last year than I did at home. However, the nurses were cute. the room service was awesome and sometimes Morphine is your friend. Never had to be restrained however, except that one time in the 911 EMT ambulance, but I was in no condition to complain. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/16 "2017-04-26T23:11:50Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Started last Tuesday, about 10:30 PM. Suddenly I couldn’t breath, gasping for breath and all of a sudden it was obvious that if I didn’t take immediate action to get to the hospital it was going to be the end of the road for me. > > \ > > Damn lucky to live three miles from a first rate hospital. Hey, River Hippee, glad you are doing good now! Your story reminds me of a colleague of mine from a while ago. He was driving home from work one day and had tingling in his hand and arm, started feeling dizzy and not at all well, so took the next exit, pulled into the nearest busy parking lot, and stopped next to some people there. He rolled-down his window and while handing one of them his cell phone said " I think I am having a heart attack!", then blanked-out. He did the right things to save his own life: 1) getting off the freeway ASAP, 2) finding some people to help, 3), giving them his cell phone. Since he did not know where he was, those people did, and it sped-up the arrival of the paramedics, who treated him on the scene and took him to the hospital. I am glad you are OK, but the lesson here for the rest of us is not to try and drive yourself to the hospital if you think you are having a heart attack or stroke - get some help for that, if at all possible. I would hate to think of what could have happened if you lived 4+ miles from that hospital. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-latest-new-experience-unexpected-hospital-trip/785263/17 "2017-04-27T17:38:47Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Hey, River Hippee, glad you are doing good now! Your story reminds me of a colleague of mine from a while ago. He was driving home from work one day and had tingling in his hand and arm, started feeling dizzy and not at all well, so took the next exit, pulled into the nearest busy parking lot, and stopped next to some people there. He rolled-down his window and while handing one of them his cell phone said " I think I am having a heart attack!", then blanked-out. > > He did the right things to save his own life: 1) getting off the freeway ASAP, 2) finding some people to help, 3), giving them his cell phone. Since he did not know where he was, those people did, and it sped-up the arrival of the paramedics, who treated him on the scene and took him to the hospital. > > I am glad you are OK, but the lesson here for the rest of us is not to try and drive yourself to the hospital if you think you are having a heart attack or stroke - get some help for that, if at all possible. I would hate to think of what could have happened if you lived 4+ miles from that hospital. One of my oldest friends came to visit me in the hospital. He’s nearing retirement from the fire department and has seen it all pretty much and has trained in all sorts of rescue and first responder stuff. He said it’s really common for people to realize they are in trouble, keep their shit together as long as necessary and the moment they feel they have found someone who is likely to help them…they black out. True in my case. The last thing I remember is parking right in the ER entrance, walking up to someone who was coming out to see what I was doing and telling them I thought I was having a heart attack. I believe I was handing them my wallet at the same time. Boom,boom…out go the lights!