Way to cheat death!
See? You knew you made a smart choice all those years ago. Incomparable, indeed. I’m very happy to see you around. Or still around. Or both.
Good for Sunflower for acting so quickly and good for you for making it worth her effort.
Good advice. Another reason it’s dangerous to drive to the hospital on your own if you’re having a heart attack: You could go into cardiac arrest on the way.
If that happens, you’re much better off if the EMTs are transporting you or at least already on their way rather than having your panicked spouse pull over the car, frantically dial 911, and trying to do CPR in a car knowing that odds are the EMTs won’t get to you until it’s too late.
In the middle sized community I used to work in, the EMTs said that they had at least one call for someone who died driving themselves to the hospital with a heart attack every year. I’m glad that everything worked out for longhair, but if anyone else has an emergency like this it’s really safer to call 911 and let them get you.
Good job on dodging the bullet! May there be many more to come. (Dodgings, not bullets.)
My mom did the same thing for my dad when he had his heart attack. it was 11:00PM, the Saturday before Easter in 1984. She’s a retired RN, so she knew what was happening. He didn’t hurt badly but there’s a history in his family’s line. So she threw a robe on him, dragged him protesting out the door, and told me later “I didn’t pay a lot of attention to traffic signals.”
I stayed behind and called the ER to let them know he was on his way. gave them his age, his health history, etc. Mom saved his life, the ER staff was waiting and whipped him inside to examination. The next afternoon he had a code blue, but was revived. Dad said, "I woke up and a nurse was pounding me on the chest, shouting “Harold wake up! Harold wake up! I never felt a thing, thought I’d just been asleep.” He also said that if he’d died, he couldn’t think of a better day to go than Easter Sunday.
I’m glad to see you are feeling better. Will there be a recovery program you will attend? Will there be further exams to monitor your condition?
Glad to see we didn’t lose a '99er!
Thank you all for your good wishes. Monday afternoon I start a six week course at the Hospital’s Cardiac Rehab center. This is physician directed and it covers diet, exercise and lifestyle changes. I will be there Monday Wednesday and Friday for at least the next six weeks, and there is an option to continue after that. I have follow up visits with the Cardiologist and my regular physician later next week. I am scheduled for a full stress test and cardiac workup in two weeks.
The way I see it, it is only blind luck and a cool head by my beautiful wife that I am here to type this now. I plan to take advantage of everything I can to see that I never wake up with chest pain again.
There’s a lot to be said for not dying, longhair75, and I’m glad you didn’t!
Under the circumstances, it might be more appropriate to say, “way to not go.” 
So glad it worked out this way.
Do take care. Best of luck to you and your lovely flower.
Take care and follow the docs orders.
Ha ha ha ha! Good one.
A smart SO is worth their weight in gold.
Now, be sure and pay attention to your heart in future. Ask it what you need to do to help it function smoothly. I’m serious; sit quietly and commune with your heart for a little while, and awhile later you may get an idea-- seemingly out of nowhere-- about a small change in your diet or lifestyle that will help.
Edit: whoops! I posted before reading through to the end of the thread. I see you’re way ahead of me.
I thought it was Tiny Tim who did not die.
So glad you’re alive! Start posting. We need survivors here to tell us how. To.
When my husband had his second heart attack I ran a red light getting him to the hospital. He said “I can’t believe you did that.”
I said "Are you frigging kidding me?
There was nothing coming."
(Can’t let 'em get too uppity.)
Congratulations to longhair75 and Kudos to the Incomparable Sunflower.
I think she was very correct to drive you to ER herself. She might have got you there about the same time an ambulance would have just been pulling up at your house.
I suggest a name change to: The Incomparable Kickass Sunflower. 
Better to wake up with chest pains than to not wake up. Congrats!
StG
Congratulations and good on you for taking the chest pain seriously.
5 years ago my dad was driving (downtown, in the middle of the day) and started “feeling really weird”. He drove home, then told my mother to take him to the ER because he couldnt shake the sense that he should be at the hospital. Stress tests the next day followed by emergency cardiac catheterization showed blockages in 4 coronary arteries, (especially the “widowmaker”) Within two days he was getting bypass surgery. The recovery wasn’t easy but fortunately Dad is the kind of guy who does as he is told, and takes all medication as ordered. He went through cardiac rehab, is healthier than ever and has been around to watch my son grow from a goofy three year old to a wise beyond his years 8 year old. He was at my brother’s wedding. If Dad had ignored the “feeling really weird” or Mom had scoffed, the story would be diffent now.
Heal well.
Good to know. Do you have a family history? How old are you? Per your username, 37.
longhair75–I remember you, and I am glad you made it.
We all need a Sunflower.