I am reminded of the Douglas Bader story of graciously greeting a beer hall full of former Luftwaffe pilots by asking, "Christ, I thought we killed you all!"
I am quite fully recovered with no residual damage, and feel great. Thanks to you all for the wishes and support, and the kind words!
Here is the story, an expanded one from the shorter one I sent via email to a few:
Mary and I had one heck of a scare last week that started last Sunday. I am quite well now, but the story is something! Please pass this on to anyone who might be interested.
On Sunday, Sept 18th, my heart went into fibrillation while sitting in Mary's Later Day Saint's church in Madison, CT. My blood pressure went to zero, next thing I knew my head went down on the pew!
As divine luck would have it, in the congregation were seven medical professionals including a cardiac surgeon. Mary organized the best CPR money could buy that kept me alive for the 10 to 15 minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive with a defibrillator. I truly owe my life to these fine folks who stopped the service and turned that pew into an ER. The team worked on me from head to foot, with a thoracic surgeon who reached to my femoral artery to call out the pulse (there was none). They switched off the compression guy about 6 times. Overheard from the team: "Push harder!", "But I'll break something if I do!" "Then Break Something!"
Their teamwork paid off, my heart and brain are entirely undamaged.
In the hospital they searched for the cause. A dye check showed that here is no heart blood flow blockage so it really wasn't a classic heart attack. Later an MRI found an inherited 3/4" growth on the interior heart wall that is the absolute cause. It is possible that my kids can have it. They will check my genetics to see. I think it is from my father's side but am not sure. On the internet: "an inherited condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which causes a thickening of the heart muscle, especially the wall between the two ventricles. In severe cases, the extra muscle obstructs the passage of blood out of the heart and may cause fainting or even sudden death. This disease usually occurs before the age of 40 and can affect children as young as age 10. It has been responsible for the deaths of several young athletes."
To fix it, a defibrillator/ pacemaker works like a charm. They put one in at Yale Hospital this week. I am home recovering for a few weeks and feel great. Mary is a great helper so I am as comfortable and happy as someone with an electric train set implant can be! My pacemaker logs onto the internet each night and downloads the days experiences for the Doctor's office.
I still work for Sikorsky and I am looking forward to retirement in a year or two but I'm having a lot of fun at work right now. I am a senior fellow for Sikorsky now part of Lockheed Martin.
Last edited by NickLappos; 26th Sep 2016 at 17:38.