Sunday, July 27, 2008
MY ORDEAL - PART 2
THE ATTACK !
May 1995. It was about two weeks after my son had left for UK. It was a Sunday. Had lunch of ‘real rich masak lemak cilli padi’.
Immediately after lunch, I started to feel very uneasy. Thought it was the ‘cilli padi’ , so went to the toilet. Nothing changed. Then I started to sweat – I mean really sweat, like I had just ran a marathon or something.
My shirt was all wet. Then I started to feel a general pain at my chest. I could not pin-point the exact spot. I felt very uneasy. I called my neighbour to take me to a clinic.
As soon as the doctor saw me, he gave me a pill to be put under my tongue and told me to go to the hospital immediately. I, in fact owed my life to him. By then the pain was getting unbearable but for once I could breath in a full lungful instead of just 25% of breathing in.
At the hospital I was put in the emergency list. All I could remember was asking the doctor to give me something to ease the pain. Next I lost consciousness. That was about 5.00 pm.
When I regain conscious, it was. about 9.00 pm. I was already warded in the Intensive Care Unit. Family and friends were by my bedside.. I felt normal as if nothing had happened. But I could see all the monitoring devices around me.
Later a doctor came to explain about my medical condition, and that was the beginning of my battle to accept reality. I just would not accept the fact that I had a heart-attack. Later, I read in a book – and I read a lot of books, pamphlets, and anything that I could grab hold of, that this is the denial stage – where you deny or refused to believe what had happened to you.. I spent two weeks in hospital.
The Treatment
Anyway, after less than 2 months, I went through a non-invasive operation called angioplasty. I’m not sure about the technical detail, but my blockage was cleared by ballooning whereby they expanded the part of my artery which suffered the block.
I couldn’t believe the effect of the operation. I could talk normally without panting,. I could walk my normal pace though not exactly my previous distance.
The New Life.
I felt as if I had been given a second lease of life. That was when I told myself that I must change my life-style. Changes ?
- First and foremost, I gave up smoking and threw away all the ash-trays in my house
- Next to be thrown out were my millions of lighters found nearly everywhere in my house
- I stopped taking condensed milk
- I had to give up my coffee—which was far more difficult than giving up smoking. I tried switching to decaf—but it was never the same
- I stopped taking fatty food
- I learned to control my stress-level
- More conscious of my diet – though not of my eating.
On a lighter side, I enforced a strict ‘No Smoking’ rule in the office --- much to the annoyance of the smokers who branded me as a ‘traitor’ ---heheheh !!!
And with all these, Alhamdulillah – I am a far healthier person than I was.
So to my friends and to those who know me and still smoke – cigarette anyone ?
May 1995. It was about two weeks after my son had left for UK. It was a Sunday. Had lunch of ‘real rich masak lemak cilli padi’.
Immediately after lunch, I started to feel very uneasy. Thought it was the ‘cilli padi’ , so went to the toilet. Nothing changed. Then I started to sweat – I mean really sweat, like I had just ran a marathon or something.
My shirt was all wet. Then I started to feel a general pain at my chest. I could not pin-point the exact spot. I felt very uneasy. I called my neighbour to take me to a clinic.
As soon as the doctor saw me, he gave me a pill to be put under my tongue and told me to go to the hospital immediately. I, in fact owed my life to him. By then the pain was getting unbearable but for once I could breath in a full lungful instead of just 25% of breathing in.
At the hospital I was put in the emergency list. All I could remember was asking the doctor to give me something to ease the pain. Next I lost consciousness. That was about 5.00 pm.
When I regain conscious, it was. about 9.00 pm. I was already warded in the Intensive Care Unit. Family and friends were by my bedside.. I felt normal as if nothing had happened. But I could see all the monitoring devices around me.
Later a doctor came to explain about my medical condition, and that was the beginning of my battle to accept reality. I just would not accept the fact that I had a heart-attack. Later, I read in a book – and I read a lot of books, pamphlets, and anything that I could grab hold of, that this is the denial stage – where you deny or refused to believe what had happened to you.. I spent two weeks in hospital.
The Treatment
Anyway, after less than 2 months, I went through a non-invasive operation called angioplasty. I’m not sure about the technical detail, but my blockage was cleared by ballooning whereby they expanded the part of my artery which suffered the block.
I couldn’t believe the effect of the operation. I could talk normally without panting,. I could walk my normal pace though not exactly my previous distance.
The New Life.
I felt as if I had been given a second lease of life. That was when I told myself that I must change my life-style. Changes ?
- First and foremost, I gave up smoking and threw away all the ash-trays in my house
- Next to be thrown out were my millions of lighters found nearly everywhere in my house
- I stopped taking condensed milk
- I had to give up my coffee—which was far more difficult than giving up smoking. I tried switching to decaf—but it was never the same
- I stopped taking fatty food
- I learned to control my stress-level
- More conscious of my diet – though not of my eating.
On a lighter side, I enforced a strict ‘No Smoking’ rule in the office --- much to the annoyance of the smokers who branded me as a ‘traitor’ ---heheheh !!!
And with all these, Alhamdulillah – I am a far healthier person than I was.
So to my friends and to those who know me and still smoke – cigarette anyone ?
# posted by sunnyside up @ 1:10 AM 
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