Wayne's Story in Three Parts (2)

Yesterday, in the first installment of Wayne’s story, I left off where Wayne is picked up by Ann. We maneuvered Wayne’s bike into the back seat of the red Mustang and off they went. I stood there and watched as they drove out of sight. “I hope he’s okay” I thought. He really didn’t look good.

It was now around 8 o’clock. I was midway between my house and the bagel shop. I decided to head home. You may recall that in the first part of Wayne’s story I mentioned that I had a hangover. It wasn’t as bad as when started out earlier that morning but the thought of going back to bed felt pretty enticing. Wayne, on the other hand, was having a different experience.

“Upon arrival home I was feeling a little better and told Ann I was going to walk around in front of the house as that usually helped relieve the gas of acid reflux. She went upstairs and got ready for church. Just before she came back downstairs I started feeling some pain in the middle of my back. As she came down the stairs I started having pain in my arms. I thought both might be due to straining while riding up that hill. Ann and I decided it would be a good idea to call Sarah, a friend of ours who is a nurse. Ann called Sarah and barely got the description of the situation out when Sarah said, “get him to ER immediately”. Off we went.”

Don’t you love how Wayne writes “Off we went.” I mean I know this guy. He is a true Midwesterner. When he says a line like this it is usually with a bit of Midwestern drawl with a smile on his face.

“I walked into the ER while Ann parked the car and told the person at the desk I thought I was having a heart attack. He called for a nurse and then escorted me to a cubicle just behind his desk. The nurse arrived immediately, took one look at me and said “sit still I am going to get a wheel chair”. She grabbed one that was just a short distance away and took me back into the new ER facility, put me on a table/bed and brought the doctor on duty over to me. He paged the Cardiologist he knew was upstairs starting his rounds. In just a few minutes they had me on an ECG machine and took all my vital signs. The Cardiologist (Dr. Silverman) arrived and asked me a few questions about my pain, how it came on, etc. At this point it had been just under a half hour since I walked up to the front desk.”

“While the Cardiologist and ER doctor were discussing the possibilities, the ECG went wild and a huge pain of pressure hit my chest. I was having an all out heart attack. The cardiologist called for a syringe of Tpa and called out several other commands to the nurses. I learned later that Tpa is a clot dissolving drug. Within ten minutes or less the pain had almost disappeared. Everyone was very happy the drug had done its job and were discussing the event and the doctor started telling me what was to come next in terms of treatment. Then the second one hit. They could not inject anymore Tpa but did inject other things the only one I recognized was morphine. I asked the Cardiologist if I was going to make it. He said, “I’m not going to let a fellow bicyclist die, your going to make it just fine.” He called for the Medivac helicopter from Johns Hopkins Hospital. He and the nurses stayed with me throughout the 30 minute wait for the chopper. The morphine had made the pain more tolerable and I made the 12 minute return flight to Hopkins in only medium pain.”

Apparently Dr. Silverman was an avid cyclist. I guess sometime during that initial questioning Wayne had mentioned that he had been cycling that morning which prompted the comment about not letting a fellow cyclist die. One does wonder what he would have said if Wayne had told him he was a runner (he used to be).

And Wayne got the helicopter ride!

I know it is not that enjoyable when you are hooked up with IV drips and a blood pressure cuff but it still beats the 45 minute ride in the back of the truck.

When I think back he was probably flying over my house as I climbed back into bed that Sunday morning. It was later that day that Ann called me and told me what had happened to Wayne.