IT IS WORLD HEART DAY ON 29 SEPT. ABOUT A PERSONAL ACCOUNT OF A SURVIVOR OF HEART ATTACK AND CARDIAC ARREST.
Mohan (NSM) while sharing his blog began with a small introduction.
Some of you know that I had a roller coaster ride in the recent past (last 3 months). I have tried to chronicle the experience. More importantly there could be lessons to be learnt. Special thanks to Mr. Ashok Giri for all the support. And Mr. Srinidhi (Nidhi uncle) for motivating me to write this blog and helping to edit it. Happy reading.
It is nice of Mohan to give me credit. However the narration, the style, the compilation and the choice of photographs are all his!
The reactions to his blog are varied: It reads like a full autobiography, fascinating, touch and go, miracles do happen, unmatchable will power, scary, thoughtful to share, amazing humour, spine chilling, admire his presence of mind, like a James Bond race and tryst with destiny and so on.
Most importantly the trauma the family and friends go through!
The purpose of his blog was to educate. Which it has done. Curious, I surfed the www to learn more about heart attack. I find that there are many websites which cover heart ailments from all across the world.
Survivors have heart. an American website, is right on top!
Survivors Have Heart partners with organizations across the country that are dedicated to supporting and advocating for heart attack survivors and their loved ones. Learn more about each of our partners and browse some featured articles for additional resources and support materials.
There are many such initiatives in every part of the world, especially in the developed world.
The progress made in dealing with heart problems is incredible, my memories do go back to the time when there was no cure for a child with a hole in the heart. Watching a close friend and classmate succumb to it as a teenager was tough and confusing. Later Tara's dear friend went the same way, it was even more tragic as there was a cure by then, but the doctor is the small town she grew up in was perhaps not aware. She had moved to Pune to work, and we even took her to a doctor we knew in AFMC. I cannot forget his words and he had tears in his eyes when he said it was too late in her case. "I wish the doctor in her town had earlier heard the murmur in her heart!"
...She was such a fun loving vivacious girl!
I guess there are many such stories where awareness would have saved lives!
My intention was to list the websites that are India based!
India: Heart Attack & Heart Disease Support Group on Face Book
Comments
Gopal ( MGNSwamy’s dad) mere LMPs were excellent physicians who knew when to send any suspect patient to Bowring or Vellore. And Bangalore has luckily many hospitals within “20 minutes” via car or ambulance with immediate cardiac care units. All have enough med
equipment, physicians, cardiologists & surgeons to deal with a 1000 cases a day. Many patients rush to nursing homes or small clinics
who can do nothing for patients in need of urgent care. Anyone say like me(85 with chronic comorbitities should keep a pulse oximeter,
BP meter, and even if you can afford a defibrillator at home or with a nearby physician and learn how to use them. Despite all this there
is no hope for distant village folk or at Taluk hospitals etc. My cousin died from cardiac arrest AT the famous Apollo in Chennai at 62 where he was a patient for an ultrasound checkup!! EKG, ECG are needed but in the meantime “ smart med watches” are available
with display pulse & heartbeat which will tell you to go to physician, urgent care clinics, hospitals etc.
before we reached the hospital ! The entire crew were para- medic trained volunteers & cops ! Both times, the doctors at the hospitals
detected cardiac & cerebral infarction ( mild stroke) in 2 hours & treated correctly. The ambulance crews in Bangalore ( I took Indira twice and she took me once) showed up after 30 minutes, smoking, slovenly types who took their own time to reach Fortis from Koramangala at
2 AM with zero traffic. No oxygen, pulse meter, ekg etc inside the vehicle. Just one guy checking BP. Luckily Fortis Emergency took good
Care & provided excellent clinical attention. Do Paramedic courses at Medschools exist in India? Do hospitals really train their ambulance
crew ? Before setting up Cardio ready clinics in Taluk HQs, train ParaMedics & setup Ambulance clusters. Many Indian males are careless about diet, exercise, fitness, chronic ailments, alchohol & tobacco use, job stress etc till 50/60 & endup with cardiac issues. And of late, we are hearing about young men dying of cardiac arrest due to over exercise & trying to be “ Superman”( Punith Rajkumar)).
I think that I had told you about Prasan's experience here. He was visiting Sridhar's brother-in-law Balaji, who also lives in Maryland. Felt unwell on the way home, went directly to hospital, they did an EKG and said everything was fine. Next evening he again felt unwell, his son took him to the hospital again, and they said that he is having a heart attack and did an emergency angioplasty. But he had already lost a lot of muscle capacity. When asked how things could be fine the previous day and very bad the next, the answer was that the plaque acted like a valve because it was hanging in the artery, down the previous day and up the next day!
A few years back, one of our relatives died in Bangalore because the doctor apparently did angioplasty as an outpatient procedure in his Malleswaram nursing home. This doctor is the son or son-in-law of Dr. Venkatasubba Rao, who was pretty famous in the old days. Something went wrong and she was immediately sent to the nearby big hospital, but it was too late. This was Kamala Aunty's uncle's wife Rajalakshmi, she was from the 1st cross coffee planter Annappa's family, one of the 9 daughters, I think.
Kumar was lucky the first time around in that he managed to drive himself to the hospital on Infantry road close to his office in 1993, and got stents put in time, this was just after Appa had passed away. But he was alone in his company apartment when the fatal attack happened, no idea whether there were any warning signs. He was just sitting on the sofa watching
Tv
My own feeling is that despite all the exercises, activities and diet control regimens we all try to imbibe in our normal day to day life, the main factor that disturbs all these is STRESS. All of us undergo stress at various levels at different periods in our lives, and when one has greater responsibilities in one's work life (particularly when one is in a top position like GM / CEO / MD etc., like Mohan), the stress is even higher. Most of us just do not realize this stress factor at that point in time and carry on with our duties as if there is no problem whatsoever. And that, perhaps, is a big mistake. Yoga and meditation are supposed to bring down stress levels, but practicing them regularly is easier said than done. I am sure Mohan knows all this and will try to regulate his work life accordingly. Please convey our very best wishes to him for a good, healthy and comfortable life in the years to come.
Finally, Mohan was indeed very lucky in every way to get timely attention and treatment in a good hospital with an excellent team of doctors. By the way, Dr. Sunil Ramaprasad in Tennessee is Pratima's first cousin (mother's brother's son) - just for info.