The Longest Night of My Life

Just a quick note to let you all know what has been going on around here for the last few days.

On Wednesday night, while my dad was working at the Blades hockey game, he suffered a heart attack. My cousin, D, happened to be at the game and was standing with my dad while he was being the goal judge (the dude that flicks the red light on when there is a goal). He thought he was suffering from bad indigestion but when it got too bad, he decided to go and see the EMT that is always at the game and happened to be at the same end of the ice as where he was.

The EMT took him to the ambulance where they did some tests that revealed what was happening. They called into the city for a paramedic that would meet the ambulance on the way to University hospital. The paramedic was able to administer nitro spray to my dad to help with the attack.

Once at the hospital, he was put in a room where he was given some meds to see if it would help and when it didn't he was then taken to have an angiogram. The angiogram indicated that the main artery that runs behind his heart was totally blocked and with the use of a stint (mini balloon), they were able to remove the blockage totally. From that moment on the pain went from about an 8/10 to a 1/10.

My mom was not at the game and Cor was working the night shift. My mom called me about 9:30 to have me come and get her and take her to the hospital.

I had the brains to call Cor right away and have him come home before I jumped in the van go to my mom's. My brain was on auto pilot as I don't' remember much of the trip to her house. I do remember calling L from the van though. She is my next door neighbour and close friend. I asked her to go and sit with the kids until Cor got home. Thank goodness for friends and neighbours that will drop what they are doing to help you out.

Dad is now doing very well although he is still in coronary care. I think the only reason that he is still there is because there are no beds available in the ward that he will need to be moved to.

He will be allowed to come home in another 2-3 days and from there he will be on many different kinds of medications. But that is the least of our worries as long as they do their job that is all we care about.

We are, and especially dad, are all grateful for the way that night turned out. Almost every hockey game, Josh goes to the game as well but he decided to sit this one out so he could go to his friends for supper.

We are grateful that my dad was at the game so that he had access to the ambulance right then and there and to my cousin D who was there and helped dad out when dad decided to go and see the EMT. It is amazing the turn of events and the way things go.