In my previous post I discussed my recent heart attack.
What I did not mention was my experience of “watching it all happen” as a stent was placed within my coronary artery.

I arrived at the hospital at 01:08:00 on 19th January 2016. The stent was placed in position at 03:07:00 on 19th January 2016.

So in just under two hours, my life was saved. Here’s how I saw it all taking place:

I walked up to the Emergency reception window and sat in the chair. The moment I mentioned chest pain, within only moments of arrival, everything shifted into high gear. They were able to locate my previous medical records in an amazingly short time and I was sat in a wheelchair and brought into a consultation room where the leads of an ECG (electrocardiagraph) machine were fastened to my chest.

Within moments the doctor was in there looking at the ECG and after what seemed to me to be only a few seconds, he said to me, “The indications I see on the screen are consistent with you currently having a heart attack.”

My immediate thoughts included: “Is this the end moment of my life?”, “Am I now about to go to heaven to be with the Lord? … If so, I am ready for that.”, “What about Wendy and my children? … I would like to be with them for many more years yet!”, “Now, just calm down and pray!” So I prayed there quietly under my breath and immediately felt very much at peace.

I heard the doctor asking other staff questions like: “Is the lab ready?”, “Is there a cardiac team ready?” and receiving affirmative answers to everything.

Before long, I was moved to “the lab” as the staff referred to it.

In the lab I was transferred to the table and fitted with an awesome number of electrodes which connected me to the most detailed ECG machine I have ever seen. A huge array of large television style monitors was placed over me and large x-ray-like equipment was placed around me.  The doctor warned me that the table I was on would suddenly move, and not to be alarmed when it did so.

An X-ray like real-time movie of my upper body appeared on the nearest enormous screen and it was fascinating to watch on the screen as a catheter was inserted into an artery in my right wrist. Next a long narrow tube was inserted through the catheter and I watched on screen as the doctor expertly guided it through the blood vessels all the way up my arm through my shoulder and across my chest and into the blood vessels that surround my heart. The doctor squirted some contrast dye through the tube and the blood vessels surrounding the heart instantly “lit up” in black so they could be clearly seen. It was immediately obvious where blood vessels had been narrowed by the build-up of plaque and the doctor pointed these places out to me.

Next a metal cage called a stent was inserted through the tube and along the artery to the worst area of restriction. A balloon inside the stent was then inflated, and while I could not see the stent itself on the screen, I could see the effect it had as the narrow section of my artery expanded out until it was the same diameter as the sections of artery on either side of the blockage.

the doctor then withdrew all the equipment from inside my arteries, removed the catheter, and it was all finished.

I was moved back to the ER and then to the CCU, where I had plenty of time to reflect on the show I had just been watching.

The scripture immediately came into my mind: “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” – Psalms‬ ‭139:14‬ ‭KJV [http://bible.com/1/psa.139.14.kjv] Having looked on the screen at all my insides all I could think was how wonderfully made I was. I also marvelled at how God has enabled man to learn how to fit replacement parts within the body without even needing any anaesthetics or having to suspend operation of any parts of the body. This would be equivalent to me replacing the oil pump in my motorbike engine without even turning the engine off! Utterly impossible! And yet nothing is impossible with God: “But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭19:26‬ ‭KJV [http://bible.com/1/mat.19.26.kjv]

I feel I am truly blessed to have lived through this heart attack and to have been privileged to be able to watch in full detail as the doctor worked what seemed almost like a miracle by fixing that blocked artery.

Thanks are due to the doctor, to all the hospital staff, and especially, to God.