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BOUNCING WITH GRAND DAUGHTER
Celebrating Life almost 10 years after the Trauma.
Instead
of walking into the sunset saying, "Goodbye cruel world" in 1999,
I'm most grateful for what I have , who I am and what I've become. I'm
still having fun,
enjoying life, one day at a time.
I'm grateful.
Whatever situation we are in,
can choose to be bitter or better.
Better is the Only Option!
Below is what I wrote
to my friends in August 1999, two months after I was flatlined by heart
attack and had to be defibrillated or jump-started back to life.
The Heart of the Matter is the Matter of
the Heart
Before you read further, I suggest that you be seated comfortably. This is a long one.
Since
the last time I wrote to you guys, I have been busy attending a part
time FIC (Fitness Instructors' Course run by the S'pore Sports Council
& S'pore Fitness Instructors' Association) I completed and passed
the course with CPR certification in early June. Since attending the
course, I've been jogging & working out regularly. I've lost about
4kg and 2" inches off my waist. My 6-pack washboard abs that I lost 20
years ago was coming back. In order to receive the FIC certification, I
was required to do an attachment with a recognized Gym. I was to start
the attachment on 21 June. Another piece of good news is I've stopped
smoking since last couple of months.
20 June 1999: Father's Day - 6.30pm: My wife Jessie was preparing dinner. I told Jessie and
the kids that daddy will go for his 4.8 kilometre jog at Seashell Park
(across the road opposite my apartment) and will be back by 7.45pm for
Father's Day Dinner.
At the park, I did my warm up, ran my 4.8km
and started my cool down stretches as I've been taught by FIC.
Suddenly, I felt a chill down my back and started to feel giddy. For a
moment, I thought it was the wind against my perspiration and maybe I
was a little hungry. Anyway, I'd better go home. I had to get down a
flight of 76 steps (Seashell Park is on a little hill) and a pedestrian
crossing on the road before I could reach my home. In the dizzy state,
I managed to get down the steps holding on to the railing. When I hit
the pedestrian crossing I held on the traffic light post, waiting for
the red man to turn green. Green no come, black came! I collapsed and
blacked out. As I drifted in and out of consciousness; these are the
few things I remember:
- I saw a lady shouting into her handphone asking why the ambulance hasn't arrived after so long.
- Telling the lady my phone number so that she could contact my family.
- Seeing and hearing a man said, "bye bye and sure you'd be alright taking care of him” while waiting for the ambulance.
- Asking Jessie to take the lady's name and phone number.
- Throwing up - all water.
I
also remember being transferred into the ambulance and telling the
ambulance officer that my legs were very cold and my left arm was numb.
I was shivering. Arrived at Changi General Hospital A&E unit at
about 8.40pm(according to records). Can still remember overhearing
instructions of certain mgs of morphine and glyceryl something given to
me. I was then overwhelmed with the beautiful smell of flowers and had
this feeling of going into a peaceful sleep and also the weird feeling
that I might not wake up. I succumbed to the sleep.
I awoke in
an elevator on my way to ICU. I heard a guy telling a lady," The poor
chap was defibbed." Having watched enough ER's and Chicago Hope's on
TV, I had an idea of what defib was. I asked the doctor at ICU whether
they jumpstarted (defibrillated) my heart with electric shock. He said
they did but the important thing was I was all right. I was then asked
by the doctor to sign a consent form for intravenous Streptokines. Hey,
signing consent form for medication sounded odd to me, I thought it was
only for surgery. The kind young doctor then explained to me what the
process for the next few hours was all about. Streptokines works like
Drainex that plumbers use in choked pipes. The medication would clear
the blood vessels of blockage but may burst the vessel if there was a
major clot or the vessels are too thin. So if there’s a major choke or
thin vessel near my brain, I could wake up as a stroke patient. It was
scary. Anyway, I consented but asked to speak to my wife and daughters
before they proceed. Imagine the family conversation - it was highly
emotional and traumatic.
Just before they proceeded with the Streptokines,
my heart rate went down again and I could hear the nurse shouting to the doctor.
After watching the monitor, the doctor said it's OK. He was cute enough to
comfort me by saying my heart was like an engine and needed restarting. The
nurses then cleaned me up coz I was still in my jogging shorts and there was
sand all over my body. When they sponged me, I was shivering like I was in the
Antarctic even they were using warm water. For the next 6 hours I was kind of
dopey, in and out of a daze. I felt so bad for the pain that Jessie, Min-Li,
Ying-Li and my brother, Jeff went through that night.
21 June
1999: - Good news, everything turned out fine the next morning. There
was no bursting of vessels. I've also come to realize that I've
fractured my little finger and bruised my left arm and my knees. I was
monitored in ICU for another 2 days and was transferred to the general
ward on the afternoon of 22 June with telemetry attached to my body to
monitor my heart rate as well as my position.
23 June 1999: - Telemetry removed and Cardiologist said I was doing fine, everything stable.
24 June 1999: - Went for the 2D Echogram.
25 June 1999: - Cardiologist said that I was fit for Cardiac catheter cauterization (angiogram) and booked me for 29 June.
26
to 28 June 1999: - Making friends with nurses and patients in my ward.
Talked to other cardiac patients and check out what to expect in the
angiogram. Got plenty of comforting advice.
29 June 1999: -
Fasted and had angiogram done at 3pm. Lasted about 45 minutes. They
pushed a tube through my groin after local anaesthesia and the tube
traveled to my artery near my heart. I think there were a couple of doctors
together with the cardiologist and other nurses and technicians. I was aware of
what was going on. There was a monitor to watch what's
happening. I watched but I didn’t know much. On and off, they added dye
to get a clearer picture and I think they changed the tubes now and
then. The worst part was they could not agree on what they saw. E.g.:
one said the blockage was 20% and another said 40% (in my mind I was
saying, please make up your mind and agree on the better number for my
sake!) When it was over, they pulled out the tube and put a thick gauze
over the insertion at the groin and told me not to move my leg for the
next few hours to prevent bleeding. For the next 12 hours I slept like
a log.
30 June 1999: - Cardiologist told me good news. Angiogram
showed no significant blockage. 20% blockage at right artery. 30% to
40% blockage at left artery and another 30% block at another. He said
he would let me know later why the minor (to him) blockage prevented
the flow of blood to my precious heart. (I now know that cause is either due a
spasm of the artery or the collapse of the atherosclerotic plaque of the arterial wall that
caused the blood to clot). He gave me permission to go home and meet
him 6 weeks later. When the nurse came to replace the gauze with a
piece of Band-Aid, I realized why I had to shave off my pubic hair the
day before. The 4" width adhesive tape they used to hold the gauze and
immobilize my thigh was so sticky they almost took off my skin. Imagine
the pain if the hair were still there :)
30 June 1999
- 4pm: Discharged from Changi General Hospital. Discharge Form states that I had AMI (Acute
Myocardial Infarction). Due to the VF (Ventricular Fibrillation), I was
given 200 joules electric shock to jumpstart my heart. ECG showed
posterior and inferior MI. No significant stenosis (blockage of
arteries).
I am so happy and grateful to be able to communicate
with you now. I've been given another chance. Anyway, joke of the
decade is nobody believes that Phua Chuan Chin had a heart attack.
Especially after going through FIC, working out regularly to improve
cardio - respiratory fitness, giving up smoking and so on. Boy, am I
glad I’ve completed my marathon and bungy jump! The other joke is Ms
Alice Phoon (the lady whose kindness and courage saved my life; who
called the ambulance and my family) told me that she was in a taxi with
her son when she saw me lying by the road beside the traffic light.
When she told the taxi driver, the taxi driver said, "No that's not a
man that’s a dog!" Anyway, it was quite dark then and thank God they
stopped to check. Joke #3: I am CPR qualified, but you can’t do it on
yourself, can you?
I want you to know I'm fine now. Resting and
treated like a baby by Jessie, Min-Li and Ying-Li. I've got to take it
easy for awhile, no jogging, no workout until I go through a Cardiac
Rehabilitation Program. I've also got to watch my diet too. For a guy
who didn't even believe in vitamins and supplements, it is quite a
change to take a dosage of 4 types prescribed drugs everyday (for
life!). I'm taking it easy and have accepted the fact that a new
lifestyle and adventure awaits. The important thing is I've accepted
what has happened and I'm willing to change and I'm so happy that I'm
still alive and able to keep in touch with you. My wife, Jessie jokes -
48-year-old man tries to live like 28 year old. After this episode,
must live like 68 or 78 for the next few months. I can't agree with her
more.
Phua Chuan Chin
August 1999
Contact
Information:
Phua Chuan Chin,
Ash
Tel:
(65) 9185 9266
Email:
ashphua@singnet.com.sg
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