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On June 16, 2000 my husband Doug went to the local emergency department because he had severe chest pains. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, he had a massive heart arrest. The doctor on call diagnosed it as a blood clot that hit his heart. She administered a new drug known as a bolus thrombolytic which works extremely fast, faster than the commonly used clot-buster drugs. Doug had no idea what was happening to him. Although he never lost consciousness he only barely recalls that he was transferred to Thunder Bay Regional Hospital by helicopter.

Two days later, I received a telephone call from a cardiologist in Thunder Bay stating my husband had another massive attack caused by clots and had been administered the same drug. Later he was transferred to the Heart Institute at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. There, apparently, he had an angioplasty.

When Doug returned from Ottawa, 20 days after his heart attack, I was horrified by his appearance. He looked as if he had been rescued from a concentration camp. He was severely dehydrated, had lost approximately 10 kilograms in less than three weeks and his skin was hanging on his bones. He was so confused that he could not understand what anyone around him was talking about. His blood pressure was too low for me to get a reading. His hands and feet were like blocks of ice and nothing could warm them. I silently questioned why they had sent him home in such a condition. He was very unsteady on his feet and had to be guided out of the hospital.

Too Many Pills

Rosemarie Tugwood is an alive reader living in Manitouwadge, ON.

Source: alive #220, February 2001