Steve Wiley’s Near Death Experience

The Joi de Vivre of life in south Louisiana sometimes comes at a price. We have delicious food! Much of it's high in fat & cholesterol. A lifetime of enjoying all this deliciousness caught up with me. An angiogram revealed two severely blocked arteries, one 90%, another 75%. A stent was placed in the more severely blocked of the two in late August. My cardiologist has impeccable reputation and credentials. Everything went smoothly. I was conscious through the procedure, and experienced no pain. When I recently returned to have the second one "fixed," things went differently. Four stents had to be placed in the second artery & something went wrong. I began experiencing chest pain. It spread down both arms to my hands. Someone yelled, "cough!" I did, then lost consciousness. When I came to, someone was holding an oxygen mask on my face & I was struggling to breathe. I'm told I went into atrial fibrilation, followed by cardiac arrest. They performed CPR, followed by electric shock. It was pretty scary. The doctor asked if I saw a bright white light. Not that I remember. My fiancee, Ruthie, already being a widow, was totally freaked out. Her son in law, an RN, says this type of occurrence is more common than people realize. I'm still "on top of the dirt." I guess it's true. Only the good die young!