Hershels heart attack June 9, 2011
Today I want to write about Hershel heart attack. today makes exactly a year since that dreadful day. The day started off pretty good. Hershel seemed to be normal. That morning our landlord came over and spent about an hour or so with us. Hershel was laughing and cutting up as usual. Soon after the landlord left Hershel said he wasn't feeling very well and that maybe he just needed something to eat. I went into the kitchen and fixed him a bowl of soup. He loved chicken and noodle. He sat at the head of the table as he always did, said his prayer and tried to eat. He only took a few bites and decided he needed to lay down. A few minutes later he began yelling my name and wanted me to come in the bedroom. He was pale as a ghost, sweating and vomiting. He told me to call 911 so I did. The ambulance arrived and he was sitting on the couch waiting. Trying to be calm I guess. As soon as they got there his condition got worse. They immediately put him on the ambulance and we took him to Gulf Coast Hospital in ft. Myers, Florida. It took forever to get there. Once we arrived at the hospital, the nightmare really began. I had just saw my dad go through this same thing and I was terrified for Hershel. I thought I was gona lose him then. The surgeons and doctors took me in a room and told me what was happening. They decided to wait til the next day to decide about the surgery. Hershel had so many other problems the doctors decided it would probably be best to treat the heart atttack medically rather than do surgery. His family didn't much like that but Hershel was listening to his doctor. After a few days in ICU they moved him to another room. Poor Hershel was getting so confused from all the morphine. He couldn't understand why he had to keep moving. I tried my best to help him understand but he was angry at the world and was imaginging things because of the medication so the hospital decided to give him a sitter to make sure he didn't do anything crazy. He figured out real quick that he needed to snap out of whatever it was and convince the doctors he was mentally ok. He's really smart and can do anything he put his mind too. Soon after I was called in to talk to the psychologist with Hershel and she agreed to let him come home. From then on I had to be with Hershel 24 hours a day. He was afraid to be alone. He never was quite the same after the heart attack but he was still my Hershel. I made it my mission to take the best care of him that I could. I just knew he would survive longer than he did but God had another plan. I would go back today to taking care of him even though it was hard because it made me happy to give back to him a little of what he gave to me. He was awesome. The best thing that ever happened to me.