Join John and Deana as they share an intensely personal story about the day that changed their lives. When John suffered a heart attack, they found themselves navigating through unexpected twists and turns. This episode is a deep dive into their journey from the initial symptoms to recovery, emphasizing the crucial lessons they've learned and wish to pass on to others.
UPDATE: Dropping Sept 30th, 2024, Follow up to this heart attack podcast with Cardiologist Dr Suzanne Feigofsky
SPEAKER 01 :
It's Must Know People. I'm John Ryan. Today's episode is a little bit different than we've done in the past. Normally, we've talked to some folks around Carroll about their story, about them growing up in Carroll. But today is a little bit different because it's about an experience that my wife, Deana, who is joining me on the podcast here today. So welcome to the podcast. Hello. Thank you. Yeah, we've done some podcasting in the past. Just nothing that anybody has heard of. That is true. We've done it on our own a little bit.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, we've kept it to ourselves.
SPEAKER 01 :
But it's an experience that we both went through, not just me. If folks have not heard by now that I suffered a heart attack on July the 6th, unbeknownst to me, up until the point where they said, you are having a heart attack. So it came as about that big of a blindside to all of us. So we're going to get into that coming up here in a few months. And the reason we're doing this is because we want people to hear the story And to look at what happened to us and maybe if something rings a bell for them, it might spur them to take action before you get life flighted. So then, trust me, this is what you want to do. You do not want to be life flighted. But anyway, let's start by talking a little bit about you and I. We met about 12 years ago. It was funny. I met you at work.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes, I was working in Carroll at the time. And yes, that is where we met.
SPEAKER 01 :
I was out doing a live broadcast at a business that day.
SPEAKER 02 :
That is correct.
SPEAKER 01 :
My business. Yeah. I had been at that business many, many times. 20, 30 times. Yep. Never saw you there. Because my office was in the back. Yeah. So one time I walk in there and I'm doing this and you came walking out and I went, okay, who's that? And that's exactly how we met.
SPEAKER 02 :
Turns out we are both from South Dakota and we both land in Iowa.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yep, we met here in Iowa. I'm from Pierre. You're from Sioux Falls.
SPEAKER 02 :
I'm from Sioux Falls.
SPEAKER 01 :
Born and raised there. And so yeah, we had to come to Iowa to meet here. But this is our second marriage for both of us. I was divorced.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I was widowed. Grew up in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I landed in Worthington, Minnesota. Met my late husband there, Mike. And we ended up moving to this little tiny town in Lakeview, Iowa. And realized once I got here, there was not a 7-Eleven that was open 24 hours.
SPEAKER 01 :
No big gulps. So I was just coming off of a divorce, but yeah, as you mentioned, you were widowed.
SPEAKER 02 :
Correct. Yes. So I ended up landing in Lake View, Iowa. My late husband was a farmer. He passed away in 1996 from a grain bin accident. I had a four-year-old and a six-month-old at the time, and we ended up staying here in Lake View because we loved the area so much and had a lot of friends and family here, so...
SPEAKER 01 :
Fortunate for me, you did stay in the area. So yeah, we dated a couple of years and then eventually got married in 2016. Correct. January the 2nd. So we're kind of a New Year's new couple at that time.
SPEAKER 02 :
We actually had a surprise wedding. We planned our wedding for all of our friends. It was just a very low key wedding. I think we had maybe 20 people there.
SPEAKER 01 :
Maybe at most. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. And so we had it in the church, our church here in Lakeview. We told our friends to show up.
SPEAKER 01 :
Told them we were having a New Year's party. That is correct. It was just going to be a little late because that was the weekend was the January 2nd.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes. So we told all of our friends. There was a couple of people that knew, but not all of them. Told them to show up at 5 o'clock and we're here for a party. And then it was, hey, we're getting married.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yep. Get the cars. We're going over there. We're getting married. This is how this is going to start.
SPEAKER 1 :
2016.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. So that's how we did. So, yeah, we've been living here in Lake View ever since. Loving it. We do a lot of biking. We do a lot of hiking. We do a lot of kayaking. We do. Things like that. It's an incredible town to be active in.
SPEAKER 02 :
It is. We've done RAGBRAI several times. You did it first time for your 50th birthday.
SPEAKER 01 :
You got me into biking. I thought you were crazy.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
Because I always thought people who rode RAGBRAI were just insane. I mean, why on earth would you ever want to ride your bike across the state?
SPEAKER 02 :
I actually started because my friend Steph, we started riding together and our daughters. I won a bike race.
SPEAKER 01 :
at the bike bash and I picked out a bike and then my daughter got a bike also and we'd start a bike in that summer and I think it was shortly after I met you haven't stopped since we have not yeah yeah so we do a lot of that around here so we try to stay active doing all of that kind of stuff 2024 though I'm going to fast forward a little bit here it was been a very trying year because started out with me having back surgery It was February when I was having bad sciatic pain and things like that. Found a great doctor over in Ames. He went in, performed a laminectomy, I think it was called, and has been great ever since then. So, yeah, I mean, that's the way the year started. Two hours after surgery, I was walking out of the hospital.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, asking for a beer. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
Which is not uncommon for anybody who knows me.
SPEAKER 02 :
It was, can we stop on the way home?
SPEAKER 01 :
So it was shortly after that that I started to experience something I had never really experienced before. It was very brief, very sporadic. But it was certainly something I took notice of. I was feeling a pressure, a heaviness in my chest when we would go out and start biking, start hiking, things like that. And it just felt like I was exhausted already.
SPEAKER 02 :
But you didn't tell me any of this.
SPEAKER 01 :
No, no. It was just a weird here and now kind of thing. I mean, I'd have it once and wouldn't have it again for weeks. Right. Really, I would have forgotten about it. But I would also like your heart would kind of flutter a little bit. And you just didn't have that lack. You had that lack of energy.
SPEAKER 02 :
I remember you going downstairs to exercise. So we have treadmill and a bike and elliptical in the basement. And you were going down there and you're like, I just don't have I just feel like I just don't want to even be on it.
SPEAKER 01 :
I get on it.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I was like, OK, maybe, you know, the back. Surgery, you know, maybe you're just still having some issues.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, I was still coming off that a little bit. So we kind of attributed it to that. I had taken off some time from exercising regularly. So that was something a little bit different. But eventually, again, it kind of kept going that way. And every once in a while, that same problem would crop up. But it would be like four or five minutes. And it would be gone. And I would continue. We'd be biking somewhere. And we would continue to bike. And we'd finish our bike rides and things like that. So that's why I didn't really pay a ton of attention to it. I thought it was more indigestion, gas. I was making every excuse in the book that I could. Yeah, I never really told you about it until later on. We were in Minneapolis. We were visiting our kids up in Minneapolis and we happened to be at like a Sam's Club or something like that. And I'm pushing the cart on the way out. And it happened again. I think that's the first time I mentioned it to you. I think it is. And that was in June, mid-June, maybe, somewhere in there. So yeah, we're getting close to the July 4th holiday here. So I told you about that. And I said, you know what? I'm going to go see my doctor. I said, something's not right. So I called up my doctor and said, I need a physical. I'm going to be turning 60 on July 7th, and I want to get a physical. I said, I've been having this issue lately. And one of the first things I said was, well, sure, physical. Let's see you in September, because that's when we can fit you in. And I said, no, I need to come in and see the doctor earlier than that because I've been having these chest pains a little bit, the pressure in my chest. I said, I don't know what it is. It could be nothing. If you watch every TV show, anybody goes to the emergency room with a doctor with chest pain like that, it's always gas. And I literally thought that.
SPEAKER 02 :
It was on the Big Bang Theory.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Sheldon. Two and a half men. Charlie Harper did. All the shows we watch. All the highbrow shows we watch. So I get all my medical advice from two and a half men and Big Bang Theory. Yeah. But I honestly thought that. I thought they were going to tell me, it's gas. You're a baby. Stop it. So you went there. So I called up and I said, I need to come in because I said, I don't know what it is. I said, it could be an ingestion. I said, it could be a blockage. I don't know. And I just threw that out there. I had no reason to suspect that.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Well, and also, it's not in your history.
SPEAKER 01 :
No.
SPEAKER 02 :
It's not in the family.
SPEAKER 01 :
I don't have high blood pressure. Right. I have high cholesterol, but nothing I've ever been on medication for. Correct. No diabetes. Correct. Nothing like that. Nothing in my past that would indicate that. And plus, like I said, we are active.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 01 :
All the time. Yes. So, yeah, I called up and they said, OK, we're going to get you in right away. So they did. They got me in very, very quickly. They had me set up to go on an EKG test just before the days leading up to the 4th of July holiday. And they called me up, says, hey, you know, we want to do this for 20, 48 hours. And I said, you know what? We're going to go on vacation July 6th and 7th. You had a vacation plan for my 60th birthday. We did. Mm hmm.
SPEAKER 02 :
Uh huh. It was going to be a short one. To be fair, we're going to take a big vacation either next year or the next.
SPEAKER 01 :
For our 10-year anniversary.
SPEAKER 02 :
That is correct.
SPEAKER 01 :
So we're just going to take a weekend and go away.
SPEAKER 02 :
We're going to go hike and do some biking.
SPEAKER 01 :
So I said, let's put that off until next week. And they were like, okay, fine. It wasn't like it was a huge deal at that point. So we get to the July 4th holiday and got the day off.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, we had a great time with friends. We were on the lake in the water and had a great day.
SPEAKER 01 :
Everything was great.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yep. So that night we come home and minute you lay down, you had problems.
SPEAKER 01 :
I started having that big time pressure in my chest and it was dead in the center of my chest. Yep. Which also kind of threw me off. I thought, well, okay, it's more indigestion there because I thought I had no pain radiating out, nothing like that. It was just pressure.
SPEAKER 02 :
And then we start Googling stuff. Yeah. And I'm looking for, you know, you're looking for signs of a heart attack or stroke or whatever. And I don't see what you're describing to me. I'm thinking, okay, so we start giving you some gas pills, gas acts, things like that.
SPEAKER 01 :
Just like, oh, it's got to be just some crazy indigestion.
SPEAKER 02 :
So you had a, you didn't sleep well that night, but the next day we get up and we decided to bike with friends. We biked down to, uh, Brita back.
SPEAKER 01 :
I did feel it a little bit that morning. You said that later. I was talking to you about it as we were riding our bikes and you know, I'm experiencing that again. It went away and we just continued to bike.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. I was very thankful, though, we were with an EMT that day. A couple people that we know that have... Medical training.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 02 :
Certainly. So we got home, and that night again, so you got some indigestion or whatever you think it is.
SPEAKER 01 :
Didn't sleep well the night before, just a couple hours. And then I laid down again, and immediately that pressure came back. I mean, and it was worse. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
So I go to sleep and you went downstairs immediately. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
You're a very light sleeper. I didn't want to keep you up. So I'm like, okay, I'm going to go downstairs. I'm going to watch some TV or something and I'll get over this.
SPEAKER 02 :
So bad night for you. Very bad. Yeah. What happened next?
SPEAKER 01 :
Well, I started having all that chest pressure. And this was new, a new symptom that came up. I started vomiting. I started getting sick to my stomach. And I thought, man, what did I eat? I thought it was maybe some smoked turkey that we had. Again, I'm looking for every excuse in the book why this is happening to me. Because I literally have not spent a day in the hospital almost my whole life.
SPEAKER 02 :
so so you come up the next morning and it's about 6 6 30 and you're like okay after not getting any sleep and you've been throwing up all night and i slept off and on i didn't i knew you weren't in bed and i was you know knew you were downstairs hoping that you were sleeping so anyway you come up and you say okay i made an appointment at urgent care i was like okay i said something's got to happen with this i can't go through another night and i look at you and you're miserable So we get in the car and longest half hour drive. Oh my gosh. You were, I was so worried about you. I just looked at your face, knew that you were in pain and we get there and then see the nurses and stuff. Finally see the doctor there. And she says, you're having a heart attack. You need to go to the emergency room.
SPEAKER 01 :
At that point, I looked over at you and I think both of our miles just dropped.
SPEAKER 02 :
Right. So this is the last thing we still expected. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
Me anyway.
SPEAKER 02 :
So I'm starting to walk out and I grab your hand. We hold hands a lot. So we're holding hands and we're walking out and I'm thinking, okay, Dina, keep your shit together. Keep your shit together. You need to do this for John. Yeah. And I wasn't going to look at you because I thought, okay, we need to do this.
SPEAKER 01 :
I think we're both still a little bit disbelief at that point. So we get to the emergency room. We just drive right over there. And they take me in. They wheel me in right away. And they started me on medication like the aspirin and things like that. So I'm laying on a table in the emergency room. And the doctor says, your body's trying to give you a heart attack. So we're kind of like. Okay, is it a heart attack or is it not a heart attack?
SPEAKER 02 :
They said, he goes, you know what? We're going to run these tests and you can either go to Fort Dodge or Des Moines. And you and I are kind of looking at each other. We've got some telepathy going. We're going, hey, Fort Dodge is close. We can just drive right over there. And he goes, oh, no, no, no, no. This isn't how it works. You're going to take the helicopter to Des Moines and your wife is going to drive. And I was like, what?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. I was mortified for you. I was more worried about you having to drive home and then drive down to Des Moines than me ever.
SPEAKER 02 :
No, no. I mean, things got really real then. And by the time that they had the helicopter there, I'm realizing... And it was quick.
SPEAKER 01 :
It was very quick. Fairly quick. And by the way, the people in the emergency room were phenomenal. Absolutely. The nurses there, the one main nurse and the doctor there, super nice. They explained everything as much as they could from what they knew at the time. So I just can't say enough good things about them.
SPEAKER 02 :
Oh, the nurse that was on.
SPEAKER 01 :
I wish I had their names.
SPEAKER 02 :
I know. Same. The nurse that was there, she gave me a big hug. I mean, I was crying clearly. And she came in and she gave me a big hug. She said, he's going to be OK. He is going to be OK. And I was like, OK.
SPEAKER 01 :
It was all very tough. And I was like, and I see you took a little short video of me being loaded. I did. Wheeled out towards the airplane. And it's still so surreal in my head that that's me on the gurney.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
It just.
SPEAKER 02 :
And the hardest part. I mean, you get out there and then I have to call your daughter Kate and tell her what's going on.
SPEAKER 01 :
Your dad is having a heart attack. Correct. And from what we understood at the time, it was, okay, you're having a heart attack. We didn't know how severe. Right. We get down to Mercy in Des Moines and they're all phenomenal people up there. Their cardiac unit is so good. But again, it's kind of a waiting game. We see a doctor and he's like, okay, yeah, this is a big deal. One of three things. You're going to be on medication. We're going to be able to control it with that or a stent or worst case scenario, a bypass. Correct. And he goes, I don't think it's a bypass situation. So he was most likely a stent. What happened was I had a 95% blockage of the LAD artery. That's the one that provides over 50% of the blood to your heart. I mean, it's the big one. And they called it, you were having the widow maker heart attack.
SPEAKER 02 :
Correct. And we didn't find that out until you had your angiogram and which was a very quick procedure. You were in and out with what, 40 minutes?
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. 45 minutes from the time they, I think they wheeled me into the room to the time I was out in recovery. And you were awake for it all. They just sedate you and it's surreal. Again, I use that word. They go in through your wrist. They run a catheter up through your wrist all the way through your, and I swear to God, I could feel it in my chest. Okay. Uh, while they were doing it, I didn't talk to them because I thought, well, they have more important things they're doing right now than to talk to me. So I'm just not going to bother them. Uh, so yeah. And they literally, they blow up a balloon to block the blockage and then they put the stent in there, blow it up again and, and you're fixed basically. Pretty much. I mean, it's almost that simple.
SPEAKER 02 :
I was going to say he comes out and we're both together in the recovery. And he said, he started telling us it was the widow maker and 90 for 95% blocked. And I was thinking to myself, you know, I was widowed at age 31. I, I don't want to be widowed at 58. And then I'm like, I'm sorry. I know this isn't about me. I know this is about you, John. But, and also we can kind of laugh about this now because it's, it's in the past and we know.
SPEAKER 01 :
And the outcome was good.
SPEAKER 02 :
The outcome was good. And we know what we need to do to look for signs going forward. And so.
SPEAKER 01 :
So if you're out there and you're experiencing pressure in your chest is nothing to mess around with.
SPEAKER 02 :
So we're in the hospital.
SPEAKER 01 :
We're in the hospital and the doctor does come in and talk to us later on saying, good news. There was no real permanent damage done to your heart at that point. They said it's still, you know, we're still temporary. We're still reading the results from this, but it looks very, very good. The stent is holding well. A couple of weeks later, I go into the cardiologist here in Carroll, which also came very highly recommended to all of us here. And she said, you know, yeah, well, all this was incredibly serious. But again, no permanent damage done and no restrictions going forward because we talked about our lifestyle and things. She's like, just keep doing what you're doing.
SPEAKER 02 :
Also... I want to note that, by the way, I cook well for John. I do. This damage happened way before Deana showed up. No, no, no, no. Yeah, I wouldn't doubt that. Yeah. I mean, we cook chicken and fish and we don't eat fast food. Yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
Ever. Fried foods, things like that. We rarely, if ever, do that. Right. It's a treat when we do things like that. So I got away very, very lucky and not a lot of people do. I was sitting in the office of the cardiologist and I feel like I'm by far the youngest person there, which also scared me a lot because I'm like, oh man, I can't believe that I'm sitting here in a cardiologist office.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, one of the things that she said, you had thankfully recorded your conversation with her so I could listen to it later. And you said, hey, there wasn't any warning signs. She goes, you just told me all the warning signs. You told me everything I needed to know. And these were the warning signs.
SPEAKER 01 :
I was just denying every step of the way. Absolutely. Yeah. If, if you've got that issue and it's, it's recurring, it's not anything to ignore. Don't, don't rely on Dr. Google. Right. You know, that's the worst thing in the world. Cause I kept it. Well, I don't have that one. I don't have this symptom, so it can't possibly be this. So you're playing that game and it's a losing game. Yeah. Don't, yeah. Don't be doing that stuff. So July, my, my 60th birthday was spent in mercy hospital with a heart attack.
SPEAKER 02 :
And this is where we learned John has no patience whatsoever.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yes. I have no patience for waiting. Yeah.
SPEAKER 02 :
I've not been in the hospital with you for four days before. So that was.
SPEAKER 01 :
But you were there. I mean, you slept in the recliner right by my bed. I mean, you've been the rock in my life for 12 years now. Right back at you. Yeah. Yeah. So it could have been much, much worse, but we just wanted to tell everybody. We did. That's our story, how I spent my 60th birthday. Don't repeat that for anything.
SPEAKER 02 :
And I think going forward, we're going to celebrate two days. We're going to celebrate the day before your birthday and your birthday as a great day in your life.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah, it really was. And now I've got lots to look forward to. Got clean arteries in my heart. I'm ready to roll.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hey, your daughter's getting married next year.
SPEAKER 01 :
I'll be the officiant and the one walking her down the aisle.
SPEAKER 02 :
So I got reasons to be here. We got grandbabies and yeah, all is good.
SPEAKER 01 :
A lot of things to look forward to. So, again, reminder, PSA, we are not medical professionals by any stretch. Absolutely not.
SPEAKER 02 :
Don't listen to any of us, any medical advice we give.
SPEAKER 01 :
Yeah. Don't Google. Don't depend on that. Depend on medical professionals. Call. Because the folks here locally are phenomenal.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah. Call the ER.
SPEAKER 01 :
Exactly.
SPEAKER 02 :
Call the doctor. Call, yeah.
SPEAKER 01 :
So, as we sit here having a beverage, cheers to life. Cheers.
