November 11, 2008. Veteran's Day. Gwinnett County was closed for this holiday. I had plans that day, I can't remember what now. But in the early evening I received a call from my younger brother. Arthur and I were weighing in at WW. I looked at my cell phone and saw my brother's name on the screen. He doesn't call me very often. Mostly, we text. When I answered, he told me Ed had had a heart attack. I think my mind wouldn't let me hear it. I asked him "Who?", "Whoooo?", "Who did you say?". Finally he yelled into the phone..."Daaaaaaaaaaaaadddddd". I nearly fainted.
Ed and my mom and my uncle Larry were in Ed's shop. Mama and Larry were keeping him company in the shop while he worked on some cabinets he was building. At one point, he went across the room to plug in a saw. He stooped down to connect the saw cord to the powercord and Mama said he started jerking. Both hands were still on the two cords. She thought he was being electrocuted. Not thinking, she went over and put her hand on his shoulder. At that point, she said he was jerking, grinding his teeth together, his eyes were rolled back showing only the whites, and he was drooling from the mouth. She said his face was contorted and he was making strange noises. My uncle Larry made several attempts to call 9-1-1 from their cell phones, and finally got someone. He described what was going on the best he could.
There is a fire station about 1/5 of a mile down the street from my parents' house, but I guess they were busy on another call. The ambulance came from the next small town. My mama had to stand on the side of the road to flag them down, because they couldn't locate their house.
Larry said while Mama was outside, he was trying to keep Ed calm and not hurt himself, or hurt him (Larry). He said Ed was trying to stand up and Larry tried to keep him seated in a chair. He said Ed had superhuman strength, or that is how it felt to him. He said Ed kept trying to put his hand in his pocket and he knows Ed keeps a pocket knife in his pants pocket. He said maybe Ed thought he was in danger and was going to try to use his pocket knife. Ed finally managed to get his hand in his pocket. But, he didn't draw out his knife, he drew out his cell phone. But his hand was jerking so bad it fell to the floor.
Larry said his strength was sapped and he was trying hard to not let Ed fall on the floor or on the wood burning stove that is in his shop, which had a fire going in it. He said just when he didn't think he could hold Ed any longer the paramedics burst in.
The paramedics treated him as if he had had a heart attack. They took him to Athens Regional Hospital and he was admitted in the cardiac unit. I arrived at my parent's home and drove my Mama to the hospital, my younger brother, who got to their house before I did, rode with his Dad in the ambulance.
At the hospital we tried to tell the paramedics that we thought Ed had had some sort of seizure. But at this time it was in the hands of the ER doctors and nurses. They continued to treat him for heart attack. They also said he seemed to have some mild pneumonia from inhaling vomit while en route to the hospital via the ambulance.
The following day, Ed was catheterized in the groin area and they went up through that main artery to do exploratory with the intent to cauterize the 'rogue vessels' that were probably causing him to have an erratic heart beat. They found nothing to cauterize.
He was sent home after being in the hospital several days, with a heart monitor and recorder strapped to him. He seemed weak and just a bit disoriented. The doctors did determine one thing that I had suspected over the past few years. Ed had a pretty advanced case of emphysema. He was giving an inhaler for that and told to follow up with a pulmanary doctor.
Since they found no scarring or other indications of heart attack, I myself assumed he had bent over and his lungs had filled up with fluid from the emphysema and it had sent him into near suffocation. We all felt relieved he didn't have a heart attack. We figured he would come home and be just fine, other than dealing with emphysema.
But it wasn't meant to be that cut and dry.
Ed and my mom and my uncle Larry were in Ed's shop. Mama and Larry were keeping him company in the shop while he worked on some cabinets he was building. At one point, he went across the room to plug in a saw. He stooped down to connect the saw cord to the powercord and Mama said he started jerking. Both hands were still on the two cords. She thought he was being electrocuted. Not thinking, she went over and put her hand on his shoulder. At that point, she said he was jerking, grinding his teeth together, his eyes were rolled back showing only the whites, and he was drooling from the mouth. She said his face was contorted and he was making strange noises. My uncle Larry made several attempts to call 9-1-1 from their cell phones, and finally got someone. He described what was going on the best he could.
There is a fire station about 1/5 of a mile down the street from my parents' house, but I guess they were busy on another call. The ambulance came from the next small town. My mama had to stand on the side of the road to flag them down, because they couldn't locate their house.
Larry said while Mama was outside, he was trying to keep Ed calm and not hurt himself, or hurt him (Larry). He said Ed was trying to stand up and Larry tried to keep him seated in a chair. He said Ed had superhuman strength, or that is how it felt to him. He said Ed kept trying to put his hand in his pocket and he knows Ed keeps a pocket knife in his pants pocket. He said maybe Ed thought he was in danger and was going to try to use his pocket knife. Ed finally managed to get his hand in his pocket. But, he didn't draw out his knife, he drew out his cell phone. But his hand was jerking so bad it fell to the floor.
Larry said his strength was sapped and he was trying hard to not let Ed fall on the floor or on the wood burning stove that is in his shop, which had a fire going in it. He said just when he didn't think he could hold Ed any longer the paramedics burst in.
The paramedics treated him as if he had had a heart attack. They took him to Athens Regional Hospital and he was admitted in the cardiac unit. I arrived at my parent's home and drove my Mama to the hospital, my younger brother, who got to their house before I did, rode with his Dad in the ambulance.
At the hospital we tried to tell the paramedics that we thought Ed had had some sort of seizure. But at this time it was in the hands of the ER doctors and nurses. They continued to treat him for heart attack. They also said he seemed to have some mild pneumonia from inhaling vomit while en route to the hospital via the ambulance.
The following day, Ed was catheterized in the groin area and they went up through that main artery to do exploratory with the intent to cauterize the 'rogue vessels' that were probably causing him to have an erratic heart beat. They found nothing to cauterize.
He was sent home after being in the hospital several days, with a heart monitor and recorder strapped to him. He seemed weak and just a bit disoriented. The doctors did determine one thing that I had suspected over the past few years. Ed had a pretty advanced case of emphysema. He was giving an inhaler for that and told to follow up with a pulmanary doctor.
Since they found no scarring or other indications of heart attack, I myself assumed he had bent over and his lungs had filled up with fluid from the emphysema and it had sent him into near suffocation. We all felt relieved he didn't have a heart attack. We figured he would come home and be just fine, other than dealing with emphysema.
But it wasn't meant to be that cut and dry.
