Heart attack help!?!
Question: my father suffered from a very serious heart attack 6 months ago, on june 10th. the heart attack took place in the area of his heart that they call the "widow maker." mostly everyone who has a heart attack in this area of their heart does not make it through, which is why it's the widow maker. i'm wondering if anyone out there has had this same type of heart attack and what their survival was, how did they get through this? since the heart attack, my father is now on about 12 different medications; he has a urinary tract infection, his kidneys aren't doing the right thing, and his stomach is so bad that he can't even hold food down anymore. someone please tell me what can be done to help him! i love him so much and don't know what my family and i would do without him here in our lives. any help would be much appreciated.
Answers: my father suffered from a very serious heart attack 6 months ago, on june 10th. the heart attack took place in the area of his heart that they call the "widow maker." mostly everyone who has a heart attack in this area of their heart does not make it through, which is why it's the widow maker. i'm wondering if anyone out there has had this same type of heart attack and what their survival was, how did they get through this? since the heart attack, my father is now on about 12 different medications; he has a urinary tract infection, his kidneys aren't doing the right thing, and his stomach is so bad that he can't even hold food down anymore. someone please tell me what can be done to help him! i love him so much and don't know what my family and i would do without him here in our lives. any help would be much appreciated.
These problems will eventually settle down. Your father had a blockage in his left anterior descending artery which feeds the front part of the heart. This is the most common blockage that causes sudden death. After his heart attack, they usually do an angiogram to open the blockage and place some stents to keep the vessel open. Hopefully, he had this procedure. As for the medications, it takes a little bit of fine-tuning to get the medications where they cause the least amount of symptoms. Your father needs to keep working with his cardiologist on this. If he isn't on a stomach medication, he may need one. Some of his blood pressure medications or the aspirin can give him an upset stomach, needing additional medication. The urinary tract infection probably just happened - it was not caused by his heart attack. Your father needs to remember that he will get stronger if he works at it. He needs to go to cardiac rehab so he can get stronger. If he smokes, he must stop. If he does everything his doctor recommends (stop smoking, lose weight, exercise, eat a healthy diet), his health will improve and he will begin to feel better. Then, he will increase his chances of living a long life. Good luck.
If you can, try to visit the doctor with your dad the next time he goes. Ask the doctor these questions, since he will be able to tell you exactly what's going on. It sounds like the docs are trying to help him, and I wish you luck in this trying time.
Give him a low fat diet.