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God bless you and hope you have a speedy recovery.

I can relate - I too had a heart attack ten years ago at the age of 47, and I had to be defibrillated twice by the EMTs (thank God for them) on the way to the hospital. Of all things, mine happened during a treadmill test! I kept telling the Dr. who was administering the test that I was in distress; I didn't have real bad chest pains at first, but I had the "elephant on the chest", along with the feeling of impending doom and the cold sweat. He just kept telling me I was doing fine - After all, I was a pre-menopausal woman - who'd a thunk it?

They finally took me off the treadmill (I actually passed the test!), and soon after that I felt like I was being stabbed repeatedly in the chest.

It all got crazy after that, but lucky for me, I had no permanent damage to my heart muscle either. I still have arrhythmia, but I'm taking Cardizem, along with an aspirin a day, plus Vitamin E, plus (gulp!) Prempro!

Hang in there, basil, you've been given another lease on life - every day is precious, and this experience will make you aware of that with every breath.

Prayers are with you and your family.

Wow, what a story! I'm so glad you're okay. I don't think women are given enough serious attention.

In my early twenties I had heart palpitations. It took twenty years to finally get a referral to a cardiologist and get a diagnosis of irregular heart beats and atrial fib.

I have had two episodes where I have blacked out when my heart went crazy. Recently I had sharp pain that started in my arm and went into my chest. A couple months ago I was at the grocery store and suddenly had pain in my chest and became very, very weak. I didn't even think I could make it out of the store. I almost went to the fire station down the street.

Each time I called my heart doctor and they gave me a treadmill test and an EKG and of course everything appeared to be fine. I had a heck of a time with the treadmill though. I couldn't finish it.

I plan on carrying aspirin with me at all times. I've been taking a beta blocker for my heart for the last year, but I stopped taking it because it didn't seem to work anymore and I haven't noticed any difference.

Don't know if this is related, but my dog has stuck to me like glue lately. Never has done this before. My dog also has heart problems, so I don't know if she's trying to tell me she's on her way out or I am.

Of all things, mine happened during a treadmill test! I kept telling the Dr. who was administering the test that I was in distress; I didn't have real bad chest pains at first, but I had the "elephant on the chest", along with the feeling of impending doom and the cold sweat. He just kept telling me I was doing fine - After all, I was a pre-menopausal woman - who'd a thunk it?

I assume you now own this doctor's boat and winter home?

Those d@mn cardio stress tests ought to be banned. What makes docs. think that pushing your cardio system into overload is a good thing? As if doing the same thing to your car would make it run better.

Any decent test pilot knows that you push the boundaries of the flight test envelope incrementally, one parameter at a time.