Martin Davidson: Tough lessons from brush with death

Wellington journalist MARTIN DAVIDSON is a typical Kiwi bloke. Liked a beer, smoked too much. Looks life in the eye. But he has a slightly different take on things now. Not at all surprising, really, because a heart attack can be a life-changing experience.


Every year about 7500 New Zealanders are admitted to hospital after heart attacks. Fewer than one in 10 die during their stay. But heart failure claims 3400 lives a year.

At the ripe old age of 42 I recently became another statistic.

This story is far from unique. But it is mine and it is one whose sharing will be understood by growing numbers of people who have - for even a moment - experienced life on the edge.

On a sunny Saturday morning in March, I suffered a heart attack. I was bumbling my way through a game of touch rugby. (I should have been quietly watching my son's 12th grade cricket match). Suddenly I could not get my breath.

I was battling. There was a heavy weight on my chest and, although I told myself I was in control, I knew I needed to get to hospital. That would fix everything. I had still not cottoned on to the fact I was having a heart attack.

I did not want to cause a fuss. I discreetly asked another parent to drive me to hospital. I was feeling anxious but remained convinced I was in control. I even gave directions, suggesting which lanes to take, to hasten the journey.

Already I had made a big mistake, according to Dr Scott Harding, a man who was to become a central figure in my life in coming days.

I blacked out within 15 minutes of walking into the accident and emergency department at Wellington Hospital. Just moments after sitting upright and telling people I felt fine, I was on my back, losing consciousness.

By then I was surrounded by a team of medical specialists who needed just 30 seconds to revive me.

Instinctively, I knew I had not "crossed over". Don't ask me how. Common sense told me I could not have died simply because I never saw a white light.

My recall is of fighting - lashing out with my arms - against an unseen opponent in the pitch black.

For that half a minute my heart stopped pumping. Blood was not getting through to my brain. Left unattended for a matter of minutes and I would have been in serious trouble. As it was the experts were on hand to bring me around with plenty of time to spare.

The only time I was frightened was for a split second immediately after I opened my eyes.

It was then that I realised I was no longer in control, that larger forces were in play.

That feeling of absolute dependence on others stayed with me for six days before I was allowed to leave hospital.

Shortly after being revived, I was left in no doubt by the square-jawed Dr Harding, 35, that I had flirted unnecessarily with death.

I had been a mug not to call an ambulance, he lectured. Had I blacked out in the car on the way to hospital there was every chance I would have suffered serious brain damage ... or worse. I might well have died.

It was Dr Harding - a young but experienced heart specialist - who did the angioplasty procedure on me later that same day. That was a truly surreal experience.

I was conscious throughout as Dr Harding made an insertion near my groin, then watched a nearby screen as he charted a line up through my body towards the heart.

Once in position, Dr Harding inflated a balloon inside a blocked artery and then inserted a stent - in layman's lingo, wire mesh tube scaffolding - which is designed to keep open a clotted blood vessel. He then snipped and cut at the offending artery, cleaning up the damage.

Dr Harding left a huge impression on me. While overseeing my recovery he juggled a hefty caseload that regularly required him to work 60 hours or more a week.

I knew I was in good hands, in the care of a calm and controlled expert.

And my own calmness and good cheer quickly returned. Sure, 20-plus years of "moderate to heavy" smoking had brought with it a few warning signs - hints that not all was well. Frankly, I was not shocked when my body more or less self-combusted.

There was an upside: the early intervention, my relatively young age and reasonable physical condition - as well as the sharp personal and professional skills of Dr Harding and his nursing team. I was in pretty good shape when discharged. There was minimal heart damage. I had been lucky.

But even when my heart refused to settle as hoped after the angioplasty, Dr Harding remained firmly in control. At one point, he admitted that outside assistance might be needed.

Three days after I had been admitted, Dr Harding shared his concern about my racing heartbeat patterns, and suggested he would seek a second opinion.

"I'm the plumber and he's the electrician," Dr Harding said.

But the electrician was not required and Dr Harding and his nursing team were able to adjust my medication to stop my heart galloping.

It wasn't a gentle gallop, either; it was more a full sprint over hill and down dale.

Armed with Dr Harding's no-nonsense instructions - "knock smoking on the head" - the days have passed much more easily than I imagined.

Not one cigarette has touched my lips. The doctor found a willing accomplice as soon as he told me that to continue smoking multiplied by three the likelihood of another heart attack.

Giving up the cigarettes has been the easiest of the tasks since March 26. I have been told not to return to work until late this month and in the meantime I am supposed to be doing ... well ... nothing.

Try filling in your days watching TV, listening to music, reading, writing; anything as long as it requires no physical exertion. It almost sounds idyllic - and it is - for all of a day or so.

After that the brain and body hanker for a challenge. Hanging the washing out qualifies ... but I'm not allowed to. Still, anything to avoid the hospital.

- NZPA

What is a heart attack

* A heart attack refers to damage to the heart caused when the blood supply to part of the heart muscle is blocked.

* The attack happens because the blood supply has been cut off through a blockage in a branch of one of the coronary arteries (the blood vessels that supply the heart muscle).

* Someone experiencing a heart attack feels sudden severe chest pain which may spread to the arms and throat.

* A heart attack is usually the result of two processes: the development over many years of fatty deposits in the walls of the arteries and the formation of a clot on one of the deposits.

Risk factors

Factors you can change:

* Raised blood cholesterol.

* Cigarette smoking.

* Raised blood pressure.

* Lack of physical activity.

* Obesity.

* Diabetes.

* Stress.

Factors that cannot be changed:

* Age.

* Gender.

* Previous history of heart disease.

* Family history of heart disease.

Key facts

* Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in New Zealand accounting for 41 per cent - about 11,600 deaths - in 1999.

* Heart attacks alone claim 3400 lives each year.

* Mortality from all cardiovascular diseases is higher among Maori than the general population.

* Maori have the highest rate of hospital admissions for heart failure (three times that of non-Maori).

* Mortality rates for coronary heart disease are higher among those in lower socio-economic groups.

Sources: Health Strategy 2003, National Heart Foundation, Health Information Service.