Father's MI broke all the rules?

[Rosemary349]

Hello

I'm hoping there may be someone who can provide me with some reassurance or information.....or just tell me what you think was going on for my father. I need to understand everything.

My father died suddenly 5 weeks ago from an acute ruptured MI, haemopericarium and a circumflex artery thrombosis. He'd never shown any signs of heart disease over the years (he was 64 when he died). He never seemed to have angina on exertion and would spend long hours in the garden doing heavy work. His blood pressure was always normal as far as i'm aware (he always told me it was normal but unless i see his medical records i won't know for sure)............but i don't think he had any other tests, he never went to the doctor. He was never ill.

He'd had two days of indigestion and died on the third day. Strangely the indigestion had eased that day, but had just started up again minutes before he died. I'd phoned a medical helpline the day before and they said it sounded like a stomach bug and that we should watch out for a 'crushing chest pain,' but otherwise let it run it's course..........well we did that didn't we! The crushing chest pain occured about 20 seconds before he died.

I have many concerns and obviously i'm trying to process all this so any help you can give me would really be appreciated.

Firstly - i've been having panic attacks ever since this happened, worried that it would happen to me. I think if it hadn't happened 'out of the blue' then it wouldn't be so scary - although it would still have been as devastating.

So my question is are there usually warning signs before a heart attack? Is it usual that the person will get tested and be found to have high BP or high cholesterol, or angina first? My doctor keeps telling me that this probably didn't happen out of the blue, that my dad would have had some symptoms which might have been picked up had he been given relevant tests (but there was no reason for him to request those tests).

What i'm coming to is if you have ok BP, ok cholesterol and no angina, pass a stress test.....statistically what would be the likelihood of a heart attack happening out of the blue? I know things happen, but statistically - is there any info on this?

Also does a ruptured MI mean that the heart muscle ruptured? My doctor says yes.

Did the heart muscle rupture because the indigestion my dad was having for two days was actually a heart attack (for two days!!!) which destroyed the heart muscle?

How does someone have a heart attack for two days? Or was it unstable angina? and why was it not felt in the chest but in the stomach (with lots of belching)?

My biggest fear is to suffocate, i'm claustrophobic. In my mind a heart attack would feel like suffocating? Is this true?

I'm also very worried about what my father experienced. I know he wasn't particularly worried about the indigestion, although he was uncomfortable. He was laughing and joking minutes before all this happened.....why had the indigestion eased slightly that day?

Ok form this point on I really need to understand what dad was experiencing. He mentioned that the indigestion was back, but still not as bad as the day before...then he said there was a pain in both armpits, but he said it was mild. He had a bit of a nervous laugh. I asked to feel his pulse (i thought i might get some reassurance as he always had a strong and steady pulse)....it seemed to be racing slightly.....

he looked to see my reaction, saw the hesitation on my face and began to stand up, saying he had to call a colleague

he then launched into this phone call (did he know?)

while on the phone he suddenly started rubbing his chest, it still seemed incongruent with his general level of health so i still didn't pay much attention - although i was also watching him like a hawk

he quickly finished his phone call and then looked straight ahead at the wall, he appeared to be muttering under his breath - like someone does when they are thinking something through...

but he didn't answer me or ever speak again after this point (was he already losing conciousness?)

because he looked as though he was deep in thought, i thought he was, something to do with the phone call maybe.....

then he took a sharp intake of breath and looked around at us - at this point i realised he had come around from something and that maybe he wasn't fully concious before - though i had thought he was

no sooner had he looked at us then he turned quickly and stared back at the wall and seemed startled - something was happening in his stomach.....this was all happening so quick so i'm not sure how accurate i am being but i remember getting really frightened because it looked like something was about to burst out of his stomach.......just when i thought it might he seemed to go calm and it all stopped again....

then he leaned forward on the desk....he seemed to be trying to lift his head to our calls but couldn't, then slumped forward.

I know this is awful reading - but I would welcome any 'expert' at all out there, anyone with any knowledge to tell me what seemed to be happening.

I'd like to think that because dad seemed to be calm quickly then it must have been because he was losing conciousness. I hope so. Also earlier, at the start he didn't answer me at all but seemed to be muttering under his breath whilst staring at the wall....losing conciousness there too? and if so, why did he have a sharp intake of breath, seem to come round and turn to us momentarily? How could that have happened if he had had a cardiac arrest?

Sorry for the negative thread, but the more i can get my head around all this the easier it will be for me in the long run.

Thanks for reading, i really appreciate your time.