untitled

While lifting weights in the evening after dinner, it seemed difficult for me to push the barbell over my head. I could lift the weights up to my chest with considerable effort but I just couldn’t push them higher. I could not make that final push, which was something I could easily do the night before. I removed some weight and tried it again but it was extremely difficult so I had to really concentrate to force them over my head. After finally achieving success, I decided to quit for the evening. I thought maybe I was too tired. I felt incredibly weak so I took a long hot shower and went to bed.1

In the morning I felt weak and my skin was cold and clammy. Thinking I may be coming down with the flu or something similar, I took some Tylenol and cold medicine and went to work. While driving to work, I felt somewhat light-headed and still clammy. Beads of sweat appeared on my forehead and my neck. I felt no pain except my teeth seemed to hurt. I made it to work at the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit, where I worked as a carpenter foreman, parked my car in the underground parking under the complex and went to my office. I noticed I felt a little better which I attributed to the Tylenol. After I sent my crew off to their assigned tasks, I walked to the cafeteria for my morning cup of coffee. 2

While there I started feeling really bad. The pain in my teeth had spread into my neck and between my shoulder blades. I was extremely clammy and began to perspire profusely. I decided to walk back to my office so I could call for an appointment to see a doctor. I took a shortcut through the underground parking area but halfway to my office, I couldn’t walk anymore. My knees buckled and I sat down in the middle of the parking garage. My left arm felt heavy and dead while at the same time, it ached so much that it was almost unbearable. I had difficulty breathing, as it seemed that there wasn’t any air when I tried to inhale. 3

After about 15 minutes, I felt a little better and managed to get to my feet. I slowly walked to my office where I sat behind my desk, resting my head on my crossed arms. I had never felt like this before and it was frightening. 4

At about this time I received an emergency call on my radio. There was an emergency situation on the roof of tower 100 (which is 37 stories high). I hurriedly left my office and walked fast across the parking garage toward tower 100. (I was in tower 200) I could only take the elevator to the 34th floor because the 35th and 36th floor were highly secured bank floors and access to the stairwell going the roof would have been difficult to say the least. I exited the elevator and ran down the center core to the stairwell door. 5

Upon entering the stairwell I started to run up the stairs. Immediately the pain between my shoulder blades intensified and the dead feeling in my arm increased. At the 36th floor landing I had to sit down because my knees were buckling. I was so weak I didn’t think I could go on. After a brief rest I pulled myself to my feet and slowly walked the rest of the stairs falling to my knees several times in agony. At the top of the stairs I fell to my knees and felt like I was passing out. The pain in my chest, throat and teeth was unbearable. My left arm was feeling dead and aching at the same time. The ache between my shoulder blades was so intense that I sensed I was having a heart attack. I screamed 6

“Oh’ God, please don’t let me die, please God, I don’t want to die.” Struggling to my feet again, I opened the door to the roof and discovered extremely high winds from an approaching storm had caused a piece of equipment to break loose. It was in danger of being blown off the roof to the atrium skylight below. It was spinning at a high rate of speed on its axis and all I could think about was how terribly bad I was feeling.. My boss was already on the roof and when he saw me, he told me I looked terrible and should go get medical care immediately. He said he would get someone else to take care of the emergency problem. 7

While walking back to my office, I felt a little better so I decided to drive myself home instead of to the hospital. When I got home I read the paper then sat down to dinner. I polished off some pork chops, potatoes and some vegetables along with 3 slices of bread. (I was a big eater) then sat down to watch the news on television. 8

The dead feeling in my arm came back---then the pain in my teeth. I was beginning to feel clammy again so I told my wife I was going to the medical center to get something to make me feel better. The medical center was only 10 minutes from my house and I managed to make it there safely. I parked my car and walked with great discomfort into the lobby and up to the reception desk where the nurse was staring at me with wide eyes as if in a state of shock. I didn’t even have to say anything because two nurses were at my side immediately seating me in a wheelchair. They wheeled me to the emergency room area where a doctor was waiting for me. I was light headed and going in and out of consciousness. The next thing I remember was a face looking closely into my eyes and a voice yelling---- “Mr. Griffes”----“Mr. Griffes”. “Mr. Griffes, you are having a heart attack and it is still evolving. You are not out of the woods yet, Mr. Griffes. You could still die. We are taking enzyme samples from your blood and as soon as the attack stops, we will have you transferred to Henry Ford Hospital downtown, Detroit.” (When heart tissue dies, it throws off enzymes into your blood stream).9

Now the pain was intensifying and was close to being unbearable. The whole upper half of my body was in such great pain that I was hoping I would die just so I could have relief. I recall worrying about my wife and children and how they would survive with me gone from their lives and what if I don’t get to see them before I die. I asked the doctor to call my wife and he said that they had and she was already on her way to the hospital. I then found myself wondering if that emergency situation at work was taken care of. 10

After an injection of Morphine, the pain lessened a little but was still severe. The Morphine just took the edge off of the pain. For what seemed like hours (but was actually about 20 minutes), I lay there writhing in pain. Gradually though, the pain lessened and soon the enzyme tests show that the heart attack had ceased. By the time the ambulance came, I was in little pain and my condition was stabilized. The ride to the hospital was uneventful and soon I was in my own hospital bed and being cared for by the wonderful nurses at the Henry Ford Hospital cardiac intensive care unit. 11