Amyx thankful, urges caution
After recovering from a recent heart attack, Mike Amyx is urging others to be wary of the signs and symptoms. Amyx returned to work in his barber shop. Enlarge video
Mike Amyx thought maybe a can of Coca-Cola would do the trick.
So at 5:30 on Thursday morning, he popped one open in hopes that it would help relieve “the worst heartburn” he had ever had.
It didn’t. Instead, it just woke up his wife, Marilyn, who asked him what the heck he was doing drinking Coca-Cola at 5:30 in the morning.
Amyx told her that he was experiencing chest pain, and she told him that she would call 911. Amyx — a Lawrence city commissioner and owner of a downtown barber shop — talked her out of it.
Now, Amyx freely says what every wife tries to get her husband to admit at least once.
“The biggest mistake I made that day was not listening to my wife,” Amyx said.
Six days after a heart attack put him in Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Amyx was back at work Wednesday at his barber shop. But Amyx is taking work at a slower pace, and telling people to be on the lookout for something he was not — the signs of a heart attack.
“You know, everything I thought to do on Thursday morning probably was wrong,” Amyx told his fellow commissioners at their weekly meeting on Tuesday. “I feel very fortunate.”
In addition to not heeding his wife’s advice to call 911, Amyx decided to go to work that morning. For the next three hours, he tried to convince himself the chest pain — and then the shooting pain in his arm and the profuse sweating — was something else. About 8 a.m., he drove himself to the hospital.
“That wasn’t very smart either,” he said. “We have people who will do that for you.”
Amyx, 56, has learned that the way he treated the situation was all too common. He was in denial, which medical professionals told him can be deadly.
“I just kept thinking this couldn’t be,” Amyx said. “It couldn’t be me having a heart attack. I was denying the obvious because I was having every symptom you’ve ever read about. I just chose to ignore the obvious, and that didn’t work out.”
Well, it worked out better than it could have. Amyx said he walked into LMH’s emergency room and told a staff member he was having chest pains.
“Oh my, there was a whole lot of action after that,” Amyx said. “I was being hooked up to a lot of things in a hurry.”
Amyx praised the LMH doctors and staff, who told him he was having a heart attack and had him undergoing a medical procedure to install a stent within 45 minutes of his arrival.
Hospital spokeswoman Belinda Rehmer said LMH on Oct. 1 began a program where the hospital’s heart catheterization lab has at least one doctor on call at all times to perform the procedure. Before, doctor coverage was less frequent.
Amyx said he’s glad of the change, but hopes that potential patients also will have a change in mindset.
“The big thing I want people to understand is that they could end up being the classic example, too,” Amyx said. “Hey, it may just be indigestion or it may not. There’s people that can check you out and tell you.”
Amyx said he won’t make the same mistake twice. He said he’s beginning a cardiac rehabilitation program next week, and has vowed to quit smoking.
There’s also a change of diet on tap, that will begin today as he shares a Thanksgiving turkey with his family.
“Mine will be a little less salty than normal,” Amyx said. “But it is going to taste great. It really will.”
Comments
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Keith (anonymous) says…
"...install a stint within 45 minutes of his arrival."
It's a stent, a stint is a period of time spent in a particular activity.
Pywacket (anonymous) says…
Very glad to know that he got a second chance--I imagine there is nothing like a "near miss" to make life much sweeter and to put things into perspective.
And, yes, the word you want, as Keith says, is "stent." The incorrect word jumped right off the page!
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
Mike, I'm so glad you're going to be okay! driving in that situation not only endangers the heart patient, but endangers others on the road. when you were drinking a coke, aspirin would have been a better choice. hang in there Mike. I have several other heart issues, and I understand a lot of this. hope you stick to doctors' orders, exercise when they tell ou you can. yes, your wife was right. thank God you're alive with us now Mike.
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
actually Py,
many men after this happens, have serious depression problems. the threat of death, the change in daily activities, the need to attend to things previously ignored, plus the meds. and of course body image issues (no, women aren't the only ones with body image issues).
I knew about this issue when my very serious combination of heart issues hit. my faith helped so very much. and, knowing of the risk of depression, I decided right away that I would not fret over what I couldn't do, and would enjoy each day as much as possible within the limits I had.
my heart is far better than it was. in my case, I'd always wanted to read a particular genre. so, I did. hundreds of books in that genre.
depression for these men is very serious and often prevents them from following doctors' orders, maintaining good health behaviors, and from exercising when it is permitted. in other words, depression really interferes with them having a good outcome.
Yeoman2 (anonymous) says…
No mention was given about his medical maintenance issues, his history of having regular checkups and changes of lifestyle before the onset of a serious condition. I had a similar experience about 5 years ago and went to the hospital. They told me I had suffered a "TIA" (transient inchemic attack, I believe). I had never heard of that. It is a sort of minor stroke that usuallyl does not cause serious impairment, but will scare the hell out of you. My vision was affected for a time and I had some memory problems. I was having problems finding my way home from work for a time. I feel fortunate in that I receive regular yearly checkups and have suspicious symptoms checked out. Many men are of the opinion that this will never happen to them, and I know of some I work with that have not had a medical checkup in many years. They are too macho or too busy or just in too much of a hurry to bother with their medical care. This can be deadly, as many have discovered. One problem for older men is that Medicare will not pay for medical checkups once your initial checkup is done. This is a crock, preventative care can save much in later problems. But that is your government medical mind set.
I would encourage all men over 50 to drop the act, and get to a doctor for an annual checkup. It might save your life.
Number_1_Grandma (anonymous) says…
Glad to hear you're alright, Mike.
Happy Thanksgiving indeed!
BigPrune (anonymous) says…
Whatever you do, do NOT call your doctor. They will want you to make an appointment for many hours later. Go to the emergency room, even if it is LMH.
was_freashpowder2 (Alexander Neighbors) says…
Karma...........
cheeseburger (anonymous) says…
Glad to have you back in the saddle, Mike! And I truly hope you are successful in quitting smoking.
JHOK32 (anonymous) says…
I'm sure he now has a greater appreciation for the advantages of having access to affordable health insurance so that he can be treated quickly without being bogged down in the ER with the never-ending paperwork & the reviewing of his case because he has no health insurance. The first question hospitals always ask is: What health insurance do you have? Also he may now find that he may be a candidate to be dropped from his health provider altogether because he is now classified as a high-risk client. Insurance companies do not like high risk clients who have the dreaded "pre-existing conditions" labeled to their names! Lets hope these heartless health insurance injustices are abolished soon by our congress the same as slavery was abolished,
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
jhok,
put a sock in it. u.s. has higher cancer and other survival rates than many socialist medicine countries. furthermore, if you limit access to specialists as the obamacare does, you do kill people by fewer cardiologist visits and fewer cardiologists.
also, medical advancement thrives on the profit motive. most of what we count as medical advances resulted from investments and people making a profit. eliminate profit, you eliminate a lot of medical advances.
now, jhok, you are guilty of dragging your stinking little personal agenda onto a personal story. go away little man.
Pywacket (anonymous) says…
freak powder~ What is that comment supposed to mean? Are you suggesting that Mr Amyx deserved a heart attack?! (And please, enlighten us, while you're at it---wtf is "freash," anyway? Are you trying to spell, "fresh"? Fail.)
Multi~ I hope the second most important lesson this patient learned from the experience was to b**** like hell if a paramedic (or any hospital personnel) browbeats you and makes you feel embarrassed or guilty about calling an ambulance when in doubt. If that were my mother (aunt, etc), I'd be rattling cages until the thug was either fired or at least placed on probation and monitored. Sounds like he should not be dealing personally with patients.
And, yes, women's symptoms are STILL not taken as seriously as men's, even though studies have shown the discrepancy and the people in the med. professions should be more aware and less dismissive.