Bill Spinney's Advice: Observe the Signs

Upon reflection, Bill Spinney realized that he had been exhibiting warning signs of a heart attack for a couple of months. The week prior, the pain had been particularly sharp lasting 15 or 20 minutes. But Bill is a busy guy so those warning signs went unchecked.

Bill’s indicator was a short sharp pain, a stab, about the second button down in his dress shirt. It mainly happened on the golf course after exerting himself walking up the hill from the first green to the second tee.

But the day of his heart attack, Bill was miles from the golf course on the road back from Muskoka. Driving along 169 he realized he had the classic symptoms; a sharp pain in the chest, uncontrollable perspiration and a numbness in his left hand. The left hand couldn’t feel the steering wheel. With cell service intermittent on the highway, Bill decided to keep driving and get himself to hospital.

Finally, in town and minutes from the Health Centre, Bill became more stressed. It was end of day on a beautiful Friday in May and roads were clogged. As Bill’s body oozed sweat under excruciating pain, he watched lights ahead turn red. “Stay focused. Just get there”.

Bill pulled up outside the main entrance of Emergency, stopped his car and stumbled through the door into the trauma unit. He leaned over the couple already at the reception window speaking to the ER clerk and gasped, “Excuse me but I think I’m having a heart attack.”

With his skin devoid of colour and sweat dripping from his head, Bill began sliding down the wall to the floor. The ER clerk ran out and grabbed him, holding him up while the nurse rushed to him with a wheel chair.

Within minutes medical staff in the ER had Bill hooked up to oxygen and monitors. IVs were flowing with the clot buster and morphine. The clot buster is a treatment in the event of a heart attack that dissolves blood clots. The morphine alleviates the severe pain. A few minutes later Bill was given nitroglycerin. The principal action of this intervention is widening of the blood vessels.

Meanwhile, Bill’s wife was unaware of his trauma and busy at work. The nurse asked Bill if she should be called. Bill’s wife is Dr. Sue West of the Georgian Animal Hospital. The nurse felt a pang in her heart upon hearing of Bill’s wife. Only a week before the roles were reversed with Dr. West tending to the nurse’s animal. That’s how it is in Parry Sound. There is a thread that seems to run through each of our lives and frequently, sometimes oddly the thread-ends meet.

Amazingly, within 12 hours of coming through the door of Emergency that Friday afternoon Bill felt fine. Itching to get going, he felt trapped in ICU for the three days he remained under careful watch. After ICU he was moved to Pod B for further observation and finally after five days Bill went home.

A prime candidate for the Health Centre’s Cardiac Rehab Program, Bill, along with 10 other heart disease survivors, began a new class last May several weeks after Bill’s heart attack.

For Bill though, cardiac rehab was a tough slog. Something still wasn’t right.

Cardiac Rehab has nurses monitoring participants as they work through routines on a series of exercise equipment. Bill’s routine was 10 minutes on the bike followed by 10 minutes on the treadmill before moving to other apparatus. Half way through the treadmill routine, Bill experienced the pain again. This time it lasted just two or three minutes before subsiding.

Recognizing the symptoms, Bill spoke up. He was sent to the fourth floor to Dr. Fargher for a stress test. Seven minutes into that test, Bill experienced stabbing pain. After failing the stress test, arrangements were made for Bill to undergo an angiogram. This procedure happens at Memorial Hospital in Sudbury. Doctors there found two blockages that required the wire metal mesh tube used to prop open the artery. This wire mesh or stent stays in the artery permanently, holds it open, improves blood flow to the heart muscle and relieves symptoms. Within a few weeks of the placement, the inside lining of the artery grows over the metal surface of the stent.

Bill required two stents and with those in place, he was back in his Cardiac Rehab class 10 days later. This time Bill ‘aced’ all the routines. But for folks with heart disease the challenge is much bigger than making their way back to health through rehab. As Bill sees it, “The challenge is staying in the habit and recognizing that you’d better change or you’re going to die.” Bill walks the golf course in the summer and plays “old man hockey” plus walks two or three nights in the winter. Bill has become an avid reader of food labels, cutting out salt and fats.

As General Manager of the Community Business and Development Centre, Bill plays a pivotal role in the Parry Sound area. His expertise and support are key to the economic well being of our community. We need Bill to ‘stick around’ and Cardiac Rehab is about providing the right information to ensure that he does.

If you or someone near you is experiencing symptoms of a heart attack, call 911.