December 3, 2009 by Dan Philpot

"The first and usually the only symptom of ventricular fibrillation is sudden unconsciousness

with no pulse or heartbeat".

I read those words in a document they gave me after I finally left the hospital 39 days later. It also said the only hope for survival was to fibrilate the heart, meaning to give it an electrical shock, within the first few minutes. Survival rate is lost by 10% every minute following an attack. I now have an implanted cardiac defibrillator (icd) in my chest as an insurance policy.

The heart attack I survived is called the "widow maker". It is a complete blockage of the LAD or left anterior descending artery on the heart muscle. When this happens, you have about ten minutes to get help.  Time is muscle. By the time I got to the hospital more than ten minutes had gone by.