Still Stunned
It has been three days now since Scott's death and everything still feels so surreal. I want to share the story of Scott's death in the hopes that it may prevent someone else from going through the same tragedy.
Thursday evening, August 9th, Scott worked second shift at Philhaven. He planned to play basketball with some co-workers immediately after his shift at Philhaven. After playing basketball, when he was on his way home at around 1:30 a.m., he began having difficulties breathing. Scott stopped at his dad's house and had his dad call 911. While he was waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Scott left a voicemail message on my cell phone and also on the home phone -- both times telling me that he was having trouble breathing, was calling 911, he loved us, and thought that he was going to be okay. Unfortunately I didn't have a phone in our bedroom, so was not aware of what was happening until later. His dad shares that when the ambulance arrived, Scott got up to go up the steps to meet the ambulance and collapsed. The EMTs were unable to get his heart restarted, although resuscitation attempts continued until after his arrival in the emergency room. I was woken up by Scott's sister Jill, coming in my bedroom to wake me up and break the news around 3:00 a.m. At that point, Jill already knew that Scott had not survived the heart attack. Jill and I headed to the emergency room to meet up with his dad. My parents and Scott's sister, Deanna, and brother-in-law, Fernando met us at the emergency room over the next hour to hour and a half. We were able to be in the room with Scott. I kept expecting to look over at him and see his chest rising -- he looked like he was simply sleeping.
Around 7 a.m., we began making phone calls to friends and family. The hardest thing I have ever done in my life was when I returned home at 9:30 a.m. to talk with Jaelyn who had been with friends while I was at the hospital and with family. Jaelyn is sad and misses her daddy very much. She is able to talk about him and her memories, but withdraws into herself when talk turns to his death. Jaelyn has lots of questions and is able to talk with me alone about those questions each night as we cuddle together at bedtime. Please pray that she continues to feel comfortable to talk about it and doesn't hold in her emotions and thoughts.
As a family, we decided to have an autopsy completed, in order to find out if there was a genetic component to his death, that could be helpful to his sisters and Jaelyn. I spoke with the coroner in the early afternoon of Friday, August 10th. The autopsy was completed quickly. The preliminary results were that Scott had an 80% blockage to the major artery leading to his heart. The coroner reported that rarely are there signs and symptoms ahead of time that would prompt someone to see a doctor. He informed me that the blockage was so severe that even if Scott had been in the hospital at the time of the attack, he still would not have survived. The physical exertion of playing basketball was the trigger for the heart attack; however, his blockage was so serious that it was literally a ticking time bomb that could have happened at any time. If Scott had had his cholesterol checked, this may have detected an issue and there are procedures that could have been done to treat the condition. Please don't wait until your 50's or 60's for preventative health tests -- take the time, even if there are no signs of issues, to have the simple tests done.
At 4:00 a.m. the morning after Scott's heart attack, I put some thoughts on paper of Scott and his life. I will post it on this blog after his funeral -- it will be shared at his funeral as well.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers, verbal and physical expressions of love and caring. Our family has felt every ounce of those thoughts, prayers, and love. It is what is giving each of us the strength to keep moving forward, although it feels as if in a fog. Nights are the worst, at least for Jaelyn and I, so special prayers are appreciated for those times.
Thursday evening, August 9th, Scott worked second shift at Philhaven. He planned to play basketball with some co-workers immediately after his shift at Philhaven. After playing basketball, when he was on his way home at around 1:30 a.m., he began having difficulties breathing. Scott stopped at his dad's house and had his dad call 911. While he was waiting for the ambulance to arrive, Scott left a voicemail message on my cell phone and also on the home phone -- both times telling me that he was having trouble breathing, was calling 911, he loved us, and thought that he was going to be okay. Unfortunately I didn't have a phone in our bedroom, so was not aware of what was happening until later. His dad shares that when the ambulance arrived, Scott got up to go up the steps to meet the ambulance and collapsed. The EMTs were unable to get his heart restarted, although resuscitation attempts continued until after his arrival in the emergency room. I was woken up by Scott's sister Jill, coming in my bedroom to wake me up and break the news around 3:00 a.m. At that point, Jill already knew that Scott had not survived the heart attack. Jill and I headed to the emergency room to meet up with his dad. My parents and Scott's sister, Deanna, and brother-in-law, Fernando met us at the emergency room over the next hour to hour and a half. We were able to be in the room with Scott. I kept expecting to look over at him and see his chest rising -- he looked like he was simply sleeping.
Around 7 a.m., we began making phone calls to friends and family. The hardest thing I have ever done in my life was when I returned home at 9:30 a.m. to talk with Jaelyn who had been with friends while I was at the hospital and with family. Jaelyn is sad and misses her daddy very much. She is able to talk about him and her memories, but withdraws into herself when talk turns to his death. Jaelyn has lots of questions and is able to talk with me alone about those questions each night as we cuddle together at bedtime. Please pray that she continues to feel comfortable to talk about it and doesn't hold in her emotions and thoughts.
As a family, we decided to have an autopsy completed, in order to find out if there was a genetic component to his death, that could be helpful to his sisters and Jaelyn. I spoke with the coroner in the early afternoon of Friday, August 10th. The autopsy was completed quickly. The preliminary results were that Scott had an 80% blockage to the major artery leading to his heart. The coroner reported that rarely are there signs and symptoms ahead of time that would prompt someone to see a doctor. He informed me that the blockage was so severe that even if Scott had been in the hospital at the time of the attack, he still would not have survived. The physical exertion of playing basketball was the trigger for the heart attack; however, his blockage was so serious that it was literally a ticking time bomb that could have happened at any time. If Scott had had his cholesterol checked, this may have detected an issue and there are procedures that could have been done to treat the condition. Please don't wait until your 50's or 60's for preventative health tests -- take the time, even if there are no signs of issues, to have the simple tests done.
At 4:00 a.m. the morning after Scott's heart attack, I put some thoughts on paper of Scott and his life. I will post it on this blog after his funeral -- it will be shared at his funeral as well.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts, prayers, verbal and physical expressions of love and caring. Our family has felt every ounce of those thoughts, prayers, and love. It is what is giving each of us the strength to keep moving forward, although it feels as if in a fog. Nights are the worst, at least for Jaelyn and I, so special prayers are appreciated for those times.
Lori, It was very nice reading some of your posts. Best wishes to you and Jaelyn. Hold on!
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