Letters to the Editor

To the editor:

We have recently gained a new appreciation for Staunton and St. John's Hospitals and their dedicated staff. On the evening of Sunday, September 17th, Joan and I went to bed at 10 pm. I noticed a discomfort in my left shoulder. It was a dull, pain. It was not intense pain, but it was enough to keep me from going to sleep.

At midnight, I still had not gone to sleep and the pain persisted. I asked Joan to Google and find symptoms of a heart attack. I believe this was inspiration of the Holy Spirit. When the Google search revealed that this could possibly be symptoms of a heart attack we headed to Staunton Hospital, about 2 miles from our home. Upon arrival, I informed them stating, “I think I'm having a heart attack!”

The staff immediately and efficiently began doing tests on me which included drawing blood, body temperature, blood pressure and an EKG. The young Dr. who was working the night shift was supervising and overseeing all this activity. When she noticed my blood pressure dropping, she administered medicine to help stabilize the situation. She notified St. John's hospital in Springfield that they had potential patient needing to be sent to the hospital. St. John's contacted one of their cardiovascular surgeons and were fortunate enough to reach him around 2:30 am.

By this time, the pain in left shoulder had spread to the left portion of my chest. The Dr. initially tried to get a helicopter to make the trip from Staunton to St. John's in Springfield, but due to fog, an ambulance trip was the best option. At 3 am the paramedics loaded me on the ambulance and made a quick trip from Staunton to St. John's in Springfield. They rolled me directly into an operating room where the caridologist and a support staff of 6 people were ready and waiting my arrival. The information that was sent from Staunton Hospital to St. John's enabled the cardiologist to know exactly where the blockage was. It was located on the bottom portion of my heart. The last thing I remember was the caridologist locating a vein in my arm. As I dozed off he began the process of running a stent from my wrist through the vein to the exact location where the blockage occurred. After the stent was installed in 20 minutes, the blood began to flow and I began my recovery. When I woke up at about 5 am, all the pain was gone and I felt fine.

Later on that day, a paraprofessional came in and through the miracle of modern technology was able to look inside my heart. The beautiful rhythmn of my heartbeat was visible on the screen. As he looked around from different angles, he could not see any damaged areas.

I am thankful to be alive and thankful to each person that was at the right place at the right time to do their job with excellence at Staunton & St. John's hospitals! So don't ignore pain!

Looking forward to starting physical therapy soon and discovering moe of the quality services Staunton Hospital provides.

Thank You! Dennis D. Schuette