Thanks to John Crace for this article (“Is this how I’m going to die?” About John Crace’s horrific heart attack, March 21). It allowed me to begin the process of accepting that my two heart attacks on Christmas Day 2022 were mild, classified by several stents, but were still serious. Ta. I almost felt like an impostor as I sat in the hospital ward, surrounded by men recovering from or awaiting various heart bypass surgeries. After all, I convinced myself that stents were on the lower end.

I laughed off the concerns of loved ones and friends, and told them good stories about how I thought I had a bad chest infection that day, given the chest pain, shortness of breath, and symptoms that generally didn’t match my own. did. A perspective on what a heart attack should be like.

Even my definition of pain was different from what I thought heart attack pain was. But after hearing my news, some people wondered what life would be like without me. This is about men’s health and how seriously we take our own health, ignoring illnesses, avoiding the doctor because it’s time consuming (for men), and generally taking our health seriously. It opens up a whole new can of worms for unwillingness to engage.

John rightly points out the great diversity of the health service, and I couldn’t agree more with him: “When the health service was in crisis, the health service helped me.” I had to ask a friend how serious the heart attack had to be before I accepted that it was a life-changing event. As it turned out, Liverpool Royal University Hospital accepted him. Thanks to John’s article, I am encouraged to continue on my journey of acceptance.
nick mcleod
Ellesmere, Shropshire

In October 2022, between lockdowns, we moved to the French countryside. We went to Paris for Christmas and on December 22nd, as I was rushing to catch the subway, I experienced a mild out-of-body experience and chest tightness, exactly as John Crace described in his article . We continued underground, but after two stops I realized something was wrong. A medical student stepped off the train with us, reassured the family, and gently held my hand while Pompier was called. In France, the fire department always comes first. I was taken back upstairs to the ambulance, but thankfully the doctor was across the street looking at me for another heart attack. What is the probability? He told me to go to the hospital right away, where a wonderful team inserted a stent into a small diagonal artery that was blocked. I was 45 years old. I don’t smoke, I drink a little alcohol, I’m average height and weight, and I eat a lot of vegetables. Again, what are the odds?

Like John, I am deeply grateful to those who saved my life that day. And now, every day I am silently grateful for the heart-shaped aspirin that I will have to take for the rest of my life along with my statins. It’s no exaggeration to say that an experience like this puts everything into perspective. I wake up every day feeling energetic and happy to be alive. I rarely think about what happened, but this article describes my own experience so movingly that I remember asking the exact same question, “Is this how I will die?” I cried.
Rebecca by Volkovich
Parsac (France)

I have 3 months until my quadruple bypass surgery. I’m 64 years old, in pretty decent shape, hike, do tai chi, and walk. The aching pain in my left shoulder started last summer and went away, but it returned in late fall along with the pain in my jaw. I passed it off as excessive effort. After seeing a doctor, she decided to send me to the hospital. After 8 days of preparation and waiting in the hospital, I spent 6 hours on the table. Next, after spending four days in the hospital, I was fortunate enough to be able to go home.

I would like to thank my wife, my doctor, and the staff at two different hospitals for getting me tested, given new medications, and even had surgeries. During my first month with her, my wife cooked for me, helped me get dressed, and stayed home to keep me company. I hired a visiting nurse and now spends her 3 hours a week with the wonderful staff at Cardio Rehab, slowly regaining her strength and stamina. My family, friends, and colleagues have been wonderfully supportive, and my eldest grandson takes me for walks, tells me about his great ideas, and watches over me.

Now I’m thinking about how I want to spend the rest of my years, how to make each day better, how to make sure everyone who loves me knows that I love them. I’m imagining what to do. I’ve started taking tai chi again with online classes, walking over two miles a day, and am preparing to go back to work soon. It’s a slow process to regain the health you once took for granted, but as my mother-in-law used to say, it’s better than the alternative. John, please heal well and embrace the gift of a healthier future.
Joseph E. Charnley
South Deerfield, Massachusetts

I read about John Crace’s recent hospitalization after a heart attack. It is moving and reassuring to hear again about the excellence and loving care given to his care by the staff, and the contrast with the chaos and inadequacy of the surrounding infrastructure becomes even more stark.

We must fundamentally review our healthcare system, which is no longer fit for purpose. We need to separate it from the divisive and bitter world of politics and establish a bipartisan, intergenerational commission of the best experts we can find to reform it. If we can afford it, we may have to accept a higher financial contribution from taxpayers, but the principle of free treatment based on clinical need should be maintained. Without such intervention, we will soon see the ruins of the NHS, forced into a world of private healthcare where treatment is based on the level of a patient’s insurance policy. We owe this to ourselves, our amazing health care workers, and future generations.
Fran Mortimer
brighton

I join everyone in praying for a full and speedy recovery for John Crace. He is the first column I look at every day and the Guardian is not the same without him. As someone currently undergoing chemotherapy, can I support John’s last comment about the NHS? I must have been seen by 100 people of different origins, colors, ethnicities, and religious beliefs. Without exception, they treated me and each other with respect and good humor, giving me an uplifting sense of the future of Britain rather than the negative images portrayed by angry men like Lee Anderson.
Jonathan Harris
Poundon, Buckinghamshire

I was lucky enough to be treated at St. George’s for a cardiac emergency. The level of care I received there was truly world class and I am at a loss for words to express my gratitude. I am not religious but if I were I would thank God for the NHS.
Sean Fullerton
shepparton, surrey