My 49f, husband 44m had a heart attack 2 days ago. He has had a stent fitted and is still in our cardiac unit. We has 2 teenage kids and one grown one who lives away from home. I have support from my family.
I am a worrier anyway but I am dreading the burden on myself and if I will cope. I work full time and understand he will obviously need me around more. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions for me in these early days?
Hello 
I am sorry to hear about your Husbands heart attack but sounds like he is doing well and has now had a stent and when they are satisfied he will be allowed home to recover
Everyone's recovery can be different but most are back on their feet quite quickly even though they might be a bit slower for a while
Could you take a couple of weeks of work when he comes home usually work places will accommodate this under these circumstances
You say you have family and friends that are supportive when you have to go to work could you maybe prepare some food what he can just warm up and maybe family and friends together could do some kind of rota to check how he is ?
Try not to worry and I am sure he will not be a burden he is lucky they caught him when they did and have got his heart working better than it will have been possibly in a while
It seems quite overpowering to start with but when he is home you will work out a routine where you can go to work and he will be ok at home
I am sure others will read your post and have some really good suggestions when they do
Let us know how you get on x
Thankyou for your reply, I’m going to arrange some time off.
x
Does he need to make any lifestyle changes that reflect the reasons for a HA? Weight? Diet? Drinking? Smoking?
If so you will need to accommodate this in your care for him and your immediate family will to be be proactive.
He will likely feel vulnerable and anxious and upset that it has happened. So you will likely need to deal with his emotional fragility as well as any physical ones.
Yes are are lifestyle changes to be made, hopefully this will be a catalyst for change.
He won't need you around more once he gets on his feet again. Just carry on as usual. Don't over fuss but encourage him to get fit again. He might need emotional support when he gets down. But don't smother him.He needs to come to terms with what has happened to him. And change his life. You can't change it for him. Your job is just to support him.
Thankyou, he needs to make the decisions and I need to be by his side. I appreciate your words.
After my stent i felt perfectly fit though cautious about doing too much. Hopefully your husband will be similar. Lots of good advice in the other posts.
Thankyou, yes all these comments are very helpful.
Hi, sorry to hear this. Everyone is different but hopefully he will take it easy for a few weeks and gradually get back to normal. The hospital should follow up with cardio rehab after a few weeks and I found it quite funny that they suggested trying to walk for a minute a day to start as I had no trouble walking around as normal but did feel a little out of sorts some days and the medication he will be on may take some time to get used to as well. I had a friend who had a similar experience. He is a fit man who does a lot of sport and he was back to playing football after a couple of weeks, so it really does depend on the individual. Just get him to listen to his body and give the hospital a call if he has any worries. The cardio rehab team should be useful when they get in touch. Hopefully he will be able to look after himself as usual and get back to work after a few weeks but it will depend on his heart condition and how much healing it needs to do. I was carrying on as normal almost straight away but didn’t feel quite myself for months but I’m not sure if that was me or the medication. My GP wasn’t much help so I had a private consultation with a cardiologist after a while and he put my mind at rest. All the best.
Yes i read the advice about walking and to be honest this did make me worry. I guess where you are before the HA will depend on things after. Your comment has given me hope that he wont be as fragile and I imagined. Thank you.
After my Cardiac Arrest and STEMI I got one stent in my completely blocked LAX and a bag of medication. Then I was sent home in a taxi 3 days later. I live alone in a 3 story cottage. A couple of weeks later I went to cardiac rehab which was excellent and then on a holiday tour around India.
I’m still fine 10 years later and seldom think about it. My advice is to consider that he has been fortunate to get the blockage spotted and fixed. Try not to fuss over him since that is more likely to make him feel more anxious.
My instinct is to fuss him but I know that’s going to help in the long run. A tour round India sounds wonderful!
I have some experiences of this, 1)My Mrs had triple bypass, some years back, lot of aftercare and pain involved fot her and me the main carer, approximately 3months of it!
2)Myself, opted for stents because of the much shorter recovery time. Mostly self care and back to work full-time after several weeks of cardiac rehab team guidance.
Hi Welshemily
Welcome to the forum, I’m sorry to hear of your husband’s heart attack; it can be a big shock that ripples through the whole family!
Personally, I was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy rather than having a heart attack but as a sufferer and a family member of other hearties, the best piece of advice I can give you is just be there emotionally and be led by him.
As scary as this time is for you, it will be scarier for him and I think the best gift is just being available to “catch him” and creating space for him to be able to be vulnerable and not feel like he has to be brave for everyone else.
I obviously don’t know your husband and he might be emotionally very strong and not need it but believe me, just knowing that support is there is huge.
Secondly, be kind to yourself, make sure that you have support around you too so that you don’t feel responsible for shouldering everything.
Take care, wishing you both all the best.
Soap 🧼
I had a quadruple bypass in 2017. It had failed by 2023 and I then received 6 stents. I went from zero to 6 medications. But I’ve changed my diet - no dairy, no red meat, no saturated fats, limited sugar. Lots of salads and veg. Don’t drink. Never smoked. I try to exercise 4 + times a week. Most of us on this site have been through the trauma of cardiac events and have come out ok. So should your husband. You can help him make any necessary changes in diet and exercise, and hopefully his prognosis will be very good.
I definitely need to educate myself of diet changes.
Welshemily you sound like a really caring person. He will need your love and emotional support but physically, he will be back on his feet pretty quickly I imagine. I had a similar experience last Christmas, out of the blue. Apart from the initial nhs cardio team care, angioplasty procedure and adjusting to the meds, the phase 3 and now phase 4, cardiac rehab support is so important. So do encourage him to take up at least the phase 3 support. It will help him adjust, come to terms with it and regain self confidence. It gave me a platform for all this and I’ve lost weight and got fitter! Where I live we have phase 4 ongoing classes at the local sports centre which you have to pay for but I have found so helpful. We are the lucky ones, two people I know in the last six months had HA’s out of the blue and didn’t make it. So I feel like I’ve been given a second chance and want to make the most of it and encourage a few others like your husband to do the same. Wish him all the very best- he’s one of the fortunate ones. Use it as a springboard to a new way of life. Carpe diem !
Thankyou, i will pass on your kind words.
I had 3 stents fitted and have recovered well fortuitously. I never had a heart attack. The key for me is that you give yourselves time and that you both listen and support each other. Stay positive. My wife kept asking me how I was and selfishly I did snap at her on one occasion because I felt fine. I then reflected and realised I had been selfish and that my ill health had impacted on her as well as me so apologised and we both spoke about how we felt. The passage of time makes things easier and we make sure we lead a full life. Wider family are important as well as for support. Try not to worry too much. All the best for the future x
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