This is what happened:
On Jan. 19, 2015, I had a heart attack without knowing it. There were no chest pains, just an overall sickness that I expected to go away. I went about my business as usual.
But two days later I was worse, I realized that this was an illness that was not going away on it's own.
Two blocks away was a City MD establishment.
I asked my neighbor Julia Klele to
accompany
me there. She wanted to help me. I was able to walk
the two blocks with no problem
The doctor at
City MD determined that I had a severe
heart problem and needed to go to a hospital right away.
As I left City MD for St. Luke's Hospital, I have no recollection
of anything else. I did not even know
what mode of transportation I was in... nothing.
Julia told me that I was conscious and answering doctors questions and I have no memory of that.
Dr. Miguel Martillo called my family and told that things did not look good for me.
I had an irregular heart beat, pneumonia and bionic high blood pressure, all at the same time.
I was put on life support with a ventilator immediately.
Doctor Coby was in contact with my sister Betty Polistena (a Nurse in
Florida). My situration was so desperate that she was asked if
my status could be made DNR (Do Not
Resuscitate). Betty said "NO! Full Code
(do anything to keep him alive)". A resident, Dr. Vicente
San Martin was looking after me and keeping me alive.
Dr. Herzog was in charge of the situation. My brothers Ron and Anthony, came to see me and I was unconscious with all kinds of tubes in my body. Dr. Herzog took my brothers to the side of the room and stated that my body organs were all shutting down and I should not expected to leave the hospital alive.
The next day "divine intervention" caused all my organs to activate.
Dr. Herzog wanted to do a exploratory procedure that was risky and could have killed me. For this reason, he needed the consent of my family to proceed and there was family tie vote on whether or not to do it. Then a fax was received from Betty breaking the tie and allowing Dr. Herzog to proceed.
I was found to have 100% blockage of my heart.
Dr. Herzog tried to get a surgeon who would operate on me. One at St. Lukes hospital agreed, but when they got more information about my extreme condition they backed down.
Dr. Balaji Pratap is a Cardiology Fellow who was very involved in my case. Dr. Herzog had him make most of the phone calls and he helped Dr. Herzog to get in touch with Dr. Chikwe at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Chikwe was the only Doctor who was willing to operate on me and apparently had the necessary skills. There was a comment on Dr. Herzog's persistence in finding a surgeon and he replied "It's my job to save lives".
Not to be understated, the diagnostic skills of Dr Herzog and Dr Palazzo were crucial to my survival.
On Jan. 23rd, all my life support equipment was removed from my room and was loaded onto an ambulance with Dr. James Salonia who watched over me. I was rushed over to Mount Sinai Hospital. Sounds exciting doesn't it? Even though I was there, I missed all the excitment because I was unconscious.
Julia told me that I was conscious and answering doctors questions and I have no memory of that.
Dr. Miguel Martillo called my family and told that things did not look good for me.
I had an irregular heart beat, pneumonia and bionic high blood pressure, all at the same time.
I was put on life support with a ventilator immediately.
Doctor Coby was in contact with my sister Betty Polistena (a Nurse in
Florida). My situration was so desperate that she was asked if
my status could be made DNR (Do Not
Resuscitate). Betty said "NO! Full Code
(do anything to keep him alive)". A resident, Dr. Vicente
San Martin was looking after me and keeping me alive. Dr. Herzog was in charge of the situation. My brothers Ron and Anthony, came to see me and I was unconscious with all kinds of tubes in my body. Dr. Herzog took my brothers to the side of the room and stated that my body organs were all shutting down and I should not expected to leave the hospital alive.
The next day "divine intervention" caused all my organs to activate.
Dr. Herzog wanted to do a exploratory procedure that was risky and could have killed me. For this reason, he needed the consent of my family to proceed and there was family tie vote on whether or not to do it. Then a fax was received from Betty breaking the tie and allowing Dr. Herzog to proceed.
I was found to have 100% blockage of my heart.
Dr. Herzog tried to get a surgeon who would operate on me. One at St. Lukes hospital agreed, but when they got more information about my extreme condition they backed down.
Dr. Balaji Pratap is a Cardiology Fellow who was very involved in my case. Dr. Herzog had him make most of the phone calls and he helped Dr. Herzog to get in touch with Dr. Chikwe at Mount Sinai Hospital. Dr. Chikwe was the only Doctor who was willing to operate on me and apparently had the necessary skills. There was a comment on Dr. Herzog's persistence in finding a surgeon and he replied "It's my job to save lives".
Not to be understated, the diagnostic skills of Dr Herzog and Dr Palazzo were crucial to my survival.
On Jan. 23rd, all my life support equipment was removed from my room and was loaded onto an ambulance with Dr. James Salonia who watched over me. I was rushed over to Mount Sinai Hospital. Sounds exciting doesn't it? Even though I was there, I missed all the excitment because I was unconscious.