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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Feb 23, 2015 - 01:03pm PT
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Fred, I look forward to your ending up better than new. You have both my prayers and best wishes for a complete recovery.
John
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scuffy b
climber
heading slowly NNW
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Feb 23, 2015 - 02:20pm PT
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Best wishes to you, Fred. Heal well. I hope to see you soon.
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Lollie
Social climber
I'm Lolli.
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Feb 23, 2015 - 03:08pm PT
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Oh dear!
Get well, Fred!
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couchmaster
climber
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Feb 23, 2015 - 03:28pm PT
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My best to you as well Fred. Sounds like you used up one (or more?) of your 9 lives, hope the other 8 keep you in good stead for many years yet to come.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Feb 23, 2015 - 07:03pm PT
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oh.....WOW
(tears in my eyes)
I've been sort of taking a break from this two bit gin joynt for several weeks. It can be aggravating, enlightening and a huge time sink!
I just dropped in to see what was going down and saw this thread.
All of your greetings, photos and good wishes are awesome! SCSeagoat, I'm gonna get you for starting this thread! ;-0
I'm just rambling because I really am at a loss for words.
So here's the not so short story.
AAC Sierra Nevada section has an ice climbing weekend at the end of each January at Lost Trail Lodge/Coldstream Canyon ice cliffs.
This was my 7th trip. I'd missed the past two years and was really stoked. Even with very low snow the ice was good as it's fed from snowmelt.
Hiking up the road (always much more fun when there's enough snow for skiing or snowshoeing) with four companions on a bluebird day. Up a moderate hill I wasn't really working hard, just breaking a sweat........I felt a "squinch" in the region of my heart and slowed my pace thinking "Hmmmmmm that was odd, I've never felt anything like that before". Suddenly I felt like Dorothy being swept up into the sky in a tornado.......and down I went. Totally out.
I came to a few minutes later with Dr DK looking at me and asking my name. I was totally lucid. As if nothing had happened. TB was next to me and another DK and TL were helping with clothing to keep me warm. My chest hurt like bloody hell! Still does!! You can take it from me, chest compression CPR CAN be painful. And pain is a good indication that you're actually alive!
My heart had stopped for 2 or 3 minutes. But my breathing didn't! I had been VERY lucky!
The "team" had gotten out a cell phone call and had deployed my personal locator beacon.
Soon a CalStar helicopter showed up but flew up the canyon past us. We were on the road in a clearing in the trees but they still didn't see us! Someone ran out into a nearby clearing and got their attention.
But they still couldn't land. There's no safe place for a helicopter within a mile.
To make a long story short, soon Truckee Fire SAR showed up with backboard and emergency medical kit AND the CHP short haul chopper arrived!
I'm wide awake, yakking and joking through this all. But I sure knew I wasn't going anywhere under my own power.
The SAR team got me into a warm kevlar bag and on a backboard, and out to the clearing. The cable came down from the CHP bird, I went up and we flew the mile down to Lost Trail Lodge where the CalStar chopper had landed in the meadow. I was transferred to CalStar and flown to Renown Med Ctr in Reno.
By mid afternoon I'd had ultrasound, and an angiogram and the news that I'd be getting open heart surgery the next morning. A couple of AAC friends drove down from Lost Trail in the afternoon which was really kind, and my wife flew up from the Bay Area.
Sunday AM 4 hours or so of surgery. They took a vein out of my right leg, split my sternum and pread my chest open, hooked up the heart/lung bypass, stopped my heart, replaced two clogged heart arteries with bits of vein, restarted my heart and wired my sternum back together.
I was walking the next morning (with much nurse assistance).
A week later I was discharged.
I'm on my feet, walking about 1 1/2 mile daily (with some easy hills) with my dog and Sarah. Doing some work and feeling better every day.
I've never had any heart trouble. The only warning was that I've been abnormally short of breath after heavy exertion the past 3 or 4 months.
Very fortunately, the rest of my heart, valves, veins/arteries etc are healthy. The prognosis is more or less full recovery in 6 months.
Lessons?
You Too can have a heart attack.
Chest compression CPR DOES work for some heart attacks.
It's best to travel with friends and have emergency communications capability. If I'd been alone the crows would have found me first.
We should all learn chest compression CPR.
Life is GOOD!
and you get by with a little help from your friends.
Thank you all again for your concern, I'll keep you all posted.
!!!Taco Farcissimus!!!
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Feb 23, 2015 - 07:43pm PT
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good to see you Fred!
what great fortune
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Feb 23, 2015 - 07:52pm PT
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Yep, really nice to see you posting.
There's bad luck and good luck and it sounds like you had some of the first and a lot of the second. Thank goodness.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Feb 23, 2015 - 07:59pm PT
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Welcome back to the world.
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Jay Wood
Trad climber
Land of God-less fools
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Feb 23, 2015 - 09:07pm PT
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Wow-
That's a wild ride!
Glad that you're in one piece and (sounds like) good spirits.
Hope to see you around the campfire soon.
Jay
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Chaz
Trad climber
greater Boss Angeles area
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Feb 23, 2015 - 09:24pm PT
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That was one hell of a T.R. there, High Traverse. Wow! That was too close. Here's hoping you're back on the ridge-tops lickety-split.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 23, 2015 - 11:23pm PT
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I'm gonna get you for starting this thread! Anytime! You are dearly beloved by all here!
Just what Chaz said. What a TR...what a ride.
You definitely have taken your selfies to the next level.
So happy you are on the mend.
Big hugs to you and Sarah.
Susan and Michael.
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Fletcher
Boulder climber
A very quiet place
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Feb 23, 2015 - 11:43pm PT
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Zoinks! Wow, Fred... that was one heck of a trip report, all right. Let's keep this to a one-off occurrence!
Fred seems to like getting beat up out there... ripped off finger-nail on Smoke's Course in the Buttermilks and a previous bouldering "clunk" come to mind. :-) But this is going a bit too far!
Glad to hear you were in superb hands and are on the good road to recovery.
Heal up and keep on keepin' on!
Eric
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Capt.
climber
some eastside hovel
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Feb 24, 2015 - 07:05am PT
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Keep up the positivity Fred.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Feb 24, 2015 - 09:09am PT
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Wow Fred! Now that was a trip report! Very glad it all worked out for you!!
I just upped my CPR skills in last week's WFR recert class. I'll remember your story, if I ever have to use it!
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Feb 24, 2015 - 09:35am PT
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Close one there mate! What a story. So glad you had the right posse around you. A good heads up for all of us. Here's to continued healing and a second lease on life!
Scott
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Feb 24, 2015 - 10:11am PT
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I know there are a few docs on the Taco...
I wonder what they think of Lifeline Screening?
would that have given Fred any warning of what was going on?
Twice now, once last year and once about 4 years ago, I got a "Lifeline Screening" panel. They set up mobile labs around the country and for a very reasonable price (I think my last one was $125) they do a carotid artery , a - fib, abdominal aortic aneurism and peripheral arterial disease screening. If you have an HMO your doc might order some of these tests for you if you have a family history.
But I have a PPO and minimal family history so these aren't the kind of tests that would be justified to be ordered as a part of an annual physical.
Lifeline does a bunch of other tests like bone density but the other things they do I have covered through my regular health maintenance.
I asked my own Family Practice doc what she thought of it and she seemed to think it was a good thing to do once in a while. She was happy to see the good results I had on my tests.
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Crimpergirl
Sport climber
Boulder, Colorado!
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Feb 24, 2015 - 10:18am PT
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Best wishes Fred. Such scary stuff. You are a bright light here...so happy you are still shining!
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Doug Robinson
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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Feb 24, 2015 - 12:00pm PT
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Damn, Fred!
You are one lucky son of a... So glad you beat the odds to be wise-cracking with your first responders, and now with us.
Maybe we can take another run at Smoke's Rock Course whenever you're feeling good enough. Take your time, though. Now you've got plenty.
Yes indeed Life is GOOD!
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guyman
Social climber
Moorpark, CA.
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Feb 24, 2015 - 05:29pm PT
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FRED... man o man what a story, Im so glad we are not all posting about how it "was all sudden and all and he WAS a great guy to climb with...."
but seriously, maybe when you get some time, make a TR. It would be helpful to know how you felt leading up to "IT", any pains, shortness of breath and just what your friends did to bring you back to US.
Get better.
Guy Keesee
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Craig Fry
Trad climber
So Cal.
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Feb 24, 2015 - 05:41pm PT
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Get well HT
Good times lay ahead!
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