On Sunday, January 28, 1996, Super Bowl Day, I had a scary experience and ended up
in the Guelph General Hospital. On a typical morning I woke up at five and after some warm-up
exercises, went for a walk. It was cold outside but the walk was fairly comfortable and I enjoyed
it. It was my usual route and it took about 40 minutes. Some snow had accumulated on the
driveway so I decided to do some shovelling. It was easy as I just pushed the snow to the side.
After about 25 minutes Lucy shouted that breakfast was ready. There was still some more
shoveling to do but I decided to stop. When I came in and took off my boots, gloves and coat,
my hands felt very cold and I rubbed them vigorously to stimulate circulation, but with little
success. I felt dizzy and decided to lie on the floor as it was the safest place. My clothes were
wet with perspiration. When I found that my pulse was very weak, I used my nitroglycerine
spray. When the dizziness persisted and my pulse was still weak, I decided to use a second
shot of nitroglycerine and asked Lucy to call 911. I feared that I was having a heart attack.
The fire men and the ambulance arrived within seven minutes and they gave me
Oxygen; they were unable to detect my pulse. My blood pressure was very low and I was pale--
I learnt this from one of the ambulance attendants whom I saw in the hospital later in the day.
During this time I was still conscious but in a daze. They kept asking me questions and I was
annoyed that they asked me questions when I was in discomfort. In hindsight I realized that
they wanted to keep me awake and conscious. On the way to the hospital, I was scared and
wondered if I was going to meet the same fate as Don Amichand, who had died less than a
week earlier on January 23. Don had also been taken by ambulance to the hospital after he
had felt dizzy from his walk.
At Don’s funeral two days earlier, I learnt that his background was very similar to mine.
We were approaching 60 years, had attended Canadian Mission Schools in our respective
countries, had come to Canada to further our education, had both suffered heart attacks and
had retired from our respective jobs. I had reason to be scared.
At the Emergency Room at the hospital, I was kept on Oxygen and was given an
intravenous, which was most likely saline solution. My blood pressure had improved but was
still low. I felt better within an hour. In the next room a gentleman was brought in and I learnt
that he was 58 years old and had also been shovelling snow when he experienced dizziness
and pain. He had had by-pass surgery about 10 years earlier but had not experienced any
problem recently. He told the doctor that he had visited Russia a few months earlier and had
not been feeling well. His family doctor had suspected infestation with parasites. As soon as I
heard his background I knew that it was Dave Berry, who had recently retired as Vice-Principal
at G.C.V.I. and had taught me at Teacher’s College at Althouse College in 1969. Only a few
weeks earlier I had read an article about him in the Guelph Tribune. I was attended by three
doctors: an intern whose name I cannot recall, Dr. Levi, whose accent indicated that he was
Jamaican, and Dr. Schwartz, a cardiologist. Later that day I was placed in the Intensive Care
Unit and kept on Oxygen and intravenous. On Tuesday my condition had stabilized and I was
moved to another floor. I was kept in hospital until Friday, February 2nd. During this time I had
various tests performed--blood tests, ECG, echocardiagram and a stress test. Dr. Schwartz
explained that I had not suffered any further damage to my heart. He was able to detect a
depression on the ST wave of my ECG, and ischemia which corresponded with my angina. He
felt that I was dehydrated during my walk and snow shovelling and there could have been some
ischemia. These lowered my blood pressure and made me feel dizzy. Then the use of the two
shots of nitroglycerine further lowered my blood pressure. I felt comfortable with Dr. Schwartz
because he spent some time with me and explained my condition. I was glad to hear that he
would be attending to me when I was released from hospital. I was relieved to learn that no
damage was done to my heart but must confess that I was really scared especially when I was
being taken by ambulance to the hospital
