"Need to laugh moment"

A heart attack is a very serious issue and something not to joke about; however, there comes a time where you need to be able to relax and just talk about it without fear. I had this moment last weekend, and to be honest, it felt so good to just talk about it and actually have a few laughs from it. It was my “need to laugh” moment and it was great and I’ll share that experience with you all.

I mentioned before that one of my good friends, Andy, had a heart attack about a month ago. He went through the same thing that I went through; however, he actually had a stent put in. He’s doing great and will continue to recover just fine. Last weekend, I went back to St. Marys for the weekend and went to a friend’s wedding. The wedding and reception was in Columbus, OH, so I tagged along with Andy, his girlfriend Maggie, Kylie, and Paul. During the car ride to Columbus, Andy and I talked about our experiences with the heart attack. We were kind of “comparing” our stories. I know I’ve said this before and I want to say it again, I sincerely appreciate EVERYONE for their concern, thoughts, and prayers during my heart attack. I LOVE that everyone is so caring; it means the world to me. But having another person, who went through the same thing that I did, is selfishly, totally awesome (I certainly wish it wasn’t due to a heart attack and wouldn’t wish it on anyone). I say this because Andy knows exactly the feelings that I’m going and have went through. It’s incredibly nice to have someone to talk to about this, knowing that he went through it as well.

As we continued to Columbus, we started to talk about medications, and this is when the laughter started. We were comparing medications and that we each now had “pill packs” to keep our all of our medications organized. We talked about how we had to carry nitro with us 24/7…now, this is where it really got funny. But I tell you what, it felt so good to laugh. Everyone started joking about who would get out the nitro if someone needed it. It may not seem as funny to everyone reading this, but it was so funny.

Also, Andy and I kept referring to us as the “HBK’s” – heart break kids and that got a lot of people to laugh as well. Prior to going to the reception, Maggie, (bless her heart for putting up with Andy! Jk!) made sure that we took our medications before the night started. Again, we got a good laugh about that as well, as we had a ‘pill party’ before the reception.

I never thought I would be able to joke with others about what happened, but I’m so glad that I had that opportunity to do that with some awesome friends. Through all the tears, fear, and emotional stress, I was actually able to put a smile to my face, with regards to the heart attack, and I’ll always be thankful for that.  Actually, it was almost a sense of ‘normalcy’ being around Andy, because he was doing exactly what I was doing and having the same emotions that I had. With that being said, Andy, I thank you very much making me smile and able to put some laughter into all of this.

I know as I continue through this journey, I’m probably going to have some more struggles and fear; however, I know that it will pass, and a smile will return to my face. I know this because it’s happened before, but with support from my family and friends, I’ll push through it all again. *Strength it takes*

Heart Attack Survivors!