Pat's Journal

daughter of a heart attack and bypass surgery survivor

Introduction

Day 1

Day 3

Day 5

Day 7

Day 9

Introduction to the heart attack journals

In the above picture, my Dad -- Dr. Mervin Speckman, more commonly known as "Doc" or "Speck" -- is the one on the right (duh!); my mom is on the left. He's 81 years old, and he had a heart attack on March 3, 2002, and quadrupal bypass surgery on the 5th. He's always been super healthy and active, so his having a heart attack came as a big surprise to our family (my dad, mom, brother, sister and me). Of course, we knew he was getting older, but he's never acted his age, so we were able to fool ourselves into thinking he would always be healthy and live forever.

I didn't realize that when a person has a heart attack, part of the heart can die, but it's true. After seeing a picture of the part of dad's heart that died and knowing that he has a murmur in his heart from a leaky valve, I do realize that he won't live forever. In fact, a fact sheet about conjestive heart disease, the disease that leads to heart attacks, stated that one in five people with the disease will die within the first year after an attack.

Although my dad is going to be one of the four in the above statistic, I still wanted to write down some of the stories of his life, so they are not lost forever. I also wanted to write down my rambling thoughts about this experience as I went through it.

It was therapeutic for my father to tell me his stories and for me to write about my thoughts and feelings. Read my thoughts or my dad's stories or both.

Copyright ©Pat Speckman 2002
pspeckman@mail.ntc.mnscu.edu | last modified March 2002

Speck's Journal

heart attack and bypass surgery survivor and all-around great guy

Introduction

Early years

Military years

Searching years

Chiropractic years

Retirement years