SwimSwam welcomes reader submissions about all topics aquatic, and if it’s well-written and well-thought, we might just post it under our “Shouts from the Stands” series. We don’t necessarily endorse the content of the Shouts from the Stands posts, and the opinions remain those of their authors. If you have thoughts to share, please send [email protected].
This “Shouts from the Stands” submission comes from John Griffin:
*Updated 3/9/2017
Everyone,
My wife, Cindy, and I had Bill Krumm visit us on Saturday February 25th. We talked a lot of swimming and then enjoyed sushi at a local restaurant. After dinner Bill got in his rental car and drove away. I expected that we would talk again soon and that life would go on.
One week later I received the news of his passing.
During one of the meetings at our house Bill asked how I was doing physically and about some of the symptoms of my heart attack. I told him that the next day was going to be the one year anniversary of my heart attack. At the time I figured he just wanted to hear the story. We also talked about his plans for his townhouse and his life. He said he was enjoying working in USA Swimming. He told us that he might work another 4 -5 years. I will always wonder if there was a question behind his questions.
You see…
On February 26, 2016 I had a heart attack.
The morning of the heart attack I swam with my masters swimmers at 5:00 am. During a harder set I experienced tightness in my chest. I had been experiencing symptoms like this for a while so I slowed down and let it pass. For a couple months I had been experiencing tightness in my chest when exercising. I would feel fatigue and shortness of breath during physical activity and while coaching. I told myself it was probably a combination of things: age, work stress, exercise induced asthma, or allergies to the valley air and pollen. One time, on a 200 yard walk to a duck blind, I became winded and lagged behind my buddies. It was very uncommon for me to lag behind or move slowly. Just after Christmas of 2016 my family and I went to Hawaii. I am a scuba diver and completed 8 dives on this trip with no real problems, other than needing a nap upon returning from all the dives.
On February 8th 2016 I held a Lodi high swim team meeting. During the meeting I explained and joked to my swimmers that the red phone on the deck was a direct line to 911 and that in the room near the deck was a portable defibrillator. I joked with them that if “Coach” collapsed on deck that they should call 911- and then finish the practice.
I was in denial.
Sure I was concerned about these symptoms. I visited my allergists who suggested I get a checkup at a cardiologists. I did walk into the cardiologist’s office and they wanted me to make an appointment. I declined. I never went to my physician because I did not think it was my heart. However, in hind sight it was ALL about my heart.
At 6:15am, the morning of my heart attack, I was standing with the guys in the parking lot. I had taken it a little easier during practice, but was now experiencing really bad nausea. I told the man I was talking to that I was not feeling well and needed to leave. I got in my truck- alone- and headed to my wife’s school. I did not feel well and thought I needed to see her. Upon arriving at the school, I decided it was best to not bother her, so I drove- alone again- to the lot upon which we were building a new home. Mid way though my drive, I changed my mind again. I pulled into the Raley’s grocery store parking lot and Googled heart attack symptoms. I figured if I took a turn for the worse while there, I could just open the door and fall out of my truck and someone would help me.
My Google search showed that I had 9 of the 10 symptoms, so I ‘knew’ that I was experiencing stress- and not a heart attack. I was nauseous, had pain in the right shoulder (not the left), shortness of breath, tightness in my chest, anxiety, and fatigue- but I was not sweating! Until right in that moment, I began to sweat.
After my self-diagnosis, I drove home- alone yet again. I called Cindy and told her I was feeling horrible. I was starting to burp and could barely talk. I somehow convinced her it was just anxiety. She requested I relax and call her again in 15 minutes. I’d done a good job of talking both Cindy and myself into thinking that what I was experiencing was not serious. I sat on the couch, had a little breakfast – and immediately had to use the bathroom. My systems were shutting down.
At 8:30 am- just 5 minutes later, Cindy called me. She had talked to her colleagues who had told her that what I was experiencing was in fact serious. She implored me to meet her at my primary care doctor’s office. Upon my arrival, I realized they are closed on Fridays. When Cindy joined me, we went to the urgent care. Along the way we stopped at Walgreens for bottled water and aspirin to alleviate the chest and head pain I was in. Urgent Care does not open until 10:00 am. Other cars began to arrive and when the doors opened, I ended up 10th in line.
We signed in, indicating that I was not feeling well due to anxiety- we did not mention my chest pain. We waited over an hour to be seen. When the PA came in, I convinced him I was having a stress attack and requested Xanax. He said he would prescribe the Xanax, but just for his “peace of mind” he would do a simple EKG. They ran the EKG three times. The PA then ordered a 4th EKA. Upon seeing that, he said, ”John, I am sending you, by wheel chair, to the emergency room at Lodi Memorial Hospital.” I told him I could walk, since it was only three blocks away. My request was denied and I was quickly wheeled to the ER- who was expecting me.
Upon my arrival, there were a lot of familiar faces. Nurses were ex-swimmers of mine, many of the staff were parents of kids I had coached. The ER did another EKA. I was hooked up to a couple IV’s, loaded into an ambulance, and taken to St. Joseph’s heart department in Stockton. One of my past swimmers was in the ambulance as the EMT and he placed the paddles on my chest, just “in case,” At St. Joseph’s the emergency team prepped me for the Cath lab. Within an hour I had two stents placed in my coronary arteries. My time from Lodi to Stockton to the Cath lab went so quickly- I never even had a chance to tell Cindy that I loved her.
After surgery, the doctors told us that my blockages were 100% in one artery, 90% in another, and 80% in a third. The one that’s 100% is calcified and will never flow again.
My friends out there take note. While I am alive today- it is in spite of my stupidity and in thanks to the quick work of the medical professionals that worked on me that day in February.
If Bill was with us I think he would echo these thoughts. You must take care of yourself. I know we are tough and think we are bullet proof. We often put the health and welfare of our athletes ahead of ourselves. But it’s important to remember that You are Important. If you are gone, everyone loses.
Go to the doctor now!!! Get a checkup!! Get a baseline. Pay attention to fatigue, crankiness, and changes in mental attitude. If you have shortness of breath, chest pain or tightness go to the doctor or emergency room and tell the receptionist “I am feeling chest pain/tightness.”
If you are alone- fix that. Get into a busy area and tell someone to help you-Tell People You Are Having Trouble! Don’t wait, it will not pass, you won’t feel better later – Get it taken care of now! The best time to get checked out is today because you may not have tomorrow.
We all miss Bill. He wants us to learn from this.
Yesterday, 03/08
I went to the cardiologist yesterday for a echo cardiogram. It went well but at the conclusion of the exam he asked me to stay laying down while he stepped out. Upon returning he was accompanied by a nurse with an EKG machine. His concern was that my heart rate during the echo cardiogram had dropped below 40 bpm. After the EKG I had to wait until my cardiologist read the results and for clearance to leave. My cardiologist knows my heart rate is low, in the 40’s at rest and there were no new issues in the EKG so I was let go. Later in the day, 2:30 pm at practice my heart went into and extended atrial fibrillation and with the help of some of my parents I was able to get it to stabilize by taking my medicine a little earlier than normal. Monday the 13th I will go back to the doctor and have the results of my echo cardiogram discussed. The doctor would like to have me fitted with a defibrillator and pace maker. Yesterday was rough for me.
Monday the 13th I received the results of the Echocardiogram. During the office visit another EKG was done and the heart rate during the test was 36 bpm. For a well trained athlete this might be acceptable but for a 61 year old who has not been walking, running, biking or swimming consistently since the third stent back in December it is too low. Even though I get good exercise on the pool deck running (fast walk) from end to end hooting and hollering it is not enough. My Ejection fraction is a low 35%, again to low for good health. A more normal ejection fraction is 55-60%. So a pace maker and defibrillator is going to be implanted in… Read more »
Braden, this is a very good warning piece, and I implore you to share it on your main page with some added emphasis. There are a lot of coaches (and parents, too), including me, who are “getting up there” in years. Sharing this more prominently might catch the eye of someone like the article’s author, John Griffin, who experience warning signs but argue them away, deny them, and then…
I was surprised and saddened to hear about Bill Krumm. He was a friend and colleague; we coached the group of USA swimmers at the 1989 Speedo/KLM International Friendship Meet in Maastricht, The Netherlands. He was a great asset to the US swimming community and will be missed.
Thanks to John… Read more »
I was talking to Bill the day before he passed away about my upcoming move. He reassured me that I was making a good decision and that he would stay in contact with me and help me through it. He will be greatly missed bu myself and the swim community.
Wonderful article — thank you for sharing. There is a tendency for some of us to think “I’m a masters swimmer: I can push through this set no matter how tired I am.” As John points out, this can be a foolish attitude.
Sometimes even the very best swimmers fall prey to this kind of thinking. Case in point: eight years ago, at our noon masters workout we had a 50 year old male swimmer (who had won two titles in the IMs at Masters Nationals in the 50-54 age bracket) suffer a massive heart attack at the beginning of a set and was slowly drifting toward the bottom.
We got him out of the pool but he was… Read more »
John, Thanks for sharing your experience. It serves a wake-up call for many of us. My brother had a stroke last fall and it served to remind me that we are all subject to these types of health problem and they just don’t go away on their own. Toughing-it-out is not the correct solution.
Great article. I knew Bill well and am deeply saddened by his passing.
Thank you for sharing your experience with a heart attack as learning the symptoms beforehand is vital.
John – thanks for sharing this. I made my husband read it – remarkably he actually knows you! from a long time ago in nor cal. Scott H. He had a similar experience this past fall with a stroke going misdiagnosed as vertigo. We are glad you are doing okay and around to share this story.
Excellent thoughts here, thank you for sharing; we coached don’t do a good enough job of recognizing our own health; I’ve certainly made a 2017 resolution to change that and this article cemented a lot of the “why’s.” We like to think that we can tough out anything….but listening to our bodies has to be a priority.