Amina greeted me at 6:35 AM inside the Cardiac Care ward of the CK Hui Heart Centre where she’s worked for over five years as a nurse. She was the first of what would be a dozen nurses, RNs, specialists, and doctors doing what they do every day to give people like me better odds at a healthy, longer life.
Chest Pain
In November 2025 I started experiencing low level chest pain which spread out into my arms during activity. I arranged an appointment to see what my doctor would make of this. He prescribed some medication. Two months later we met again because the pain had increased. He referred me for a stress test to the same clinic that I visited two years previous. This time I couldn’t finish my walk on the treadmill because of the pain.
“Looks like you have a blocked artery. You need to go for an angiogram.”
On April 20th, six months after my initial experience of chest pain, Jocelyn and I were awake at 4:50am so she could drive me to the Robbins Pavillion at the Royal Alexandra Hospital.
Since 2011, the CK Hui Heart Centre has provided excellence in cardiac treatment to patients in northern Alberta and the Northern Territories, as well as northern Saskatchewan and British Columbia—an area equal to one-third of Canada’s land mass.
Best of the Best
Dr. Neil S. Brass is a prominent interventional cardiologist and the Chief of Cardiology. He has been a staff member in interventional and general cardiology at the Royal Alexandra Hospital since 1993. He introduced himself to me in the surgery room.
I hold a deep appreciation for the technology and procedures developed since my father had a heart attack in the early 60s. He later suffered years of multiple ministrokes which affected his hearing and temperament. He was less than four years older than I am now when he passed away.
I carried a lot of baggage when I entered the surgical ward on April 20th. The Joneses have a history of close family members dying suddenly from heart attacks. Multiple staff members repeated the stat that there is less than 1% odds of a fatality in the type of procedure I would undergo. I’m not sure what other people think when they hear stats like that, but I immediately wondered if I might be that rare statistic.
7:25AM
A nurse came to get me, I said see you soon to Jocelyn, and I was wheeled off to the surgical unit. The clock overhead showed 7:25 AM. Could my life now be measured in minutes rather than decades? I dismissed that thought immediately. The nurse inquired if I could walk into the operating room and I was happy to cooperate. Once on the table they placed a warm blanket over me which fought off the coldness in the room. A foot to my left was a monitor that would show the interior of my heart and a few inches above me was an X-ray machine.
Dr Brass explained that they would do an angiogram to explore the condition of my arteries and if they found blockages they would insert the required number of stents to open them up. After numbing my right wrist, he inserted a tube through which they would do the angiogram. I could feel the process going up my right arm and then into my heart. It didn’t take too long for them to assess there was a severely blocked artery into which they would insert a stent. Once more I could feel the catheter going up my arm. In a few minutes the doctor explained the procedure was successful. They opened the anterior artery and were quite happy with the result.
Crash Cart
The next thing I knew they placed a plastic clamp on my wrist over the incision; I scooched over and off the table onto a bed and they wheeled me out of the operating room. The clock overhead showed 8:10 AM.
I felt great. They gave me some peanut butter and jam toast along with apple juice and water which I heartily enjoyed. Jocelyn was relieved. She sat and read her book while I recovered, as numerous attendants visited my cubicle to take my blood pressure and check my vitals. All was good enough for a nurse to take the clamp off my wrist. The next step was to go home. However, the incision had not clotted, and we had a bit of a gusher and so the clamp had to be reapplied.
And then I started to feel clammy and woozy, and woke up with a crowd of people standing around my bed. Jocelyn later explained that my blood pressure and heart rate dropped suddenly and I had passed out. Then the nurse yelled, “Crash cart! Crash cart!” as the alarms sounded.
Informed Family Support
Poor Jocelyn. She suffered more than I did. Fortunately, we have two wonderful and highly experienced nurses for daughters-in-law. They kept up a constant stream of texts with Jocelyn calming her through the experience. When the crisis occurred, Lynsey, who is a Cardiac care nurse, texted Jocelyn that this kind of reaction was common and that she had been through this hundreds of times in her ward. Dad will be OK.
And she was right. An hour later a nurse unclamped my wrist and this time the incision had clotted. They patched me up, had me try walking around for 10 minutes, and when all was good, I dressed and was given a wheelchair ride to the hospital exit. From entrance to exit was a total of seven hours.
New Lease On Life
I’m left with a regime of new pills, a gratitude for the whole team at the CK Hui Heart Centre, my family, the mercy of God, and a new lease on life. Now I can get back to walking and hopefully running again.
What’s clear to me this week is that getting older isn’t about age. It’s about the total number of parts that are taken out of your body and those added into your body. So far, I have 20+cm less bowel, vision loss in one eye, plus a few indentations resulting from the removal of precancerous growths, but I’ve gained new retinal lenses, hearing aids, and now a stent.
I’m ahead in the game.
Have you had a medical treatment recently? Please join the conversation and post a comment below.
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Good Morning Pastor Bob. Wow! Even this story surprised me…what struggles & journeys we all go through…that most folks don’t know about. I have been pretty lucky so far. I have inherited a few genetic issues that most of the women in my family had…but my doctors have caught these issues & have had me take precautionary meds to prevent it. Plus, I have always had a very active physical lifestyle & very few risk factors. I have never been a smoker or a drinker. So, that’s very good habits for me to have, moving forward into my senior years. Plus, all the women in my life ..lived well into their late 80’s & into their 90’s. That is a bonus for me. I hope that I follow suit & live a long healthy life like they all did.
I’m so glad that the Doctors caught your medical issues before they got worse. I am amazed at the technology that is available these days. When I started my job in healthcare, 45 years ago…patients would have admission to the hospital for the procedure that you went through, & then stayed for as long as you needed to heal, before being discharged. Certainly, not a 7 hr stay in hospital, then discharged to go home. That is amazing. I’m glad that you are continuing to have great health now…& still exercising regularly. That is so important to have an active lifestyle. Dancing is my way of staying fit. 2 hours every Saturday….& I sing and play music for my mental health. In fact, I’m looking forward to singing with Crescendo in May’s upcoming performance at The Winspear. I love it & I sing with 149 other choir sisters and brothers. The energy & vibe is always awesome. It’s hard to put in words…how it makes me feel. Harmonizing with 149 others…”Heavenly” is maybe the word.
Thank you for sharing this blog with us. I always look forward to reading it, with my morning coffee. Have a great weekend! ❤️
Oh wow…that would have been frightening for both Jocelyn and you. But praise God that you were able to go home that day although with an additional piece of hardware that is allowing you to continue to be a blessing to so many people.
Speaking of hardware, I currently have 3 fused vertebrae and am on the short list for a right knee replacement. My left knee needs replacing as well but that will be some time after my right knee heals completely. I also have a metal plate in my left wrist that resulted from a fall off a ladder in my garage that also caused a partial amputation of my right ring finger. I now have a permanent reminder of what can result from a careless decision and how not in control I truly am.
Yes, aging has resulted in a number of physical changes and daily aches that remind me I am not even 50 anymore but truly, God has blessed me in so many ways that I am truly grateful that I can continue to live and age even with, or really, because of these additional pieces of hardware.
Thank you for sharing your story. It has given me a new appreciation of the gifts that God gives to me daily.
My friend, so sorry to hear what you are enduring. Wow. Knees, vertebrae, a finger, and your wrist. You have always downplayed your personal pain as you have intervened to alleviate the pain of others.
Ladders are an interesting temptation, aren’t they? I think that climbing a ladder will only result in a good outcome, even though I know many stories of friends who have fallen off o one.
Praying today for an expedited knee replacement and the grace to go through the pain until you have two new knees.
Crescendo was awesome in Calgary and will be in Edmonton! I’m glad you’ll be able to give it your all along with the rest of the choir. Singing in the Crescendo choir is a vocal and physical workout. Thanks for your years of service in health care. May God return to you good health and ability to live a purposeful life into your 90s!
Thank you Pastor Bob for sharing your experience. I can’t imagine the scare that Jocelyn went through on that day of your procedure.
Just like you I had a few medical procedures that I went through. One of the scariest was in April 1986 when my gall bladder was taken out. What we thought of an easy procedure would turn otherwise. In about less than 24 hours later, I experienced excruciating pain in my abdomen area where surgery was performed. My attending doctors were very concerned as to why I was having that severe pain. They spoke to Rene and even mentioned and considered to re-open my abdomen to determine what’s going on?
I was so afraid then. I prayed to the Lord to heal me from whatever was happening in my body. A few months before my gall bladder surgery, I gave birth to our first child via C-section and my body was still sort of recovering from it. Our little girl was only a little over 7 months old.
I really thought I was going to die. Although I was weak and in pain Rene and I prayed and cried out to the Lord. I told the Lord I don’t want to die yet for our baby girl. I wanted her to grow up with both her parents raising her. That was my biggest concern then. And the Lord granted our prayers.
Now 40 years later at 68 I would consider myself healthy although I’ve been through a number of medical issues and procedures I came out successful. Now 40 years later Roxanne celebrated her 40th birthday last August. And a year later we had our second child who’s now 38.
I know the Lord is looking after me (and Rene and our family) all these years. It’s great to be able to live and serve our Lord.
Amen, Raquel! Very happy that the Lord spared your life and that you can enjoy your children getting into your 68th year and beyond. Bless you and Rene with strong, stable health. Thank you for sharing.
July 3, 2025 I had major chest pain that radiated to my arms and neck, and every other symptom of a heart attack. The paramedics arrived quickly. As soon as they had the leads on they both looked at their monitor and shook their heads in agreement. Then they hurried even more. Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre is close. They had me there in under 10 minutes. They transmitted the EKG results to the ER en route. There was a team with a cardiologist waiting in the ER. There was cardiologist looked at their monitor and EKG monitor and said send him to the cath lab. Though I was awake for the procedure I don’t remember much, they had given me a lot of pain meds. It did not take Dr. MacDougall and the team in the cath lab long to put in a stent. I had 100% blockage. They saved my life. We later learned that there is a very short window of time to get that surgery done. I am very thankful to be alive.
August 12 they did a second stent. It was planned. I started cardiac rehab mid September. October 8 I was on an exercise bike in cardiac rehab, I had chest pains, nurse Barb called an ambulance. I had a third stent the next morning. The cardiologist told me I would need a pacemaker soon. He explained that I had another stent AV Block, an electrical problem in y heart. They put a pacemaker in November 26.
I am thankful that these services are available at the hospital here in Thunder Bay. I had excellent care. The technology to do those procedures is amazing.
I am very thankful to be alive.
Wes Carlisle
That is quite the journey, Wes. Thank you for joining the conversation for the first time. Your story matters. More and more I understand that my journey is similar to so many other people whose stories I have not heard. I imagine other people reading about your experience will resonate with your words and my choose to join the conversation by sharing their experience.