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as told by Ralph Mann  hen I woke up that December day in 2004, I had no idea time was going to become a very important factor in my life. It started out as an ordinary day. I took my daughter’s car in for an oil change and since I had some extra time, I decided to get it washed too.
 It was cold out and my 11-year-old grandson and I decided to wipe down the car so the doors and windows wouldn’t freeze shut. That’s when it happened. It felt like someone hit me in the chest. The pain was unbelievable and I knew right away I was having a heart attack.
I was close to the Gundersen Lutheran - Onalaska Clinic so I thought it would be fastest if I just drove myself there. I know now that was a very bad idea and isn’t something anyone should do when they are having a heart attack. I should have called for an ambulance instead, but I wasn’t thinking about it at the time.
Fortunately, I made it to the Clinic safely. When I walked up to the desk in Urgent Care, I told them I thought I was having a heart attack. I happened to look at a clock and it said 2:10 p.m.. They hooked me up to some equipment right away and told me there was no question I was having a heart attack. A few minutes later, I was loaded into an ambulance and sent to the Hospital in La Crosse. It was one of the fastest rides of my life.
Once we got to the Hospital, they immediately took me to the Cardiac Cath Lab where a Heart Institute team was waiting for me. As they rolled me in, I happened to notice another clock. This one said 2:40 p.m.
Thirty minutes. That’s all the time it took from when I walked into the Gundersen Lutheran - Onalaska Clinic to when I was rolling into the Cath Lab where Dr. A. Daniel Harbin inserted a stent into one of my arteries. A few days later, Dr. Christopher Leach did quadruple bypass surgery.
Everyone I encountered during my ordeal–from the staff at Urgent Care, to the ambulance crew, to the staff in the Heart Institute–understood the importance of time and didn’t waste any in getting me the help I needed. All of my doctors told me that the speed in which everything happened was important. Those 30 minutes saved me from serious heart damage.
Today, I’ve recovered from my surgery and am back in the swing of things. One thing is for sure though, I’ll never underestimate the importance of time again. |