Two Heart Attacks. Two Stents. One Day.

“I thought I was in good health,” says Andrew Bone, 59, a self-employed truck driver who lives in Mt. Zion with his wife, Jill.

But that self-assessment changed on Friday, April 10.

“As usual after I got home from work, I got in the shower,” Andrew says. “That’s when the chest pains started.” By the time he sat down for supper, he told his wife he needed to get to the hospital. “I’d never experienced that kind of pain before.”

As his wife drove, Andrew’s pain got progressively worse. They called 911 and the ambulance met them en route. By the time he got to the emergency room at Decatur Memorial Hospital, Andrew was having what he later described as a full-blown heart attack. He was taken immediately to the catheterization lab.

“Afterwards, the doctor told me that while they were putting in a stent, I started having another heart attack, which required a second stent,” Andrew says.

Two heart attacks, two stents, in one day.

“The next thing I remember I was in cardiac ICU,” Andrew says.

Due to COVID-19 protocols, Andrew’s wife was not allowed to visit him while he was in the hospital. “Before ICU, the last time I remember seeing my wife was in the ambulance; she told me she loved me,” he says.

“I received excellent care in cardiac ICU,” he adds. “It never crossed my mind about COVID-19; I figured the heart attack was more of a threat.”

Two days later, Andrew was discharged from the hospital.

Andrew and Jill have been married 32 years. The couple has four grown children and eight grandchildren.

“My prognosis is good,” he says. “I just need to make some lifestyle modifications. While at DMH, I received excellent care. I’m back at work and I’m grateful.”