Mike Beebe remembers the night of March 2, 2018 like it was yesterday. It was 1 a.m. and Beebe was awakened by a sharp pain under his sternum.
He sat on the edge of his bed for a few minutes trying to remember if he ate anything strange. He got a glass of water and some Tums and sat back down. But the pain didn’t go away. Something told Beebe to call 911. It’s the same advice he’d give someone during the 35 years he spent as a volunteer first responder. And it’s a good thing he followed it.
“I’ve always listened to the wisdom of my body,” Beebe, 79, of Lyndeborough said.
As it turned out, that pain was a side effect of a severe heart attack known as a “widowmaker” – a complete blockage of his left anterior descending artery. There was no shortness of breath or numbness, other symptoms associated with a heart attack, just that pain.
“Luckily I woke up,” Beebe said.
It wasn’t until Beebe was in the ambulance on his way to Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua with an IV in his arm and nitroglycerin under his tongue that he was told what had happened. It immediately brought back memories of his own time in the ambulance service.
“I remember being in the back of an ambulance when CPR was just three letters in the alphabet,” he said. “In the good old days, I’d be a dead person.”
Dr. Jonathan Eddinger, a cardiologist at Catholic Medical Center in Manchester who also maintains an office at Monadnock Community Hospital, said symptoms differ for each patient and his best advice is if you think something is wrong, get to a hospital or call 911 immediately because time is of the essence.
“A lot of illnesses are silent and only at the tip of the iceberg do you see it,” he said. That’s why he also stresses regular checkups with a primary care physician that could help identify any potential issues before they become a bigger problem. “It takes years to build up to that point, and it can be tricky figuring out if they’re having a heart attack.”
Fortunately for Beebe, emergency response has changed for the better over the years. When he arrived at the Nashua hospital, a stent was put in his wrist and it began what has been a three-year overhaul of his lifestyle.
Beebe took his ordeal and turned it into a book, “Back from the Edge,” which is available at The Toadstool Bookshop, Kindle-Direct (Amazon) or from the author himself at https://templemountainskiing.com/.
“If life gives you gifts, you in turn give them to others,” Beebe said.
Beebe has always been physically active. His family owned Temple Mountain Ski Area for almost 50 years and as he put it, “I’ve always been involved with Mother Nature’s year-round playground.” But since his heart attack, Beebe has learned how much needed to change in the other aspects of his life.
Eddinger said in today’s fast-paced society, maintaining the kind of lifestyle that promotes heart health takes commitment.
“It’s hard to eat right, stay fit, manage your sleep and manage your weight,” he said. He said long work hours behind a desk and readily available food that doesn’t always meet nutritional needs are not conducive to promoting a healthy life.
“Choosing what we put into our mouths is tough,” Eddinger said. In addition to food intake and lack of exercise, nicotine use and stress are two other factors that can lead to heart issues. “And most people probably aren’t aware they have high blood pressure.”
All told, Beebe spent about a week at Southern New Hampshire medical center, first in the ICU and then at the cardio rehab unit. He was prescribed a host of drugs, returned to the emergency room two other times and had in home visiting nurse care.
“I was a total basket base,” he said. “But a near-death experience will do that to people.”
He asked a lot of questions to truly understand what needed to happen in order to best avoid another heart attack.
A diet change was necessary, saying goodbye to his favorite snack, Cheez-Its, reducing the amount of dairy and upping his vegetable and whole grain intake.
“Having bacon and eggs isn’t part of my life anymore,” he said. “What we eat is typically a cardiac nightmare.” He’s learned to read labels, minimize salt and take a hard look at serving sizes.
“It takes a lot of patience and work to be food-savvy,” Beebe said. “Your whole philosophy has to shift. I had to choose recovery. You have to figure out some new methods because the old ones didn’t work.”
Eddinger said steps people can take to reduce heart issues is to stay active, maintain a low salt diet and minimize alcohol consumption. Eating lean meats, using fats that are liquid at room temperature and consuming foods like nuts, whole grains, fish and avocados are all good steps to take, he said.
“If you don’t have symptoms, it’s hard to make that change,” Eddinger said. “It’s tough to prevent the problem you don’t have.”
But once someone has a heart issue, Eddinger said something changes.
“One of the most motivated patients I have is someone who had a heart attack,” he said. Because after one episode, the chances of a repeat event is higher, Eddinger said. And a big key is getting children into positive eating and activity habits when they are young.
“It’s been shown and proven you have healthier adults when you have healthier children,” Eddinger said.
In his career as a psychotherapist, Beebe learned an important lesson.
“Often time we teach what we also need to learn,” he said. “Because the most important thing in life wasn’t the things, the most important thing was to get healthy and be healthy.”
Beebe said the idea for writing the book was simple.
“If I can help one other person on the planet make their journey a little easier,” he said. “That’s the reason.”