My Ride in an Ambulance (Part 3)

August 24^th, 2012 (about 930pm)

 

 

I left the Brampton Hospital on the stretcher, and was quickly in the back of the ambulance. One nurse came with us as well. I know the area and I spent my ride trying to figure out where we were. There was a digital clock on the wall of the ambulance that I could see…I asked what is was for, and was told that it kept track of how long the trip took. My guy said it would be about 20 minutes. This is the weird thing. The digital clock was working…I know it, but every time I looked at it...it was at the same time. I saw it ticking, I saw the seconds and minutes were going by, but the time never changed. I kept looking away....and I looked back.....clickclickclick.....the digits kept moving........but the time was the same. Odd, I thought.
 I was thinking that maybe the big guy upstairs was helping me out, perhaps he had held time still for me…it is a funny thought, but that is what  I thought.

 

I knew we were on the 410 now….in lane one, and the driver was ripping it….we would hit bumps and my bed would bounce. I was ok with that; I wanted him to go faster. I thought of Patti. Does she know yet? – I miss her. I thought of my kids, my family…that’s what you do. You think about important things, and important people.

We left the 410 and made our way over to the Queensway….we were really close…I did not know what to expect. When we arrive at the hospital everything picked up speed. I was rushed inside, met by a team….they got me up on a table, I could tell I was in a operating room, a lot of people there. Some people talking to me I think, some not. They gave me something to chew on, not sure what it was. The nurse told me she had to shave me, I knew what she meant, they were doing an angioplasty. Same as my Mom, six months earlier. I was aware of everything going on (or so I thought). I could feel them pushing and shoving my body…I was in good hands.

The next thing that happened still has me thinking. I suddenly felt an electric shock of incredible proportions go through my body. My body lifted off the bed and rose 4 feet (in my mind anyway). Everything was in slow motion. I felt my body rise, I looked around, it was like slow motion, it was like a cartoon really. I saw my body in the air, blankets hanging down, it was like I was below looking up....I saw little pieces of operating room“stuff” floating in the air….tape, scissors, gauze…it was all there floating in mid-air with me. I stayed there for a bit….and as suddenly as it began, I crashed back to the bed, as though I was dropped off a roof. WOW! I thought. What the fuck was that!?  I remember as clear as a bell thinking to my self....whatever they just did....I did not want them to do it again.

 

Conclusion.....coming soon.

My Ride in an Ambulance (Part 2)

August 24^th2012 (about 8pm)

The game ended and my teammates one by one went by me…asking me how I was. I don’t remember if I answered them. Warren looked at me in the eyes and said “Mike, what’s the matter? What’s wrong with your arm”? I said “nothing is wrong with it”. He asked, “Then why are you holding it”? I replied, “it hurts”. Warren said “Mike do you want to go to the hospital”? And I replied “yes, right away”.Warren quickly looked for his wife Robin, and within 2 minutes I was in her car heading to Brampton hospital. I opened my wallet, got out my license and health card. The pain was getting unbearable. We pulled around to Emerg, and I said drop me here….I walked in to Triage…held my Health card in one hand and had the other hand on my chest. She pointed to a room with a bed, I laid down, and waited. Nobody followed me. The pain was bad…I couldn’t breathe. Where was my help?– Still no one came. I got up, I sat down, I sat up, I laid down, I didn’t know what to do. The pain…nothing I have ever experienced. Where was a Dr., where was anyone. I heard Robin outside…she came into see me, and saw I was alone. She went back out and said what is going on with Mike McMillan…they replied, there is no Mike McMillan here...and she said..a lot louder, really?...because there is a Mike McMillan in that room having a heart attack. She, in the meantime, convinced a paramedic to come in to see me. He said he had no hospital rights; there is nothing he could do…when persuasive Robin asked if he could at least come in and chat with him. He did…from here things started to get murky, some people stared to come in, and they transferred my to another room…I kept asking for something for the pain...it was so intense, still nothing. Things were happening now, there were at least 6 people in my room, everybody was talking, I am not sure what they were saying. They decided to transfer me. Trillium Health Centre in Mississauga are the professionals for heart attacks and the decision was made to send me. Nobody asked for my opinion. The pain got worse…I didn’t know how to deal with it. I have felt pain before, intense pain. Nothing could compare. The two paramedics arrived. The one guy leaned down and grabbed my hand. He said “My name is Damion” (yes…I know what you are thinking…..kind of an odd name considering my situation, I thought...oh,oh) – anyway, Damion grabbed my hand and pulled his face very close to mine. He said softly, but with confidence, “Mike, we are going for a ride…my partner is a great driver, and he will get you there as soon as possible, I will be in the back with you, it’s going to be bumpy….you are going to be ok Mike”. My feelings were split, I felt scared now, I realized what was going on, but this guy helped me come back to earth…and it was the first time in the last chaotic hour that I felt some hope.

Part 3....coming soon.

My Ride in an Ambulance (Part 1)

August 23^rd 2012

 Life just does not get any better than this.

I spend the evening packing for my vacation. I am not sure why I insisted in packing my car. I was not leaving for three days…but here I was:

•  fishing rods and tackle – check.
• Golf clubs – check.
• Kayaks prepared – check.
• I bought batteries for the flashlight,
• pumps for the air mattress, I wanted to be ready for visitors.
• I went and got my clothes ready too. I put everything out on the bed, swim trunks, shorts, jackets, sweatshirts…everything. I wanted to be ready for it all, hikes, golf, fishing, camp fires, going to the caves.
•  I was ready, this was going to be so good…and I am ready….3 days early and I am packed and good to go. I would not be leaving for the north until Sunday...but I was ready.

August 24^th (430 pm)

I finished work at 430pm (30 minutes early) – after all, I was on one week’s vacation now…not to return until after Labour Day. I had my Lacrosse Provincials to look forward to first though, and I was excited about that. Our first game was at 7pm on the Friday night, and I arrived around 6pm, relax a bit before the game, take in another game while I was there, and chat with friends. – It was familiar to me, comfortable. I was in a good frame of mind. My team slowly started to show up, and we began to gather in the change room, to chat, tell jokes, and discuss some strategies to win tonight’s game against are frenemies from the Toronto Beach Lacrosse Club. We would do this and that, and yada yada, you get the idea.

The game began, as any other, I was feeling fine, up and down the floor, the occasional shot, did not play too bad, but nothing too amazing either. In the second period, I ran into a player, I did not see. Body to body contact, it caught me completely off guard, and it winded me. I made my way to the bench to catch my breath, and after a few minutes, I was fine, and back on the floor. It was about 10 minutes later that it began. I felt something, not sure really what it was, but I felt “off”. I took my shift and came off. As I moved up the bench for my next shift…I was not feeling right. My chest was sore. I tried to assess things as I moved along the bench. Is this a result of the hit I took? – Might be…it felt different though, nothing I have felt before. I had cracked ribs before…I was wondering if perhaps that was it…and it was my turn to go out again, I ran up the floor and back and off….something was wrong. The second period ended, I withdrew into myself, I was not talking to anyone, my teammates were asking if I was ok, I said…I don’t know. Someone says maybe it’s your ribs, I agreed. By now my chest hurt…it was tight, and I was having trouble breathing. I do know the sign of a heart attack. The thought crossed my mind…am I having a heart attack? – It can’t be, not me.

I went out to begin the third period. I was taking the faceoff. I do want this noted in retrospect. I won that faceoff cleanly to our player. I think winning a faceoff during a heart attack, is an accomplishment, albeit a bizarre one. I won the draw – flipped to my teammate, and came off immediately. Something was wrong. I sat behind the guys on the bench, took off my helmet and gloves and put down my stick. I sat there for about 2 minutes….thinking. I then quietly stood up, grabbed my stick, my gloves and my helmet, and left for the dressing room, I said nothing to anyone, I didn’t know what was happening, I didn’t know what to say. I walked around the arena slowly…I passed so many familiar people, and said nothing. As I approached the change room a player from a different team saw me and asked if I was ok….I simply said, I don’t know….my chest. I got inside the room and put all my equipment into my bag…grabbed my towel and shampoo and jumped in the shower. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the old saying about making sure you have clean underwear on in case you are ever in an ambulance….i really don’t know why I did it. As I was showering, a good friend of mine Chris from the Halton Hills team came in and asked what I was doing, he had heard I was hurt. I said I don’t know what is happening, told him about my chest….he said, Mike, you can’t be in here by yourself with chest pains. Then another friend, Bud came in, with the same message, he sat with me and talked to me as I got dressed. I said I think I was feeling ok (but I wasn’t). I came out and stood by the boards…and watched (not really) the game. I couldn’t get comfortable. I saw the guy that had hit me earlier in the game in the penalty box…so I proceeded to yell and scream at him. I don’t know why. That was not my character. This was not me.

 

See part 2 - Later this week.....

MOB Lacrosse - All about Family.

Last Wednesday night was the season opener of MOB Lacrosse. This is the eighth year of the MOB and it promises to be better than ever.

Lacrosse has always been a family game. It is what I love about it. Whether it is going to tournaments to watch your kids play, or the kids coming to watch you play, or the kids waving their shirts over their heads at a Rock game...Lacrosse is a fantastic sport, that always believes in family.

Just to give you an example of the family in the MOB....Just look at our Black Storm team. We have the Pilon boys......3 of them....we have Brad and Cort Sanderson, two brothers that I have had the honour of playing with my whole life....and also their nephew John plays on our team. Cort's daughters and mine also do the scorekeeping.

                                          Erin Mc and Jordan and Samatha Sanderson
                                                      (our MOB scorekeepers)

Also on our team is my big brother Don....and Patti's daughter Tristen is also playing.

                                        Tristen and I.....getting ready for Game one.

It is all this that make MOB so special....there are Father and sons playing together, brothers....Uncles and nephews...and on and on. It puts us suddenly all on the same level....for one hour on a Wednesday night...we are teammates...equal in every way....and I for one think it is really special.

My Mom and Mrs. Walker come out to watch. I joked about it on Wednesday. Styxie scored a goal, and Phyllis cheered. I said to someone on the bench that his Mom has been cheering on her son for 57 years now. My Mom was there too....I said...my Mom has "only" been watching me for 50 years. Ha. Now that is kind of funny.

If you look up....way up there is Mrs. McMillan and Phyllis Walker (SuperFans)

Everybody chips in. Patti helped me with the registration and handing out the Jerseys....Brad Campbell, a MOB Veteran that can't play this year showed up to help out too. And that is what MOB Lacrosse is about.....when we had tourneys, people just chip in....wives, girlfriends, my daughter Aimee, Bob Simpson's daughter Kira....and on and on....it is family. We are family.

Our Black Storm team got smoked last week.  12 - 4. We were terrible. I left the floor with a big smile.....this night was Extra Special for me. This was the first actual sporting event I have done since my heart attack last August. It has been a long few months....but it felt good.

 I don't know if I ever shared with you the story....from the time the heart attack took place....to the hospital. I have replayed it in my head numerous times....and there are some unbelievable....really incredible things that happened that night, some of it scary, and some of it kind of funny...and I want you to hear the story....look for that blog...in a couple of days.


                                

NCAA - The Final

Tonight is the big game. The NCAA Basketball Championship is tonight between The Michigan Wolverines and The Louisiana Cardinals.

 

 

On paper it is really a "pickem" game. After all the upsets in the big tournament and all the nail biting finishes, I think that possibly the best two of the top 64 teams  in the country have reached the final, and I think this is a good thing.

It should be close, and it should be exciting.

The young Michigan team have a great go for it mentality...they love to run and can put up points fast. Don't forget there is some Canadian content in this game as Mississauga's own Nik Stauskas is starting for the bright yellow Wolverines. He is a tremendous pure shooter, and I will be pulling for him.

Maybe I will cheer for Michigan.

                                                       Nik Stauskas of Mississauga


Then of course you have the Louisville Cardinals. Coached by Rick Pitino, maybe the best college coach of all time. He is never, ever out of a game. They run a full court press almost the whole game, and are relentless on defence. Louisville also has The Kevin Ware factor. For those of you that don't know, he had a horrible broken leg in the tournament and his team has rallied around him to "win it for Kevin".

                                                     Kevin Ware

Maybe I will cheer for Louisville.

Like most sports fans....I am hoping for an exciting and close game. I have been struggling who to pick for tonight......i have switched back and forth......who do I cheer for.....I was waiting for a sign from somewhere......and then I went to Facebook.

One look at the beautiful Kluczynski girls and my decision was made easy.

I pick the Michigan Wolverines to win......by 2.

Enjoy the game.