After two hours of tennis, I stepped off the court, salty sweat dripping from my face, feeling good about a  strenuous 7-6, 7-5 hard fought match with friends.  Heading for the club house, something began feeling  unusual on the upper left side of my chest so I sat down, resting for a while, thinking some muscles might have gotten over worked  in the cool early morning.

After a few minutes of rest and little change, I decided to drive home.  When I arrived I sat down in my favorite chair and I told my wife about my discomfort and that I had never had a sensation like that before.  A heart attack crossed my mind, but there were no severe pains in my back, jaw or arms and there was no elephant sitting on my chest, it just seemed to be a feeling of despair.

“Should I call an ambulance,” my wife said.  Haltingly I replied,  “No, I should be alright”.  “Then get in the car and I will drive you to the hospital”  she said.  Deciding the pain on my left side was not improving, I slowly walked to the car, laid back on the seat and began our short journey, but soon I sat up rather startled,  realizing my wife was not taking the right turn to the hospital.  We had been in the community for only a short time and she was not too familiar with the streets.  Suggesting  she had missed a turn, she informed me,   “I know where I’m going”.  At first this was quite a concern for me as I might have been having a heart attack and a trip in the wrong direction would have been devastating and certainly not in my best interest.  Fortunately, she did know where she was going, it just happened to be a few blocks longer by her route in delivering me to the emergency entrance.

Upon arrival at the hospital, via the long way, a well trained and efficient emergency room staff placed me on a gurney with tubes attached and blood drawn, the problem was quickly diagnosed, -a heart attack was in progress. Later, with my condition stabilized, the next stop was the intensive care unit for further observation.  While resting comfortably, feeling no pain,  just as if nothing was wrong, I began observing my surroundings and the other patients.  Suddenly there were loud noises, cheering and laughter coming from an area just out of my view.  Curious, I asked one of the nurses “what on earth is going on”.  She smiled and said, “they just brought one back from the other side and when that happens, the doctor who saved that patient, has to buy pizza for all the staff.”  I thought, ‘WOW, what  a great way for those people working under such stress and adrenaline flowing, to unwind and relax before their next challenge.’

With little to do, I had thoughts of dozing off for a few minutes between needle pokes, tests and questions and, maybe I did.  But, somewhat like before, I heard the same noises, laughter and  cheers and as my eyes opened, many smiling people hovering over me with equipment that is only used to revive people, it was quite obvious that I had straight lined on their monitor and been in cardiac arrest.

While on the “other side”, far in the distance,  I saw a welcoming, comforting light so pure and white that wasn’t imagination; it had to be real.  lt just wasn’t my time.

The happiness showing on the faces of the surrounding medical staff was probably two-fold and soon more pizza would be on the way since successfully bringing another person back from the “other side”.   In as much as I hadn’t eaten for several hours and my stomach was growling, it was probably just hospital cafeteria fare, but  the aroma of pepperoni, cheese and sausage had my olfactory nerves begging to be satisfied.  Although I would not get to savor a single bite, for me, the occasion would be a Pizza Party Like No Other.

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