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You are having a heart attack.

Uncomfortable doesn’t really describe what you are feeling. You have severe penetrating pain in the chest. Excruciating discomfort.

You are breathless. You lie on a stretcher moving rapidly through an emergency department. You are on your way to a heart catheterization lab on the hospital’s second floor. You need an immediate procedure in order to save your dying heart muscle.

I meet you in the hallway and keep pace with the team of individuals who are transporting you. I’m the first physician you have seen. Everything is moving quickly and this is actually a good thing for you. Time is muscle.

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