RSS
|
Mobile
|
Daily Emails
|
We Twitter
| Make us your home page
Bryan resident Amos Trejo laid on highway pavement as three strangers tried to revive his heart: A teacher who took a different route that morning, a cardiac nurse who happened to be driving by, and an EMT worker leaving a scene nearby.
Just over six months later, the 74-year-old continues to recover at home. He said he's thankful to be given a second chance at life. However, he's the first to say that he's not the tough one.
"God does miracles. If people don't believe that he does, I tell them to come see me," said Amos Trejo. "I am a living miracle. I know someday I have to go, but God has other plans for me and isn't ready for me yet."
It was the afternoon of May 15 when he, his wife of 52 years, Olivia, and their daughter, Joanne, were en route to San Antonio for his son and daughter-in-law's 25th wedding anniversary party.
Joanne Trejo, a self-proclaimed "Daddy's girl" and the only female among four siblings, said she was driving down I-35 and talking with her mother while her dad sat quietly in the back.
"We thought we heard him snore, so I leaned back to nudge his knee to tell him to be quiet. His typical response would have been, 'I'm only resting my eyes. I'm not asleep,' but he didn't say anything," his daughter recalled through tears.
When they heard it again, she tried the same method and realized something was wrong. As she looked back to check, she noticed in horror that her dad's sunglasses had fallen off and his eyes were rolled back.
She said when she was able to dial 911, she started yelling, "My dad! My dad! He's had a heart attack and he is a heart patient!"
He had a quadruple bypass surgery 10 years earlier, the daughter said. She explained that the next few minutes were a blur as she sped along the unfamiliar highway in search of an exit to use as a landmark for an ambulance to meet them. Once they found one, Olivia Trejo tried to flag down help while Joanne Trejo checked her dad's pulse. Nothing.
Teri Sides, a teacher who said she accidentally took the wrong exit that day on the way to cash a paycheck, was the first to stop and help. Joanne Trejo had a blanket in the back of her car that the two used to pull Amos out onto the concrete so that Sides could begin CPR.
"I saw his wife and daughter flagging for help and I didn't even hesitate or think -- I just pulled over," Sides said. "I felt a connection with them because it was a moment of crisis in their life. I was thinking of my own father and just hoping that someone would help him if he were in that situation."
More drivers began to stop to offer assistance, including a cardiac nurse, who took over CPR until the ambulance arrived a few moments later.
When the EMT's arrived, they worked to revive Amos with a defibrillator, at first with no response. The second time prompted a faint heartbeat. That's when they warned Olivia and Joanne Trejo that he might not live.
"You realize in a short time that life is so precious," Joanne Trejo said. "It can be taken away in an instant."
Road to recovery
Amos Trejo was quickly loaded into the ambulance and taken to Northeast Methodist Hospital, where later his daughter recalled him looking dazed as he asked where he was and where they were going. With these questions, doctors became increasingly concerned about memory loss as a result of Amos being without oxygen for nearly 15 minutes.
Doctors decided that he needed two bypass surgeries, along with two valves replaced. Replacing the valves required his heart to be cut in half to exchange his valves with pig valves, which have thicker walls and more durability.
"The doctors showed me a diagram of how they were going to cut his heart in half to operate on the valves. That's when I realized how serious this really was," said Olivia Trejo.
At first, Amos Trejo said, he was reluctant to have the surgery because of its risk. He told his wife that he just wanted to be made comfortable and didn't want to be "cut on again." But with reminders from the love of his life, Olivia, about their dream to grow old together, and their four children, 25 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren who they wanted to watch grow up, he changed his mind.
The Trejo family felt a slight relief when the four-hour surgery was deemed a success, but unfortunately that would not be the end of the turmoil and concern.
That night, Amos Trejo experienced yet another near-death experience when he went into cardiac arrest just hours after surgery. Doctors and nurses were able to revive him again, but at the expense of putting him on a ventilator for the next 10 days. Amos Trejo was only supposed to be on the machine for 24 hours following surgery.
He stayed in the hospital for 21 days before returning to his Bryan home.
"When we got home, he had to exercise his legs and arms every day and do breathing treatments," said Olivia Trejo. "Then he started walking slowly around the house and now we walk 30 minutes together in the park by our house every day."
Getting stronger
Although Amos Trejo is the first to admit how blessed he is to be alive, he also had to adjust to a new lifestyle -- one that required him to slow down and eat a healthy diet without sodium, fried food or his favorite snack, popcorn.
"I used to have one bag every night after dinner, but they took it away from me." Amos said, laughing. "But that's OK. I will do whatever it takes."
And Amos Trejo's "doing whatever it takes" attitude has worked well for him, as his eye doctor, cardiologist and family physician all delivered the good news: He's in better shape now than he was before. He no longer has glaucoma, nor does he have to take medication for high blood pressure.
Amos Trejo, with his wife and daughter in overwhelming agreement, said the diet is the easy part -- getting used to his slower pace of life is more challenging.
"He is the kind of person that looks for things to do," Olivia Trejo said. "This has changed his life so much because he doesn't know how to slow down, but now he has to take it easy. I don't get tired of giving God thanks every day for what he has done in my life and continues to do as he gets stronger."
Hundreds of miles away in New Braunfels, Sides, the teacher who helped perform CPR, said she often thinks of the Trejo family.
"That day was life-altering, I think, for all of us," said Sides. "We all need little reminders sometimes. Tell people how you feel every day, you never know if you will have them tomorrow. Life is precious."
