10 | MUSChealth.org/heart MUSC HEALTH HEART & VASCULAR CENTER Back in what he thought were his good old days, Calhoun Falls resident Roy McCaslan was a hardheaded truck driver who hit the road for distances as far away as Los Angeles, with occasional stops for fried chicken, fried potatoes, even gravy made from grease. He spent more than 18 years in the trucking life. “Truck driving is the worst job there is for trying to stay healthy,” said McCaslan, 62. In fact, McCaslan would probably still be out on a haul in the middle of Louisiana today were it not for a catastrophic moment in September 2022, followed by superb medical care at the MUSC Health Heart & Vascular Center, the support of family and experiences that McCaslan knows were miracles along the way. McCaslan was visiting his daughter, Mandy Couch, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Around 10:30 p.m., he went to bed with mild discomfort in his chest; at 1:30 a.m. he woke up struggling to breathe and in pain. “I was dying and it hurt,” he said. McCaslan remembers waking up his wife, Renée, to alert her, but little else. That night, his diagnosis and initial treatments are a collection of what others told him, combined with his own hazy recollections. He knows he lost consciousness and remained unconscious for four days. He knows he was transported to more than one hospital, placed on a ventilator and eventually told that it was time to call in the family because there was little chance he would make it. “Plaque had broken off and blocked the ‘widow maker,’” McCRITICAL CARE/SHOCK ‘Turning Tragedy Into A Miracle’
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