Terry Huskey, a cardiac rehabilitation patient at Piedmont Atlanta Hospital, awoke at 4:30 a.m. on Friday, July 6, with a sensation of tightness in his shoulder blades. Because he didn’t experience classic heart attack symptoms like shortness of breath and chest pain, Huskey did not realize he was having a heart attack.

“I got up and walked for an hour with my dogs, worked out, went to work and worked all day,” he says. “I did everything that Friday. On Saturday, I woke up feeling more tired than when I went to bed. It should have been a sign for me, but I ignored that sign and went on to work.”

Heart attack recovery

After being diagnosed with and treated for a heart attack, Huskey struggled to adjust to his new medication. “It can make it difficult to work a full eight-hour day,” he explains. “Cardiac rehab helps build your endurance to be able to work a full eight-hour day again.”

Though Huskey exercised regularly prior to his heart attack, cardiac rehab gave him new tools to incorporate into his routine. “While you’re in cardiac rehab, you learn how to manage your stress and nutrition and how to exercise properly,” he says. “My results were so positive because I listened to what they were telling me.

I learned how to monitor my heart rate and the signs to look for in case of another heart event.” Huskey credits cardiac rehabilitation with helping him live life fully again. “The fear of having another heart attack overtakes people, and they don’t want to go out there and live,” he says. “They’re too afraid something is going to happen. With cardiac rehab, those fears are eliminated.” Click here for more information on Piedmont's Cardiac Rehabilitation Services.

Need to make an appointment with a Piedmont physician? Save time, book online.