Representative Bill Kennemer returns from a scary episode that could have turned tragic
By: John Baker
Published: 4/20/2011 11:18:58 AM

Bill Kennemer knows now how close he came to serious trouble. He also knows what a good lesson his recent health ordeal is for others to learn from.

Kennemer, the Oregon House Representative for District 39, is healthy and laughing now, but two weeks ago the story was much different. Two weeks ago, his heart was sending him messages that, after initially ignoring, he listened to.

“On Monday and Tuesday (March 28-29), I was on my exercycle and both mornings when I finished I had a bit of chest pressure,” Kennemer said. “I figured it was because I hadn’t had any breakfast. I went upstairs, ate and it went away.”

That Wednesday morning, the symptoms came back, including a very painful headache and some indigestion.

“You know, they were ones and twos on a scale of 10, so I didn’t give it much thought,” Kennemer said. “I went upstairs and ate breakfast, but this time it didn’t go away.”

There was a reason.

While on the House floor later that day, Kennemer said the symptoms persisted and at one point used his laptop to Google “heart attack symptoms.” What he discovered riveted his attention.

“I had all but two of the symptoms,” Kennemer said with a laugh. “They were very subtle, so I took a couple of aspirin and immediately drove to Providence Willamette Falls Medical Center. About 45 minutes later, my blood pressure went crazy.”

“If I’d been 45 minutes later, I think I would have been in the midst of a big one,” he added. “The next day I ended up having an electrocardiogram, and they transferred me to downtown Providence. The electrocardiogram was good, the EKG looked fine, my blood pressure was good — and the doctors didn’t think they’d find anything with an angiogram.”

Turns out, they did. Kennemer had two blocked heart arteries.

“What a good lesson. If I’d blown it off another hour, I think I would have been in serious trouble,” Kennemer said. “On a scale of one to 10, until I was in the hospital, the worst pain had been about a three. Well, there are a lot of times when I crawl out of bed and my back and other things are at a three. It was quite a shock, and then to find two of them. What a miracle.”

Doctors inserted two stents into the blocked arteries, had Kennemer rest a day and discharged him Friday. After a quiet weekend, he was back to work in the Oregon House April 4.

Now, more than two weeks after the scare, Kennemer said he sees the lessons to be learned and hopes others will heed his warning.

“Truth is, there were a lot of symptoms, but they were all small,” he said. “It’s a real warning to us guys. We need to take these things seriously and be vigilant about the warning signs.

“There’s another lesson, too,” he added. “As I’m telling this story to people, they are realizing that the symptoms for women are significantly different than men. There’s an education piece to this. Women ought to be doing a little checking as well.”

Kennemer is back to putting in a full day at the Oregon House, taking three medications and just recently stopped taking afternoon naps. He says he feels good and certainly relieved he avoided a serious heart episode.