I had the good fortune of working for him in 2001-2003.
He had a necklace with nitro pills in case he had a heart attack. He informed me on what to do if he had a heart attack. He also had a small pocket tin of children's chewable aspirin, in case he forgot his nitro after showering. He said chew 3 or 4 of those then drink some water if you think you're having a heart attack.
It stuck in my head bcuz my old man had a heart attack in his mid 40s & I was 43 when Charlie told me. Awhie after I was at BJs wholesale & they had a 6 pack of those bottles on sale. I put one in our kitchen, in my bedroom, my shop, my briefcase, my truck & tool bag.
18 Aug 2025 at 3 AM I had a heart attack. Sweating profusely, head throbbing to my hammering heartbeat & it felt like Andre the Giant was squeezing my heart. I slowly sat up, slid my way to the foot of the bed where I could reach the drawer with the chewable aspirin. Only 3 in the bottle, chewed them & drank water. Probably 5 minutes & the hammering in my head became much slower but steady & barely thudding.
My blood pressure was 173/105. I slowly stood, went & filled my water then sat on the recliner couch with our 2 dogs. To make a short story long, I had a 100% clogged "widowmaker" artery. When I got to the local ER I stood at a kiosk & filled out my info. Sat down for a minute & they called me over. The took BP 141/81, did a quick EKG & took some blood.
5 minutes or so & 2 guys coming racing out of the back with a wheelchair yelling my name. I stood & started to walk & they're emphatically saying "wait we're coming" Wheeled me into a room with a doctor already waiting. He explains that my stress level hormone is a 7.0 a normal person is a 0.3 to 0.5 & went on to explain they're shipping me up to Grand Strand Hospital.
Y'all take one thang away from this
CHILDREN'S CHEWABLE ASPIRIN
