Why I started Ask Mike

Recently I had a major life changing experience. This will give you the answer to the question, why I started Ask Mike. The first of October 2009 I was working a 12 hour shift and had barely any work all day till about 4 pm. then I was slammed with a few cars to finish that day. I then worked as fast as I could to get them done in time. 8 pm they shut the shop down and I went home stressed from the day and took a shower. After the shower I felt my aorta tear and my feet and hands went numb instantly. I turned to my wife and said take me to the hospital immediately. After I said this I was in excruciating pain. When we got to the hospital I could not get out of the car. I was taken into the ER and they started to plug me up to every hose and electrical cord they could find. I was in the most pain I have ever felt in my life and I felt like I was not going to make it. My two sons came in and gave me a blessing and I told them they have been good sons and that I loved them. From this point on I will tell you from the perspective of my family because I do not remember much after this.
They said that when I went to the ER the doctors and nurses their said to call all the family members because he will not make it. The hospital has two heart and lung machines and two technicians that know how to use them. One of the techs was on vacation and the other machine was being used at that very moment and we would have to wait for three and a half hours before I could use it. And the real kicker was that both machines have not been used in 3 months. What are the odds of that? Every heart beat I was closer to dieing.
I had what is called an aortic aneurysm. This was the same thing that John Ritter died of. My aneurysm was a little different. I had what was called a false lumen. It is when the inner wall of the aorta tears and the blood starts to flow between the inner and outer wall of the aorta. Every time my heart would beat it would separate the inner and outer walls of the arteries. Every second counts and at any minute I could die. In the span of 4 hours of this my arteries separated all the way down to my left leg. The doctors said at any moment the blood flow could back up and it would fill in the heart cavity and kill me at any moment. They also said that this usually kill the organs in your chest cavity when it separates that far down. In the operating room They chilled my body down to 55 Degrees Fahrenheit to minimize brain damage due to lack of oxygen and blood flow to the brain. My heart was stopped for 2 hours and 10 minutes and blood flow to the brain was stopped for 26 minutes. A piece of the aorta was logged in the artery down my left leg that cut off blood flow to the leg for 5 or 6 hours that caused extensive nerve damage to my left leg. The doctors said that he sacrificed my leg to save my life.
The doctors said that it was a miracle that I am alive. The statistics says 50% die before they get to the hospital the other 20% die on the operating table and another 10% die of a stroke when they heat the body back up. I was the lucky 10% that survive. My close friend that was the heart surgeon said the other doctors were looking for your name in the obituaries. He said his hands were blessed when he was operating on me. I am truly a blessed man. I have a purpose here in this life. If I did not I would not be here. It has been three weeks and three days since this took place and I am walking around and I have most of the feeling in my leg and my strength is coming back. It truly is a miracle.

Over the years I have had many interesting things happen to me as a mechanic. My sons would call me from their phones and say dad my car is making this weird noise. Here listen, they would then hold the phone up to the car where the noise was coming from and would say, Whats wrong with it? I guess over the years they have gained a great deal of trust with my mechanic skills and knew I would give them the correct answer. I have done this numerous times over the years and I still get the occasional call. Over the years I have earned the trust of many people to work on their cars. I understand the concern that people have because I would not let someone else work on my car. I would like this blog to be a place where people would go go get the facts straight on what their cars need. When you get your car fixed at locations that don't specialize in specific repairs, get worried. Even if you take your car to a dealer ship to get fixed they are always up selling service you probably don't need at that particular moment. It depends. I have always been up front with repairs and when they need to be done and when they don't. Ask Mike I will give it to you straight.