Pay attention ladies, so this doesn’t happen to you.
It was the day before Thanksgiving 2009. I sat in my office wondering what in the world was happening to me. I was fully aware that something was terribly wrong and that I should probably go to the hospital but I was the office manager of a busy insurance agency and the only person working that day. My husband had been laid off from his job and with three children to feed, I was afraid of losing my job if I closed the office early. I called my husband instead and asked him to bring me some aspirin.
‘Aha!’, you say ‘why aspirin?’ Because nine months prior to this, I knew I was having heart issues. I had awaken on several nights feeling as though rocks were shooting through my heart. I had an arteriogram, a procedure in which a catheter is threaded through an artery in your’ groin, dye is then pushed through your’ heart to help identify blocked arteries and if needed, a stent can be inserted. I had a thirty percent blockage in my right coronary artery at that time, but was told that since I was young, the blockage would more than likely reverse itself.
Fast forward nine months and I’m sitting in my office terrified that I’m about to die but also afraid that if I didn’t, I could lose our only source of income for leaving early.
My chest felt like a very heavy man was sitting on it. I could not take a full breath. I was cold and clammy alternating with hot flashes. I was nauseous, dizzy and the left side of my jaw hurt with that pain traveling into my neck, left arm and between my shoulder blades.
When my husband arrived, I took two aspirin and started to feel normal again within ten minutes. That should have clued me in! One of my doctors later told me that if the aspirin helps, get to the hospital!
My husband wanted me to close the office and go to the hospital but since I was feeling better, I refused. I told myself that maybe it was a panic attack. After all, I had a million things to do at the office and then to prepare for Thanksgiving when I got home. It was going to be a long night and perhaps the stress was getting to me.
My refusal did not make my husband happy so he stayed at the office with me for the rest of the day, but like I said, I felt fine after taking the aspirin.
After work, I went home, made dinner, cleaned the house and then stayed up late making Thanksgiving pies and dressing. It was all most 2:00 A.M. when I finally laid down but before I could fall asleep,all of the symptoms returned with a vengeance. Only this time, that feeling of rocks shooting through my heart was back. I could not stop vomiting and could barely breathe. My husband woke our son and told him to watch his sisters until my best friend picked them up, then he rushed me to the hospital.
Now, if you are thinking that all heart attack patients are fussed over by a trained team of professionals, like you see on television, you would be sadly mistaken. They took one look at me, saw that I was a young, healthy looking woman and proceeded to ignore me. Watching paint dry would have been faster.
I was eventually put in a room, after they took care of the guy with a broken arm, given an EKG, an aspirin and left alone for another forty-five minutes.
Here is something that you should be aware of, not all heart attacks show up on an EKG. Mine was one that did not.
Someone finally came in and took blood to run a Cardiac Enzyme test. If you are NOT having a heart attack, your’ Cardiac Enzymes will be ‘0’ or ‘negative’. But if you are having a heart attack, your’ Cardiac Enzymes will be ‘positive’ or anything above ‘0’. The first test seemed to confuse the E.R. doctor. My enzymes were ‘positive’, but, as he said to me, “You’re only 36. You’re young and healthy. So let’s wait a few hours and run it again.” A nurse slapped a nitroglycerin patch on my chest, gave me yet another aspirin and left me there for four more hours. Welcome to the real world.
When the second Cardiac Enzyme test came back at a very high positive, we heard the E.R. doctor in the hall yell, “Oh crap! She’s having a heart attack!” I remember thinking, “DUH!”
Immediately I was swarmed by people and rushed to the Cardiac Care Unit where a cardiologist worked to stabilize me while three nurses ran I.V.’s, took blood pressure readings, and tried to reassure my husband. As the Cardiologist worked on me, he explained that the hospital I was in was not equipped to handle an emergency of this nature and an ambulance was waiting to take me to Nashville.
They had me in an ambulance before I could fully comprehend that this hospital could not take care of me. The ambulance attendant gave me morphine and a fresh nitroglycerin patch. The ride was very bumpy and I thought that we were moving too fast so I asked what speed we were going.When he patted my hand and told me that we were driving at 90 m.p.h., I knew then that I was in serious trouble,so I prayed. I prayed for my husband and for our children. I asked the Lord not to take me just yet. He said “Okee dokee.” I know that because I’m still here.
The moment we arrived at Centennial Hospital in Nashville, a team of true professionals rushed me from the ambulance to the Cardiac Cath Lab. There were no stops in between. I was terrified.
Want to know the super fun part? You have to be awake when they do an arteriogram! They told me that they needed me to be conscious. I never really understood why because I honestly didn’t have much to say. I had no intention of interrupting them while they were saving my life. I will say this now though, they were such kind and reassuring people.
Here is something else you may want to know; when a stent is inflated in an artery – it hurts. I had to be reminded to breath. Then I heard the surgeon say that he had to put in a second stent! The first one was not long enough to fully open the blockage. He had to layer them. I had to concentrate on telling myself, “Okay. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.”
I knew the exact moment when the stents were fully in place. I felt great again! I could breathe, my chest stopped feeling squeezed and all of my symptoms went away. Just like that. Then they knocked me out with morphine.
Many, many tests were run while I was in the hospital. That was when my education began. Remember that thirty percent blockage? It didn’t reverse itself because I was young and healthy. Within nine months, it became a ninety percent blockage. The symptoms that I had were a result of that blockage rupturing, cutting off the blood flow to my heart. A.K.A. a heart attack. But WHY did this happen? Most people associate a heart attack with obesity or high cholesterol. Neither of those applied to me. My lipid profile told the story.My cholesterol, weight and blood pressure were normal but my triglycerides were off the charts!
Do you know what a triglyceride is? I sure didn’t. I had never even heard the term before.
Triglycerides are fat cells in the blood. It is not the same as blood sugars. We all have triglycerides. Normal for most women are under 150. Mine were over 1100! Those fatty little cells can cause blockages in your’ arteries and the next thing you know, you’re standing in my shoes.
Not only did high triglycerides cause a ninety percent blockage in my heart, they also caused another sixty percent blockage in the back of my heart in a vein that is too small to stent. The solution? No more sugar for me. It raises triglycerides. That includes high fructose corn syrup. I am now on a whole host of medications and vitamins, including Fish oil, which helps to lower triglycerides. My diet now consists of foods that are low in saturated fats and high in fiber, along with daily exercise. Well, most days anyway.
The good news news is this; you CAN reverse blockages in your’ arteries. It is now a year and a half since my heart attack. I had another arteriogram just a few days ago. There are no blockages left in any of my arteries. My heart is now completely clear and I intend to keep it that way. Oh! Those high triglycerides are now down to all most normal levels.
The big question is; How can you keep this from happening to you?
Ask your doctor to run a lipid profile. This will tell you many things including your’ cholesterol levels and how high your’ triglycerides are. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS! If they come back high, come up with a plan with your’ doctor to get those numbers down.
Pay attention when your’ body tells you that something is wrong. Speak up and demand proper medical treatment. This is no time to be polite! Heart disease is the number one killer of women because we chalk our symptoms up to stress or we ignore them all together because we have too much to do.
If you have the symptoms that I had or if you ‘just don’t feel right’ combined with tiredness, a vague pain in your’ upper abdomen and/or nausea, don’t wait. Get to the hospital immediately.
Oh, and my job? I quit. Getting my health back was more important. That Thanksgiving taught me just how much I have to be thankful for. I have found a less stressful way to earn a living.
