Ladies, this is a story you not only want to hear, you need to hear, no matter how young or old you are. It will change your life, and maybe save your life.
Don’t take anything for granted and get rid of the “it can’t happen to me” attitude. I’m about to bring you into reality, regardless of who you are. Here’s my story. It’s also the story of 432,000 women each year over the age of 20. Yes, I said 20. That number doesn’t count the survivors. I am one of them.
According to Cardiosmart.org, 35.3% of deaths in American women over the age of 20, or more than 432,000, are caused by cardiovascular disease each year. More than 200,000 women die each year from heart attacks- five times as many women as breast cancer. https://www.cardiosmart.org/Heart-Basics/CVD-Stats
It’s important that you understand what was going through my mind during all of this, because that’s the part that costs a lot of women their lives.
I was healthy. At least I thought I was healthy. Sound familiar. I started running 3-5 miles five times a week when I was 24 and ran during two pregnancies. I also love to cook and eat good old-fashioned country cooking, but that didn’t matter because I was a runner. My grandmother, who was raised on a farm, cooked with lard and lived to be 98. I have good genes. Right? Then I started eating a healthier diet, like egg white omelets and grilled meats, along with the not so healthy diet “once in a while.” But I always diligently kept my weight down, weighing religiously every day. I was a registered nurse, and knew all about nutrition. I was always very active. People marveled over how much I got done. Over the years I started and ran several businesses. Who could be healthier?
Then in 2010 I helped my chef son start a catering business. I had one when he was a two-year-old so I had the experience. I wanted to help him get it started then leave it with him. But what was supposed to be a Monday through Friday catering business took off and became the accidental restaurant we never planned to have, or wanted. I was working day and night and carrying a lot of heavy pans and products. I looked good and felt good weighing in at 123 at 5’4”.
Then one day I went to the gym for my 2 ½ hour workout. I had done the same three days before and felt great. At the end of my workout I started feeling very hungry. I was having those sharp hunger pains right in the middle of my chest between my breasts. I could tell it was “gastric acid” because that’s what we nurses do. We self-diagnose. I kept thinking I wanted so get some food in me that would neutralize the acid. A chocolate peanut butter banana smoothie sounded good. So I stopped at the grocery store on my way home to get a couple of things I needed for my smoothie. While I was there the pain was getting so bad I just wanted to tear into a loaf of bread. I knew that would take away the pain, but you know bread is so fattening.
When I got home I made the smoothie and the pain got worse. How could that be? So I decided I needed more food and ate part of healthy frozen dinner. The pain got worse. What could be going on? I must have pulled some connective tissue around my sternum because I had really pushed the weights that day.
I went to our bedroom and put on my pajamas and took some Tylenol. The pain got worse. I told my husband what was happening and I may need to go to the hospital. He told me he was sure I had just pulled something and to lie down. Mr. Compassion! Actually, men are prone to denial. They can’t deal with the possibility that their wives could actually be having a life-threatening experience. A couple of hours passed with no relief, so I took two Motrin and got out the heating pad. Two hours later I took two more Tylenol. Then I fell asleep. Luckily, I woke up in the morning. Other than feeling very tired and sore from the gum, I felt ok.
I went to work at the catering business. Midmorning I went to Sam’s and picked up several cases of water and other heavy items which I lifted into the cart and then into the car. Luckily, I had some help carrying them into the restaurant.
My husband called and asked if I wanted to get some lunch. He picked me up and we went to a deli and I got a turkey sandwich and diet coke. After a few bites of the sandwich and sips of the soda, the pain came back with a vengeance. I couldn’t finish my food. I was almost doubled over and in spite of dirty looks, cut in the line to get a bottle of water. I told the young man that I was having severe chest pain. He commented that he hoped I wasn’t having a heart attack right there in their restaurant. People can be so stupid, but he was young.
When we left, my husband who is a workaholic, casually asked if I wanted him to take me to the hospital. He said he had to get to a meeting. His heart wasn’t in it, no pun intended. But again, men are the king of denial. I was hurt and upset so I told him to just drop me off at the restaurant. I went into my office and couldn’t work because the pain was so bad. I had my head on the desk. Luckily, my son was there and called my husband. He told my him to get back there right away and take me to the hospital because he had never seen me act that way.
Several minutes later he picked me up and took me to the hospital. I was in so much pain I was waiting for him as the door. By this time, I was scared. When I went to the desk, I explained that I was having severe chest pains and needed to get in right away. That didn’t stop the young girl at the desk from having to get my insurance card. They did an EKG and took my vitals, and everything was normal. Then they took a blood sample and insisted I put nitroglycerin under my tongue, like we gave patients for angina. I kept saying it’s only pulled muscles.
Then the doctor came in and sat on the gurney. He wrote in big letters on the sheet “Heart Attack!” I’ve never been so shocked in my life. Not Me!! was my first thought. This can’t be happening to me. I have too much to do. Then tears started rolling down my cheeks as I thought about not wanting to die and leave my granddaughters. Reality.
They put me in an ambulance and took me to the cardiac cath lab at a sister hospital. Flashing lights and all. I remember pointing out my restaurant as we passed it to the EMT. When I arrived they immediately took me through the back door into the lab. I laid there in the dim light and watched them, with the help of a little joy juice, put two stents into my LAD, Left Anterior Descending Artery, commonly known as the “Widow Maker.” They call it that for a reason. I had two 75% blockages in this one LAD artery, which has a low survival rate. But God wasn’t ready for me just yet.
When they took me back to my room I had to lie completely flat for several hours because of the femoral artery incision they make to insert the stents. Doctors and nurses hovered over me. I had monitors and tubes, but I was alive. I was put on several meds including a beta blocker, which helps take the stress off the heart, a blood pressure med and a blood thinner. These are usually temporary. They also put me on a statin drug to lower my cholesterol which is permanent.
I was told that the damage to my heart would eventually heal, except at the apex of the heart attack. Surprisingly, because of my years of running and exercising, everything healed. My heart was strong. It wasn’t getting enough blood. I am blessed.
I was sent home the following day and one week later I was on a plane going to my son’s college graduation. I was a little weak and had to take it easy, but I was there. But I overdid it when I went to the St. Louis zoo with my granddaughters and had to call my son to come and get me. I was just too weak and shaky, and it was too soon. This is common in heart patients, cause basically you feel good. But it didn’t go over too well with my protective son.
It’s been six years since my heart attack. After the first couple of months I felt good as new. I was back at the restaurant in two weeks and never lost stride. I was told to do what I felt like doing, even running. We turned the catering business into a restaurant a few months after the heart attack, but sold it almost two years ago. I’ve started another business and am still going strong. I do still have small panic attacks when I have pains in my chest area, but now they really are after I’ve had a good work-out at the gym. But it still makes me nervous. I’m back to running and doing what I always did before, but I was fixed and given another chance. It was a wake-up call, and the alarm had to go off several times before I woke up. My Bucket List is a lot bigger, but Praise the Lord, I have two more granddaughters and I’m still here to enjoy them!
By the time I came out of the cath lab with my new body parts, my husband had put it all on facebook. Everyone was in shock because I was the least likely person anyone would have thought would have a heart attack. I must have heard a thousand time, “You had a Heart Attack!” I received hundreds of prayers and replies, but the one thing that almost every woman wanted to know was, what were your symptoms. Until then, they had never thought it could happen to them. Neither did I.
A couple of weeks later, I attended the annual American Heart Association Go Red for Women lunch as a guest of a friend. They had women with similar stories present. Most of them were healthy young unsuspecting women. One woman was in the barn with her beloved horses shoveling horse manure when she had a strange pain in her chest. It happened a couple more times and she called 911. They told her that if she had shoveled one more time she would have died. I also had the opportunity to talk to the female cardiologist from Hawaii who was our speaker. When I told her that the doctors couldn’t figure out why someone like me would have a heart attack, she asked me if I had ever smoked. When I told her that I had smoked for many years but quit several years ago, she told me that was why it happened. Nicotine roughens up the inside of your normally smooth walls of your arteries and allows plaque to stick to them. I also learned that the reason my pain got so much worse after I ate, was because blood rushes to your stomach area to help your body digest the food and runs into the blockage. I learned a lot from this terrifying experience, but I was spared for a reason, and maybe one of the reasons is to help other women avoid or survive a heart attack.
I know this article is long, but if it saves one life it’s worth it. Never be embarrassed to call 911 or go to the hospital if you are having any of the symptoms of a heart attack. Women often manifest symptoms differently than men. Go to the links below and read about the symptoms and what to do. Hopefully, if it happens it will be a false alarm, but better safe than sorry.
Also, please watch this funny video which a spoof on a young woman having a heart attack. It’s humorous because so many women can identify.
Please leave your questions or comments below or email me by going into contacts. I would love to hear from you.
Common Symptoms of a Heart Attack
Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort. Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness. As with men, women’s most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort.Dec 5, 2017
Ladies, this is a story you not only want to hear, you need to hear, no matter how young or old you are. It will change your life, and maybe save your life. 
