Remembering

An event that culminated in a stent on my heart - the pain in my neck and back started on Wednesday, May 13, 2020.

I went to my family practice doctor. They did an EKG, but the results seemed confusing... but he gave me something to help me sleep, and a new drug for high blood pressure. I slept that night, but by the next afternoon, the neck and shoulder pain were awful. I had to sit up, couldn't lie down. I went through another 24 hours like this, then on Friday afternoon, I finally asked my friend to take me to the ER.

Fortunately I said I not only had neck and shoulder pain, but heaviness in my chest. That got me in to see a nurse and get an EKG immediately.

The waiting room was mobbed, this was about 4 months into the COVID pandemic, and there were lots of sick people. We were finding out each night on the news how many people died, and how hard it was for hospital personnel to get the PPE (personal protective equipment.) And we heard of all the people who died without seeing their loved ones, and there couldn't even be funerals for them.

So I walked voluntarily into that situation. I didn't know if I'd see my friend Helen again. She drove around (she told me later) until I texted her that I was staying for a while. By then I had been tested for COVID of course. I told the staff that I had bronchiectasis which made me cough all the time. They didn't care, they had to get me tested.

And the hospital had run out of the testing chemicals, so was sending tests out to a lab, and it could be several days before results came back. Fortunately one of the doctors I saw pushed to get the test performed asap.

So by 1:00 am Saturday May 16 I finally was deemed not to have Covid and could slip into the first available surgical opportunity, and got the stent which saved my life.  By then the medical people had convinced me I had a heart attack. They had also had to go through lots of blood tests to prove it. 

Then the recovery started, with 3 more days in the hospital. People often complain, but for me I was in heaven. People were waiting on me all the time. They knew when I needed to take what medicines, and supported all my physical needs. Even the food was welcome. I didn't have to prepare it or clean it up. I never had to make my bed. The only times I've had this feeling of being "waited upon" was other hospital visits in my life. Fortunately I didn't have much pain, but was just kind of weak.

When I went home, I had to adjust to making my own decisions, and how few things I was actually able to do. 

So I like to mark May 16 as my Stent implant day...when a tiny little instrument was pushed up to my heart through my wrist artery. I'm very grateful to be around still to celebrate today, just two years later. And incidentally, after completing the Ornish rehab program and changing my diet to mostly plant based...my last blood work showed a cholesterol number of just 51. That's down from over 200 before the heart attack. But I need to get out and exercise more still.

This is the gym at the Cardiac Center.

I am so glad to still be around. This year my family is marking another granddaughter's graduation from high school. She's my 5th grand to graduate. There's just one more to come in a couple more years! I hope to still be around for it.

Today's quote:

Everything is nothing, with a twist. 

—Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

no clue it was my heart!

You've all heard that women experience heart attacks differently than men.

I had shoulder pain, all the time, and it wouldn't let up when I tried to lie down on my side to sleep. I'd finally gone to my general practitioner on Wed. after trouble sleeping for several nights.

But let me back up and just let you know what I already had going on...Bronchiectasis...the inability to clear mucous from my lungs which led to chronic coughing. For that I already had 2 kinds of breathing treatments, one of which was a C-PAP to help me breath while sleeping. Anyway, I had not been getting to sleep and had pain all across my shoulders. The more pain, the tireder and the more coughing, of course.

I also already took a blood pressure medicine, and that Wed. afternoon I had the highest reading I'd ever had at the Dr. office. So he put me on an additional blood pressure medicine.

My doctor also gave me Soma, a muscle relaxant, and prednesone, a steroid...for 5 days.  Nothing for the pain. I could tense my muscles, but then they wouldn't relax. My chest was just tense, a bit heavy feeling. No pain there. I finally took some ibprofen on Thurs. night and fell asleep. But Friday was more of tiredness. I didn't feel like doing a thing.

I can sit here at the computer for hours, and so I did that on Fri, but then was tired and tried for about 3 hours to rest. I remember raising my arms while lying on my back gave some relief.

I called the pharmacy to see if I could still take ibuprofen with the Soma, and they said yes.  I may have called the doctor's office earlier as well, but I'm a bit fuzzy about that.  They did say the doctor isn't working today. Someone said, it sounds like you might need to go to urgent care and may need an Xray. But it was close to 5 pm on Friday by then. And the only other option was E.R.

So I called my friend, Helen, who said she'd be glad to take me to ER. And away we went.  I walked into a kind of busy waiting area, after they took my temperature. I already was wearing my mask. I told them I had shoulder pain that went into my chest. A cardio technician heard me say chest pain, and she took me right away to do an EKG.

And it was abnormal, so off I went for more testing.

None of which showed a heart attack.  I had a CT scan, and blood work, and about 2-3 hours into much discomfort, a cardiologist came and stood at the foot of my bed and said:

"You've had a heart attack.  You've had a heart attack."

I never had an acute episode of pain. And so when I consider it now, I don't know when it happened at all. I now am very cautious of shoulder pain...since that was my only clue.

Yes in the next 5 hours I got a catheterization and a stent installed in my artery which was 100% blocked. More on that later...

But this is another patient who was female who had a heart attack without the standard symptoms. Pay attention ladies. I sure am!