I was pretty out of it when the first doctor woke me at 6:30 A.M. on December 12th. I honestly don't remember anything he said other than they were going to run another blood test. I drifted back off to sleep and was awoken by the Pulmonologist at 7 o'clock. My CT scan was clear and he thought it was more likely a heart problem than a lung problem. He said I could follow up with him in a couple of months to get more testing done and he left. My husband took our son to school at 8 and then came to see me. I still had not heard anything at that point, but I finally had my tablet so I had something to do at least.
My husband doesn't like hospitals, so he didn't hang out for long. I promised I would let him know as soon as I knew anything and he went home. It must have been about 9 or 9:30 when the nurse came in to let me know what was going on. She said that my cardiac enzymes were 3 times higher than they were the night before and she was waiting for the doctor to call her back to see what they were going to do. She said that I would most likely need a heart catheter done and I would have to be transferred to another hospital to have it done. She said she would let me know as soon as she heard from the doctor and she left. I just sat there stunned for a good 5-10 minutes.
I called my husband and let him know what she had said and he asked what he should do. I didn't know what to tell him. I was in such a state of shock that I couldn't process the situation, let alone tell him what to do. I finally told him to go get Jake out of school and be ready to go. After I hung up I just sat there for a minute and then realized I wanted my mom. She would know what to do. I sure as hell had no idea what to do so I called her. I was at least considerate about it. I told her I was alright before I filled her in on the whole hospital thing and the whole need a heart cath thing. Talking to her was the only time I cried. I was just so overwhelmed and scared at that moment that I couldn't stop myself. I quickly regained control of myself and finished the conversation. I promised I would keep her updated as I knew what was going on. Then I was alone. My husband and son came to my room around 11 A.M. and we talked briefly. The nurse came in and said that I would be going to Bay City to have my heart cath done and they were just waiting on the transport to show up. She gave my husband directions to the hospital and they went out to pull the truck around where they could follow the ambulance.
The EMT's came to get me at noon and we were on our way. I don't know how long it took to get there, but it felt like the longest ride of my life. My mom met us at the hospital and I was taken to my room. The nurse asked me the same questions they asked in the E.R. What is your pain level? Describe what happened, family history, etc. Every time someone came to my room for the rest of that day and the next, they asked those same questions again. I don't know if they just didn't read my chart or if they were checking my cognitive function, but it was really annoying.
I would like to point out that I have not eaten anything this entire time. The last time I ate was spaghetti the night before. The nurse decided the doctor probably wouldn't do my cath that day because it was getting late. I had already missed lunch so she brought me some apple juice, graham crackers, and applesauce. Of course, the doctor showed up around 5 o'clock and decided that he was going to do the heart cath that night. This is the first time I heard anyone say, "heart attack." The surgeon said I had a heart attack and I needed a cath done right away. He was confident that he probably wouldn't find anything, but he had to do it to make sure. He no more than left the room and the nurse's aide was there to prep me for surgery. My transportation showed up at the same time and they had to wait in the hall until the prep was done then I was on my way to the pre-surgical area.
My family got to come in and see me briefly before I went into the cath lab. I didn't have to wait long and I was being sedated. When I came to the doctor was talking to me and my family was there with me. He was showing me the images from my cath and the blockage he removed. He said the blockage was in my LAD, which didn't mean anything to me. He removed it and put a stent in there to be safe. He then disappeared and I didn't see him again until a month later.
Post catheter was the worst experience I have ever had. They threaded the cath up my femoral artery, with they access through the groin, to my heart. After surgery I had to lay on my back for an hour before they removed it. When the nurse finally removed it, I wanted to die. That was one of the most painful experiences in my life. She then had to apply lots of pressure to the area to keep me from bleeding to death. After she was done torturing me, they put a pressure dressing on the wound and I had to lay on my back and not flex any muscles for 6 hours. If I did move I could re-open the wound and the process would start all over. Luckily, I was able to complete the process the first time around. Using a bed pan was not fun or easy so I really had to go by the time I was able to get up. It was around 1 A.M. when they got me out of bed and took me for a short walk. I then disappeared into the bathroom for the next 10 minutes. After that I didn't get much sleep. I slept for a few hours at a time and then I would be wide awake for an hour or 2 and then I would fall asleep again.
I got a really obnoxious roommate while I was sleeping and I really wish I could have slept until they released me. Every time the nurses came to check on her, they checked on me too. Every time a new one came in they would look at my chart and ask about my heart attack. Then they all said the exact same thing, "But you are too young for that." Apparently, I am not too young for that. I was so annoyed ready to go home. The doctor that was on call for the weekend didn't show up until almost 7 P.M. on December 13th to send me home. I have never been so happy to be home in my life. Little did I know, the fun was just beginning.
Thursday, July 30, 2015
12/11/14
December 11th started like any other day. It was so ordinary, in fact, that I can't give you any details about the first part of the day. I got up, brushed my teeth, and got ready for work. Nothing significant happened during my work day and I can't tell you what I had for lunch. I know that I was very busy. Winter is a very busy time at my job and I was doing 3 jobs at the time. I was working a lot of over-time. I guess you could say that I was a little stressed, but I don't think it was too much more than normal. My husband had quit his job in November so my income was all we had. That is why I volunteered for the over-time. I thought I had everything under control.
I got home from work a little after 5 o'clock and we made and ate dinner. I do remember that we had spaghetti. I decided not to do any over-time (I do my over-time from home). I was relaxing in my chair watching T.V., this was about 6:30. The pain started in the center of my back and it was just a dull ache. It felt like my back was out of place. I kept moving around in my chair, trying to get comfortable. The more I moved, the worse I felt. I got up and stretched and that didn't help either. I figured I would just have to deal with it. I have had back problems for a long time so I didn't think much of it. I had a twisted vertebra in that area about a year before and I just figured it was out of place again.
After about 10-15 minutes, pain in my left arm started. It started in my wrist and was extremely intense. It was just a ring a pain around my wrist. That is when I told my husband that something wasn't right. He asked if I wanted to go to the hospital and I reluctantly said, "Yes." By the time we got our shoes and coats on, the pain had started around my elbow. I now had 2 rings of pain, 1 around my wrist and 1 around my elbow with no pain in between. We only live about 5 blocks or so from the hospital so it didn't take long to get there. There was no snow on the ground and there was no frost so we didn't wait for the car to warm up, we just piled in and left.
The hospital staff was very quick to see me. I told the receptionist in the E.R. that I was having chest pain and pain in my left arm. She said to have a seat and a doctor would be right out. I would say the doctor was out in under 5 minutes, which was not quite fast enough for my husband. I could see the worry in his face, but I still didn't think anything really serious was going on. I did my best to reassure him that I would be fine. The doctor came out and took my vitals in lobby. My heart rate and oxygen levels were good and he took me back to get an EKG right away. I was then taken to my own curtained area in the E.R. The doctor said my EKG was fine and he started the usual line of questioning, what were you doing? how would you rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10? do you have any history of blah, blah, blah? The usual questions you get whenever you go to the hospital. The next test was a chest x-ray, normal. Then they did blood work and got a urine sample. The pain had stopped and I figured it was due to my gallbladder or something and wanted to go home, but they wanted to run more tests.
By this point it was getting pretty late so I sent my husband home with our son so he could get some rest. At around 11 o'clock they decided to send me to get a CT scan. Surprise, surprise, that was normal too. I remember flagging the nurse down around midnight to find out what was taking so long. I felt fine and just wanted to go home. Like I said, work was crazy busy and I didn't want to leave anyone hanging. The nurse said I could leave, but I would be leaving A.M.A (against medical advise) so I toughed it out. I figured they would have answers soon and I had already waited this long. I started to drift off to sleep around 1 A.M. and that is when the nurse told me that my blood work came back and my cardiac enzymes were elevated. She said it could be a sign of damage to the heart or an infection. They were going to keep me overnight to monitor me. She didn't act concerned so I wasn't worried. I got to my room around 2 A.M. and drifted off to sleep pretty easy. I was awakened around 4 and again around 6 for more blood work and vitals. Needless to say, I didn't exactly rest.
In the interest of not going on forever, I am going to end this post here and start another one to detail what happened the following day. I hope you will all bare with me while I get through the rest of the details. I am not trying to ramble on forever, but I want to fully describe what happened.
I got home from work a little after 5 o'clock and we made and ate dinner. I do remember that we had spaghetti. I decided not to do any over-time (I do my over-time from home). I was relaxing in my chair watching T.V., this was about 6:30. The pain started in the center of my back and it was just a dull ache. It felt like my back was out of place. I kept moving around in my chair, trying to get comfortable. The more I moved, the worse I felt. I got up and stretched and that didn't help either. I figured I would just have to deal with it. I have had back problems for a long time so I didn't think much of it. I had a twisted vertebra in that area about a year before and I just figured it was out of place again.
After about 10-15 minutes, pain in my left arm started. It started in my wrist and was extremely intense. It was just a ring a pain around my wrist. That is when I told my husband that something wasn't right. He asked if I wanted to go to the hospital and I reluctantly said, "Yes." By the time we got our shoes and coats on, the pain had started around my elbow. I now had 2 rings of pain, 1 around my wrist and 1 around my elbow with no pain in between. We only live about 5 blocks or so from the hospital so it didn't take long to get there. There was no snow on the ground and there was no frost so we didn't wait for the car to warm up, we just piled in and left.
The hospital staff was very quick to see me. I told the receptionist in the E.R. that I was having chest pain and pain in my left arm. She said to have a seat and a doctor would be right out. I would say the doctor was out in under 5 minutes, which was not quite fast enough for my husband. I could see the worry in his face, but I still didn't think anything really serious was going on. I did my best to reassure him that I would be fine. The doctor came out and took my vitals in lobby. My heart rate and oxygen levels were good and he took me back to get an EKG right away. I was then taken to my own curtained area in the E.R. The doctor said my EKG was fine and he started the usual line of questioning, what were you doing? how would you rate your pain on a scale of 1 to 10? do you have any history of blah, blah, blah? The usual questions you get whenever you go to the hospital. The next test was a chest x-ray, normal. Then they did blood work and got a urine sample. The pain had stopped and I figured it was due to my gallbladder or something and wanted to go home, but they wanted to run more tests.
By this point it was getting pretty late so I sent my husband home with our son so he could get some rest. At around 11 o'clock they decided to send me to get a CT scan. Surprise, surprise, that was normal too. I remember flagging the nurse down around midnight to find out what was taking so long. I felt fine and just wanted to go home. Like I said, work was crazy busy and I didn't want to leave anyone hanging. The nurse said I could leave, but I would be leaving A.M.A (against medical advise) so I toughed it out. I figured they would have answers soon and I had already waited this long. I started to drift off to sleep around 1 A.M. and that is when the nurse told me that my blood work came back and my cardiac enzymes were elevated. She said it could be a sign of damage to the heart or an infection. They were going to keep me overnight to monitor me. She didn't act concerned so I wasn't worried. I got to my room around 2 A.M. and drifted off to sleep pretty easy. I was awakened around 4 and again around 6 for more blood work and vitals. Needless to say, I didn't exactly rest.
In the interest of not going on forever, I am going to end this post here and start another one to detail what happened the following day. I hope you will all bare with me while I get through the rest of the details. I am not trying to ramble on forever, but I want to fully describe what happened.
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
A Brief History
I wanted to make my first post a brief overview of my life until this point. As I am now 34 years old, this is going to be a very brief history. I will not bore you with every detail of everything that has ever happened. I only want to give you a sense of who I was, who I am, and who I hope to become.
I have been mostly happily married for 11 years and I have a son who is going to turn 10 in January. He is crazy smart and funny and I adore that kid. It is never a dull moment with him around. He does come with his own set of challenges, but every struggle is worth it. He is going to be starting in the gifted class this fall and I could not be prouder of him. He is an over-achiever like his mom. We believe he suffers from anxiety and he has an overwhelming need to be perfect. The two make for a tumultuous combination, but we are doing what we can to help him cope. The poor kid just got a crazy mix of genes, but he seems to handle things better every year.
My son isn't the only one who didn't win the genetic lotto. I come from a long line of women that don't survive to old age. My grandmother died at 62 from colon cancer. My aunt was 48 when she died from melanoma. My mom is 54 and has stage IV colon cancer. I even had cervical cancer. I was lucky though, they were able to cure mine with surgery. I had a hysterectomy a year after I had my son, but I have been cancer free for 7 years. My doctor knows my full history and I get all my tests done regularly. We have always focused on the cancer history and didn't even think about my dad's health issues. My dad is a diabetic and he has heart problems. I don't know why I never worried about inheriting my dad's issues, but I never did. Even my doctor didn't really dwell on it. I had a stress test a few years ago and she checks my cholesterol, but there have been no warning signs.
So you can imagine my surprise when I suffered a heart attack at the ripe old age of 33. It came out of nowhere and blindsided me. I think I am still a little shocked now, almost 8 months later. They say it is really hard for young people to go through something like that. I think it is because it is just so unexpected. You are just sitting there minding your own business and the next thing you know you almost die. That shakes a person up a bit I think. I will go into the details of what happened in later posts.
I am glad that I waited this long to start talking about what happened. For the last 8 months I have gone through an entire range of emotions. I think I am better able to understand what happened and all the things I thought and felt than I was at the time. For the first 2 months I was in a fog of shock an disbelief. It is so hard to understand if you have never been there. I am hoping this blog will educate people a little bit about heart disease and help the families of those that have suffered a heart attack. I am hoping that sharing my story will also help me to heal in a way. I hope that you will stay with me through this journey. Please feel free to email me with questions along the way or post them on here. I promise to do my best to answer them.
I have been mostly happily married for 11 years and I have a son who is going to turn 10 in January. He is crazy smart and funny and I adore that kid. It is never a dull moment with him around. He does come with his own set of challenges, but every struggle is worth it. He is going to be starting in the gifted class this fall and I could not be prouder of him. He is an over-achiever like his mom. We believe he suffers from anxiety and he has an overwhelming need to be perfect. The two make for a tumultuous combination, but we are doing what we can to help him cope. The poor kid just got a crazy mix of genes, but he seems to handle things better every year.
My son isn't the only one who didn't win the genetic lotto. I come from a long line of women that don't survive to old age. My grandmother died at 62 from colon cancer. My aunt was 48 when she died from melanoma. My mom is 54 and has stage IV colon cancer. I even had cervical cancer. I was lucky though, they were able to cure mine with surgery. I had a hysterectomy a year after I had my son, but I have been cancer free for 7 years. My doctor knows my full history and I get all my tests done regularly. We have always focused on the cancer history and didn't even think about my dad's health issues. My dad is a diabetic and he has heart problems. I don't know why I never worried about inheriting my dad's issues, but I never did. Even my doctor didn't really dwell on it. I had a stress test a few years ago and she checks my cholesterol, but there have been no warning signs.
So you can imagine my surprise when I suffered a heart attack at the ripe old age of 33. It came out of nowhere and blindsided me. I think I am still a little shocked now, almost 8 months later. They say it is really hard for young people to go through something like that. I think it is because it is just so unexpected. You are just sitting there minding your own business and the next thing you know you almost die. That shakes a person up a bit I think. I will go into the details of what happened in later posts.
I am glad that I waited this long to start talking about what happened. For the last 8 months I have gone through an entire range of emotions. I think I am better able to understand what happened and all the things I thought and felt than I was at the time. For the first 2 months I was in a fog of shock an disbelief. It is so hard to understand if you have never been there. I am hoping this blog will educate people a little bit about heart disease and help the families of those that have suffered a heart attack. I am hoping that sharing my story will also help me to heal in a way. I hope that you will stay with me through this journey. Please feel free to email me with questions along the way or post them on here. I promise to do my best to answer them.
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