Role Models of America

Female Heart Attacks

A NURSES HEART ATTACK EXPERIENCE

I am an ER nurse, (day in and day out!) and this is The best description of this event that I have ever heard. 

Please read, pay attention, and send it on!

 FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
I was aware that female heart attacks are different,  But this is the best description I've ever read.  Women and heart attacks (Myocardial Infarction) Did you know that women rarely have the Same dramatic symptoms that men have when Experiencing heart attack...you know, the Sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, Grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we
See in the movies.

Here is the story of one woman's experience with a Heart attack.

"I had a completely unexpected heart attack at about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional Trauma that one would suspect Might've brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & Warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my Lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent Me, and actually thinking,"A-A-h, this is the life, All cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my Feet propped up.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of Indigestion, when you've been in a hurry and grabbed A bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of
Water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like You've swallowed a golf ball going down the Esophagus in slow motion and it is most Uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn't have gulped It down so fast and needed to chew it more
Thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to Hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was My initial sensation---the only trouble was that I Hadn't taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 P.M.

After that had seemed to subside, the next sensation Was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be Racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it Was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as They continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses Rhythmically when administering CPR). This Fascinating process continued on into my throat and Branched out into both jaws.

"AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was Happening--we all have read and/or heard about pain In the jaws being one of the signals of An MI happening, haven't we? I said aloud to Myself and the cat, "Dear God, I think I'm having a Heart attack!" I lowered the foot rest, dumping the Cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on The floor instead. I thought to myself "If this is A heart attack, I shouldn't be walking into the next Room where the phone is or anywhere else.......but, On the other hand, if I don't, Nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any Longer I may not be able to get up in moment."

"I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, Walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics... I told her I thought I was having a Heart attack due to the pressure building under the Sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn't feel Hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She Said she was sending the Paramedics over Immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, And if so, to unbolt the door and then lie down on The floor where they could see me When they came in.

"I then laid down on the floor as instructed and Lost consciousness, as I don't remember the medics Coming in, their examination, lifting Me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, Or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the Way, but I did briefly awaken When we arrived and saw that the Cardiologist was Already there in his surgical blues and cap, Helping the medics pull my stretcher out of The ambulance. He was bending over me asking Questions (probably something like "Have you taken Any medications?") but I couldn't make My mind interpret what he was saying, or form an Answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until The Cardiologist and partner had already threaded The teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery Into the aorta and into my heart where they
Installed 2 side by side stents To hold open my right coronary artery.

"I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions At home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes Before calling the Paramedics, but actually it took
Perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to
the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my Arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents. 

"Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand."

1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body, not the usual men's symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum
and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn't know they were having one and
commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they'll feel better in the morning when they wake up....which doesn't happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is
unpleasantly happening that you've not felt before. It is better to have a "false alarm" visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said "Call the Paramedics." Ladies,
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER--you're a hazard to others on the road and so is your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what's happening with you instead of the road.Do NOT call your doctor--he doesn't know where you live and if it's at night you won't reach him anyway, and if it's daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn't carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.

3. Don't assume it couldn't be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it's unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly
hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let 's be careful and be aware. The more we
know, the better chance we could survive.

Now What ?!?

Foolishly, I believed that my husband coming home would make life easier.  When we brought him home, he didn't need 24 hour care, the doctors felt that he could care for himself.  Now, this was true, but I wasn't sure if he would remember to take his medications on time (there were about six or seven of them) to be taken at several different times.  Would he eat, would he try and cook and burn down the house? 

My husband has a condition called aphysia, basically his brain doesn't make the proper links to communicate and understand words.  When my children asked him "Daddy do you love me?" He would answer "No" and didn't understand why this upset them.  If asked for a spoon, he would look at me like I was from outer space! My husband had to relearn the language and what words meant.  He could understand the tone of your voice so he knew if it was a question or a statement, but most of the words made no sense to him, this was very frustrating for us all.  He went to speech therapy three times a week on top of neurology appointments pulmonology appointments neurosurgeon appointments and then I found out about acupuncture, so we added those appointments to the rest. 

My husband was so tired of Doctors.  My children and I would work with him on speech, we would make him say words over and over and show him pictures so the word would make since to him.  We sing the alphabet song with him like you do in kindergarten, nursery rhymes are good for learning speech again.  This was a hard time on all of us, my husband did not understand what we were saying, we didn't understand what he wanted or needed, his first sentence that he could say and we could understand was "I'll show you"  he had to show us everything, then we would teach him the words that went with what he wanted to say. 

Eventually over time, he continues to get more words and understanding. Little by little the doctors took him off of most of his medications.  The doctor told us that he could probably be taken off the seizure medication, because he only had one seizure after the crainiotomy and has not had any more problems, that was in December of 2006.  So, I watched my husband like a hawk to make sure we did not see any signs that he may be about to have a seizure, like involuntary jumping in the limbs and drifting off.  I was scared all the time when I was at work that he would have a seizure when no one was home.  When I came home from work and called him on my breaks, he would say fine, fine when I asked him how he was. 

He would mow the grass, he was so bored, everyday.  He mowed every lawn in the neighborhood, I would tell him stop doing that, it's not safe, your gonna get too hot, 'fine, fine' is all he would say. 

May 30,2007 I got another phone call at work from my daughter, she was once again in a panic.  She screamed into the phone Mom, I think Daddy had another stroke, he had been outside all day in the heat and had forgotten to eat and hadn't had anything to drink all day.  He was having fun hanging out with my brother in law.  I

 can't explain the feeling that comes into the pit of your stomach when you get those phone calls.  When he came inside he decided he needed to walk to the store to buy gas for the lawnmower so he could once again mow the lawn.  My children didn't want to walk with him so he decided to go by himself, he got over heated and had a seizure in the middle of the street, the trashman found him.  They knocked on every door until they found the right house, back to the hospital we go....

Quiet Peace

My husband had a seizure in the middle of the night.  The doctor tried to take him off the respirator and they noticed he wasn't breathing right, the nurse walked over to check him and he began having a seizure.  There was a wonderful PA that really liked my husband, she really had no reason except that one of her best friends had the same name, so she called me personally at home to let me know and how they were handling it.  So my first thought in the middle of the night is wonderful, now we have seizures, what have I done to my husband? 

In the stillness of nighttime there is a quiet peace that can come upon you, it's like nothing I've ever felt.  I'm not gonna lie and say God told me it's alright, but I will tell you that I just felt calm and this is a feeling I held onto when it got really scary. 

When my kids would crawl into my bed and ask me why is this happening to my daddy he is a good dad, he works every day, provides for his family, loves his family and their are men out there who won't work, beat their wives and kids, aren't there for their families just in general, why is God going to take our dad?  I could look them in the eye and tell them growth can be difficult, we learn lessons in many different ways and we grow in many different ways.  When we are little our limbs grow and cause pain or discomfort in our bones, or when you don't listen to your parents you can hurt in your heart and when we grow spiritually we can also hurt in our hearts, but on the other side of that pain, if we do it right and thank God for every little blessing (even coupons!) we will come out better and smarter on the other side. 

All things work for the good for those who love the LORD!  Some times I forgot that, but my kids were great at reminding me.  My husband had four more surgeries and three months in the hospital before he got to come home.  I foolishly thought life would be easier when he could come home

The Words that Changed My Life

Mom! There is something wrong with Daddy!  These are the words that changed my life.  My fourteen year old daughter was hysterical, her daddy was fine when he walked into the store, but when he came out he was disoriented and could not speak.  When the ambulance came, the driver told my fourteen year old daughter and my eleven year old son that their dad had a stroke.

I was 235 miles away from home on a business trip.  It is a four hour drive and no planes flying out at that time of night.  We made the drive in two and a half or three hours.  I got to  the hospital about three in the morning, my husband was laying in a bed in ICU when I spoke to him he could not speak back and he could not stay awake, I found out two days later that he needed an operation called a crainiotomy, that is where they go in and remove a piece of his skull bone to give his brain room to swell, unfortunately, they could not perform this procedure in that hospital because they did not have the facilities.  They informed me that without this surgery he would definitely die because his brain was swelling down into the base of his neck, which is the respiratory part of your brain.  It would cut off the ability to breathe thus killing him.  They would try to find a hospital that would accept him in that condition and had facilities to perform the needed surgery, that was Mothers Day 2006.

I went home and prayed, I received a phone call an hour later that they were transferring him in one hour to a hospital in the Medical Center Downtown Houston.  I'm terrified to drive downtown, my husband did the driving in that area and it was raining HARD!  Thank God for my sister she rode with me she left her family at home on Mothers Day and her husband’s birthday to go with me.  She stayed with me every day for the first week.  She was my rock, she took phone calls so I didn't have to keep going over the story time and time again, this allowed me time to get my thoughts in order and also gave me someone with a level head to bounce things off.

 

When my husband got to the bigger hospital I was taken in to see the Doctor, he explained the surgery, but assured me they only do this surgery if it is absolutely necessary because it is so dangerous they would do all the tests and let me know if it would need to be done, in the mean time I should wait, when he walked away, we overheard him tell the nurse to order the tests, he did not know we could still hear him, he told her he wasn't going to make it through the night.

Well, by the grace of God he did make it through the night so they had to do the surgery.  I was taken into a big conference room with a team of Doctors and told this is the surgery your husband needs here are the drawbacks, he could die, he may have severe brain damage, he may have seizures or he might be okay, but without the surgery he will definitely die.  What do you want to do? Well of course this is easy right? NO because I kept thinking what if they are wrong and he really doesn't need the surgery and I have them do it and he dies because I was in a rush to let them cut into my husband’s brain.  Or what if he dies because I don't do it, or what if I do it and he's a vegetable and hates me for the rest of his life because he would rather be dead than live like this.

 

My husband was always very active and I couldn't imagine him not being able to do what he wanted when he wanted and being happy about that, but I couldn't imagine my life without him in some form.  I didn't want to be selfish, but I was.  I cried because all these thoughts ran through my head in about two seconds flat what do I do.

I prayed hard while they were staring at me waiting for an answer, I heard nothing on the other end, in my mind I was screaming, GOD, HELP!  I was completely lost I wanted to talk to my husband so badly, how can I make a decision of this magnitude without my partner.

Then a wise woman (my older sister) told me half a life is better than no life.  Give him a chance to come back to you!  Thank you God for sending wisdom through my sister.  While my husband was in surgery for eight hours, several friends from church and family members sat with me and I kept being reminded of a song that we sing in church.  The words simply state:  Whose report will you believe?  We shall believe the report of the LORD!  His report says I am healed! and on and on, this became a song that I sang in my mind over and over.  Every time the doctors came at me with another report, I would just sing that song and smile and inform those Doctors that my God says, no My husband would be fine, they looked at me with pity, I could see all over their faces written poor woman she has no idea ……

part 1 of my personal story

written by Heather Young