The Heart of the Matter

when a heart attack hits

Hi there everyone! Sorry I’ve been slightly incognito over the last few months – it sort of happened for a variety of reasons, to be honest! Christmas and the holidays had me way behind and overtook me a bit, and then, a few weeks ago, my lovely little heart decided that I needed a bit of a wake up call!

At 51 years old, which is still pretty damn young in my opinion, I am sorry to say I suffered a widow maker heart attack – a 100% blockage in my LAD artery. I am thrilled to say that because of the rapid response of my son and my boyfriend, who took care of me and called 911 after I collapsed, the paramedics who responded, shocked me and performed CPR on my pulseless self and the doctors and nurses waiting for me to arrive at the hospital where they took amazing care of me, I’m sitting here writing this today – exactly 16 days after suffering a major cardiac event!

As I learned AFTER I was aware enough to know what had actually happened, the survival stats for this type of heart attack are not great. Depending on where you get your information, survival rates for widow maker heart attacks that happen outside of a hospital setting are anywhere from 6%-12%. No wonder the nurses and doctors at the hospital all kept telling me how very lucky I was to be alive!

The truth is that I continue to sit here, in awe, that I’m on the survivor side of that statistic. Thrilled, blessed and grateful, mind you, but…shocked, too! But trust me – I won’t take it for granted! The term second chance means a great deal to me!

The What of it All

So, what exactly happened? How did this go down? Was I having symptoms?

In short, yes, I was having ONE symptom, but I didn’t actually realize it WAS a symptom. Prior to the actual heart attack on March 12th, I had experienced a few days of heartburn. I tried taking antacids, but they didn’t make much of a dent. Seeing as how I NEVER get heartburn, I probably should have known something was wrong. The fact is that I chalked it up to age, as I have literally EVERYTHING since I turned 50! I mean, back hurts. I’m 50. Headache. I’m 50! Joint pain! It’s the 50! I think I had gotten it into my head (and I know some of my friends had too) that everything starts to go wrong at 50. So, what did we do? Blame everything on being frickin’ 50! Like the body magically starts to disintegrate once we hit the half century mark. Side note – I had a a heart attack at 51, so…maybe we weren’t so wrong about the dreaded 50?

On Saturday afternoon, the boyfriend and I decided to take a nap! I thought maybe I’d get lucky and wake up with the indigestion magically gone. Ummm…that didn’t happen. I did wake up (don’t remember it), climbed out of bed, collapsed and hit my face on the armoire on the way down. Tony woke up and saw me having what he described as a seizure. I woke with him telling me that a squad had been called. Somehow, I stood up and walked into the kitchen, which is where I was when the EMTs arrived. I vaguely remember talking with them and I slightly remember them shocking me and me saying something very prophetic like ‘OWWW’ – after that…complete darkness.

From what the boys tell me, that’s when I collapsed, lost my pulse and the EMTs did CPR for like 10-15 minutes.

The next thing I remember I was being wheeled into the hospital and surrounded by what seemed to be 20-30 doctors, nurses and EMTs. I don’t know why, other than trying to maintain some modicum of control, but I vividly remember telling everyone around me to hush up and listen.

I then proceeded to tell them all, “I won’t be dying here today.”

The nurse beside me grabbed my arm and said, “Well, alright then.”

After my insistent ‘It’s Not My Damn Time’ declaration, things blurred a bit. I have a vague recollection of being moved into the cath lab, where the docs placed two stents in my LAD artery.

Off to the ICU I went, where I stayed for a day or so, before being moved down to a regular room. There, I developed some wacky arrhythmias and long QT numbers, which caused my heart to go flutter, flutter and get a bit racy and off-kilter, electrically speaking. FYI – totally non-medical terms in the last sentence 🙂

The medicines weren’t working to stop the arrhythmia, so they took me back to the cath lab and did another procedure to make sure everything was okay. Multiple attempts with different meds and they finally started to get the rhythms under control.

I stayed in the hospital for 5 days, before heading home.

The Now of it All

The Vest

My arrhythmia issues and long QT numbers put me at risk for what they call sudden cardiac death. Even though they’d been level for a few days, the hospital sent me home with a lovely parting gift – the Zoll Life Vest, which I have to wear for 90-days. If there aren’t any issues – I’ll send the vest back to the company and be good to go. If they’re still seeing crazy rhythms, they’ll likely implant a defibrillator in my chest.

So, the vest (errr…harness from hell) is an external defibrillator that will shock me if I go into a wackadoo rhythm. So far, no issues whatsoever. No shocks. No alarms. Yay me – I plan to stay ahead of the curve.

But, I’m so sorry, the actual design of the vest is an absolute nightmare. Don’t get me wrong – I’m glad to have it in case something happens. But…who in the actual HELL designed this thing????? First, there is one vest regardless of gender, which should tell you something right off the rip!

You’d think maybe it would be something like a sports bra, but nope. It wraps around you and has 3 hook and eyes that close in front like a bra, but that’s where any similarities to women’s undergarments end. There is no built-in bra, cup, covering or anything of the sort – your breasts just sort of hang there, exposed, over the band of the harness. This might be the one time in my life I’m thrilled to be on the small boobie side of things – can’t even imagine if I had some of the boobies my besties do. Holy DD’s, Batman! You can try adding a bra on afterward if you have to, but it just bulks you up even more and it’s already difficult to find clothes you can wear with this thing. Tunics and leggings seem to be working for me, so I’ll stick with those for now. Oh, and the wonderful mumu! I’m roaming around the house in a lot of those right now.

Then, there are the 4 nickel sensors that are within the vest that dig into your back and side area. After about a week, I started itching a LOT and developing a slight rash. A very light coating of baby powder has become my new norm.

The monitor has to be carried with you at all times. It can be clipped to your belt or it can be worn similar to a cross body purse – though it’s a wee bit heavier than your average handbag.

Right now, I LIVE for my daily shower, which is the ONLY time I can remove the harness and get a little bit of sweet relief!

The Ribs

Needless to say, I’m still really sore from the CPR and cracked ribs, but they’re improving every single day. I’m finally to the point where I can get up by myself – for the first week or so, I needed help getting into a standing position. I expect to be doing yoga and be as flexible as I once was in a matter of weeks 🙂 OK – maybe a month or two! Soon – very soon 🙂

The Bruises

I am covered in bruises, primarily because I’m not healing as well at this point due to the blood thinners I’m on. I also have a huge bruise on my face where I fell and hit the armoire when I collapsed. But, bruises heal and I’m alive…soooo…

Cardiac Rehab

In early April, I’ll be starting a 12-week cardiac rehab program that I’ll attend 3-times per week. My understanding is it will focus on things like exercise, diet, education, stress relief and the like.

From what I’ve been told, a lot of people who are eligible for this program choose not to attend. Me – I’ll take advantage of whatever I’m offered so I can do whatever is necessary to NOT end up in this position again.

The American Heart Association’s website has a whole cardiac rehab section in case you want to learn more.

Smoking

After smoking a pack a day for over 30 years – I have completely stopped. The day I had my heart attack was the day I smoked my last cigarette. The fact is that it really hasn’t been as difficult as I always thought it would be.

It’s crossed my mind a small handful of times (primarily in the morning), but I simply think about what I went through and the urge passes pretty quickly!

Diet

Aside from my great affinity for salty potato chips and the like, I don’t think I was ever a horrible eater. I always ate lots of fish, didn’t eat lots of red meat and had a pretty diverse type of diet. I would have considered myself a foodie, for sure.

However, I’m now watching what I eat very closely and keeping the sodium intake on the low side. More fruits, veggies and grains are making their way into the ole’ daily diet.

The docs mentioned the Medeterranian Diet, so I’ve started to incorporate some of those recipes into my weekly meal planning.

I’m not giving up everything I love, but I can change and modify a lot. I don’t need salt on everything. I can buy low sodium products, lean products and low/no fat products to help with these modifications.

The Meds

Of course, I’m now on a regular rotation of meds that I have to keep straight – beta blockers, blood thinners, cholesterol meds, blood pressure meds and aspirin.

Now, part of my weekly chores consists of doling out medications into a lovely pill box so I can remember what to take and when to take it!

Ugh…this 50 shit again! Am I right?

The Ultimate Fact

As I told the doctors and nurses – I will absolutely and unequivicolly do WHATEVER is needed to take advantage of the amazing second chance I’ve been given. That is the ultimate fact. 16 days ago I was nearly dead on my kitchen floor and I survived. I’m open to any and all kind of change necessary to enjoy a long life!

The How of it All

So, like me, you may be wondering how this happened? 51 is really young for a massive cardiac event, no? Apparently, as I recently learned – it’s not as uncommon as you might think.

My doctors tell me that my family history, high cholestorol and smoking probably played a large part in my own story.

There are a number of risk factors listed on the American Heart Association’s web site, including things like high cholesterol, family history, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, diabetes and many others.

For me, here’s how those risk factors likely played out!

• Family History – Check and Double Check
  • My dad had a heart attack at 58 and had one of the first stents ever put in in the Columbus Area. He’s now 87, has 5 stents and sill gets along just fine. Truth is – I’m modeling my entire recovery after my dad – I wanna be like him 🙂
  • My mom also had a heart attack at 60 years old and went into cardiac arrest, however they think hers was caused by the strong chemotherapy she was on for ovarian cancer. She later passed from that cancer at 65.
• High Cholesterol – BIG RISK FACTOR
  • So, I’ve never been a big fan of doctor visits! Sure, I’ll go if I ABSOLUTELY have to, but I’m the first one to say that I NEVER went like I should. I didn’t have routine physicals done, so there should have been no surprise when my cholesterol results came back post heart attack. Yikes – some pretty elevated numbers!
    • Total Cholesterol – 278
    • Triglycerides – 276
    • LDL – 186
    • HDL – 37
• Smoking – BIG RISK FACTOR
  • 30 years @ 1 pack a day

The other risk factors for me were negligible. My blood pressure always ran low, I was lucky enough to never have a weight problem and I don’t have diabetes.

In my case, all it took was to tick off those three boxes on the risk assessment. How about you? What’s your risk?

If you don’t know, please take the time to call your doctor and make an appointment.

The Future of it All

So, what does my future hold?

As I see it, whatever the hell I want it to hold.

Right now, I feel totally and blissfully blessed. I KNOW that someone, or multiple someones, were watching over me and that I was given a rare second chance to LIVE my life. I WILL NOT squander the second chance I’ve been given.

After the heart attack and the realization that I’d very nearly died, I remember thinking that I wasn’t ready. I hadn’t done ALL the things I wanted to do – things I’ve dreamed of since I was a child. I hadn’t traveled. Been to Paris and the great cities of Europe. Published one of my many, in progress novels. Started some sort of foundation to help others. Watched my son grow older, get married and have a family. Watched my beautiful bonus daughter graduate high school. Made more amazing memories with my family. Had years of girls’ days with my besties!

I simply hadn’t left my mark. I wasn’t done!

Now, in my mind, it’s really pretty straightforward. If I want to do something, I’m going to do it. If I want to travel, I’m going to go. If I want to learn something, I’ll learn it. The sky is the limit – I will, quite simply, DO THE THINGS I WANT TO DO.

I VOW to stop putting off things that I want to do, because the fact is that tomorrow IS NOT promised. There will be no more ‘we should’ in my vocabulary; instead I will only utter the phrase ‘we are’.

I’ve got loads of wonderful and amazing things on the horizon that I’m looking forward to – some of which I can’t even talk about right now!

Suffice it to say, my blog will be growing and expanding, as I always planned. You’ll be hearing more about the Quite Simply Us girls and our adventures, recipes, cocktails, travel, bucket lists, decor, heart health and loads more. You might even be able to do a little shopping, should you be so inclined 🙂

So, quit reading for now and go hug your loved ones. Tell someone you love them. Plan a family vacation. Tick something off that big procrastination list! Remember – tomorrow isn’t promised so go make your mark today!

Until we talk soon – be well!

EDITED TO ADD

Wanted to give you a brief update, as there have been some pretty significant and amazing changes 😉

I had an echocardiogram to check my heart and especially my EF function around April 25, about 6 weeks after my original heart attack! Lo and behold, the ECG showed that things had drastically improved.

My EF function increased from 30% to nearly 60%, which is in the normal range. The medical professionals were extremely pleased and a tad shocked at the rapid increase in such a short amount of time.

Even better, I was able to take that vest off and send it back to the company. Hopefully I never have to see that thing again 🙂