My own little red dress

Valentine’s Day 2007 was not looking too promising for either romance or excitement, as I sat in my office at work.  My husband was away on his first out of town trip since returning to work.  It seemed that all my coworkers were talking about their evening’s plans.

In the early afternoon my boss came in from Texas.  I had not been expecting his visit.  The rumors had been circulating for months that the large corporation I worked for was planning to move jobs, but not employees, to Texas or Arizona, both states where salaries were considerably lower.   At that time I had a department of about 40 people working for me.  A large percentage of them were the sole providers of insurance for their families.

He sat down in my office and immediately started talking about the extraordinarily high salaries the members of our department were taking home.  Anyone who knows where I worked would know that this was definitely not true.  He said he could get two managers in Plano , Texas for the salary being offered for one new manager position in CA.  I responded that it would take two managers there to do the job that one of our CA managers could do here.  Needless to say, the discussion became heated.

I recognized that I was experiencing pain in my left hand and arm and a tightening of my jaw and neck on the left side.  The longer he talked, the stronger these (what I now know were symptoms) feelings became.  I finally said I was not feeling well and asked him to leave my office.  By this time I was very shaky and a little nauseous.

My only call was to our HR Vice President to let her know what had happened   I said I did not feel well and was going to go home as soon as I felt better.  I sat in my office for about 30 minutes, told my assistant I was going home and drove there on two major freeways.

It should have been obvious to me that something was wrong, because I did not even want my nightly glass of wine and only wanted to lie down in bed.  Luckily I woke the next morning and called my doctor before leaving for work.  He said to go immediately to the ER – definitely not to work again.  I never even thought about calling 911, which I should have done, but instead drove my husband’s little sports car to the ER.

When I got to the ER and reported how I felt, they took me in immediately.  When the cardiologist there told me that my blood enzyme panel had shown positive for a MI, I did not even know what a myocardial infarction was.

Everything I did could be an actual blueprint for everything you should never do if you suspect a heart attack.  When the doctor asked if I had at least taken an aspirin, I said I had absolutely no thought that what I felt was a heart attack.  I was healthy, had slightly high blood pressure controlled by low dose BP medication and exercised regularly. I had somehow forgotten that none of the males in my father’s family lived to 65 resulting from first time fatal heart attacks.

I was told that my heart attack was the result of a Coronary Artery Spasm, which occurred in a moment of extreme stress causing an artery to spasm.   A Coronary Artery Spasm is sudden tightening of the muscles within the arteries of your heart.  When this happens, your arteries narrow and prevent the flow of blood to your heart.

Coronary Artery Spasms often go undiagnosed because they don’t always cause noticeable symptoms.  This can be dangerous because these contractions can cause a heart attack.  Symptoms can include chest pain or angina, pain on the left side of your chest, chest tightness and feeling of constriction.  Pain can also spread from your chest to your arms, neck or jawbone.   The Spasms frequently result from high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

They placed a stent in one artery, I spent one night in the hospital, and then I went home.  At first I was just relieved to be out of the hospital, but it slowly dawned on me that this could happen anywhere or anytime.  I was fortunate that my cardiologist ordered at 10-week cardiac rehab program.  We learned about diet, appropriate exercise, the need to keep your cell phone nearby and most important for me — the need to avoid triggers of stress.

I had never heard of post myocardial infarction depression.  Again I was fortunate that one of my doctors recognized that I was experiencing this and we were able to deal with it.

This is not intended to be a scholarly paper on heart attacks but simply about how mine happened and how I handled it.  I did pretty much everything wrong and have learned a few basic things anyone should do if they suspect they are having a heart attack.

If you are around others. tell them you suspect a heart attack, ask them to call 911 and stay with you until help arrives.  There may be a defibrillator in a public place.  They generally have easy instructions so non-EMS workers can use them.

If  you are conscious, take a normal dose (325 Milligrams) aspirin.

If you are alone, call 911 immediately, take an aspirin if available, unlock your door for EMS workers and lie down near the door so they can find you easily.

Never attempt to drive yourself to the hospital unless there is no other option.  Asking someone to drive you can be a problem for both you and the driver if your condition worsens in the car.

Every year many Americans have heart attacks, statistically one every 40 seconds   The good news is that  every year tens of thousands of Americans survive heart attacks.  Acting quickly can greatly increase your chance of survival.

My heart attack occurred 13 years ago this Valentine’s Day.  Of course I hope this never occurs again, but I do believe I will be better prepared to recognize the symptoms and know what to do.  I have heard from many people that they hesitated to call 911 because they were not sure they were having a heart attack and did not want to be feel silly.  I recognize that I still feel this way, but remind myself that feeling silly is way better than the worst possible outcome from not calling.