November 9th, 2012 was the day my life changed forever. I was talked into writing about it by some good friends. For those of you who are new visitors and friends, I'm going to repost it in the hopes that it will help someone if they or someone they know are ever find themselves in the same situation.
Two weeks ago on Friday, November 9th (2012) at 6:15 in the morning I had a life changing experience. I wasn't sure I was going to post about it but decided to go ahead because it's something most of us as women don't really know or think about.
Soooo, here goes!
I started feeling weird about 8pm Thursday night. Every once in a while I would get a little flutter in the middle of my chest, also had a strange feeling in my arm, not really numb, just weird. It wasn't the really tingly numbness you would think would come with something as serious as a heart attack. I thought it was strange but not anything serious. I did wonder at one point if it might have something to do with my heart but kind of ignored that. These symptoms kept on till I went to bed at 11. I figured if it was still happening in the morning, I'd go to my Dr. I woke up about 1am feeling very strange and had to sit up till it passed. At 3:15, I woke up again and it was worse, sat up again till it passed and then went back to sleep. What in the world was I thinking, Big mistake! I woke up again at 6:15 and knew something was terribly wrong. Both my arms felt really strange, that was the worst, and I was getting weak which got stronger and stronger. I got dressed and called my oldest son who was staying in our bonus room that was set up as a small apartment since he'd gotten out of the service. He didn't answer so I looked down the hall and the door was open.
Because he always kept it closed, I thought he hadn't come home. I didn't know that that night he'd decided to sleep in the guest room. My middle son always had to be at work at 6am but his door was still closed so I knew he was home. LUCKILY for me, he didn't have to be there that day till 7. I knocked on his door and told him I needed to go to the emergency room. By this time I was getting weaker. He had to help me down the stairs and into his truck. Near Fatal Mistake number 2, (the first was going to bed instead of going to the hospital), I should have called 911! The fire department/paramedics were a block down the street, they go by my house all the time but it never entered my mind to call, we drove right by! By the time we got to the hospital which once again I was lucky, it was only 10 mins away, by that time I was to weak to walk in. Aaron had to get me a wheel chair from inside the door. He took me in and told the Nurse what was happening and they took me right into the office and started asking me questions such as did I smoke, no, did I drink, no, had I been sick, no. By now, I was really weak and told them I thought I was going to pass out. Their response was no, don't do that, REALLY, your kidding me, right! Even though I didn't realize it, I did. The next thing I remember was seeing all 3 of my kids sitting in a row with baby Kailyn on Kate's lap and the nurse saying I can't get the IV in her arm, the other nurse saying forget it we have one in her other arm, we have to go now. I thought I was still sitting in the office but I was in a room on a gurney. The next thing I knew, they were rushing me down the hallway and then I was out! No, I didn't see the tunnel with the bright light at the end, I'm hoping that doesn't mean I was heading the other way to you know where! The next thing I knew, was it was morning and I was sitting up with the Dr. telling me what had happened. He said I was very lucky to have gotten there when I did and asked me if I had taken any aspirin which I told him I had. His response was to tell me that might have been what made the difference between still being here or not and that it had been quite serious. He said I'd had a major heart attack and that I had damage to my heart. Instead of pumping % being normal which is 55% to 65%, it was pumping at 35% which he said wasn't that bad. My left artery was 90% blocked and they had to put a stint in to open it up. My right one was 60% blocked which they were going to try to dissolve it with medication. It was the strangest thing, I felt perfectly fine, like nothing had happened. No pain, no nothing. Made it kind of hard to believe it had really happened. I was in ICU for 4 days then moved to a regular room on Monday. Before they let me go home on Tuesday, they gave me a portable defibrillator which you wear like an over the shoulder purse. It's about the size of a large canteen and is very awkward and if worn over the shoulder, swings around and is very annoying! You can also wear it hooked to a belt which I switched to pretty quickly, much more comfortable. I had to wear this thing for 3 months. If my heart stopped or started beating irregularly, it would shock me with 150 volts to get it working properly again. Fortunately, that's a lot less then what you get zapped with if you happen to be unlucky enough to be sitting in the electric chair! I didn't think much of it till a friend,(or was she), told me that she knew someone who'd been zapped, it knocked them down and unconscious! TMI, to much information, I would have been happier not knowing that!
Now isn't that something to look forward to, hopefully NOT! I'm thinking positive here!
I had no idea what a heart attack was like and as far as that goes, haven't known any women that
have ever had one. The only other weird thing is, or, maybe it's just me but I kind of feel embarrassed to tell people I had a heart attack, almost like I did something wrong. I don't know why, or where that's even coming from, but I am getting over it.
One last thing that that cracks me up, or maybe I just have an very weird sense of humor,
that weekend I was supposed to go to my best friend's daughter's wedding in Savannah. It so happened that my daughter who was supposed to go with me had come down with a bug and her husband was out of town and at that particular time, no one else was available to take care of Kailyn till she felt better, I decided to stay home and help her. This is the part that I find totally ironic. If I had gone, I was supposed to leave Thursday and spend the night at her house in Statesboro along with another of her good friends, Shirley and her husband and then drive to Savannah Friday morning. OK, here it comes, guess what Shirley does for a living.......
She's a UNDERTAKER!! Well, really she's a funeral director who owns her own funeral home!
It cracks me up every time I think about it! Am I weird or what!!
I'm doing fine, feel great and plan to be around at least as long as my Mom who is going to be 85 in February, and, I'm planning on seeing that sweet baby girl grow up!
Till next time......thank goodness there will be!
It's been 5 years now, (11/2017), and I'm doing fine, no problems at all, looking forward to staying healthy and around for a lot more years! Hope this helps shed a little light on what the symptoms are and what to look for if you or someone you know is in the same situation!
Just a little more information, more women die from heart attacks every year then all kinds of cancer combined! Now, that's a statistic to think about!
After all that, I need a good party so this week you can find me at:
