/ General Health / A Heart Attack at 34? No Way!
by Kay Marie
My story with heart disease begins on September 21, 2004. I was taken by ambulance to the hospital with symptoms of severe chest pressure, numbness in both my arms, nausea, pain between my shoulder blades and through my jaw and cold sweats. Upon looking at me, the paramedics dismissed my symptoms and quickly diagnosed me as having a panic attack. I walked myself to the ambulance, got it, and lay on the bed. When we arrived at the hospital, we were told I was in the beginning stages of a heart attack! Within hours, of arriving, I was taken to the catherization lab for examining and my family was told I needed bypass surgery immediately.
On that Sunday afternoon, I underwent quadruple bypass surgery and became a mystery to my doctors as to why I needed it. I was a healthy, 34 year old woman, who ate right, exercised daily, had never smoked, or had high cholesterol or high blood pressure or diabetes. I went through a tough recovery, but came out feeling like a completely different woman and was able to return to teaching Kindergarten for the second semester that spring.
From January 2004 to July 2004, I was feeling like I had never felt before. I had more energy, more enthusiasm for life, and more confidence in how I was living with the minor changes I had to make. When July of 2004 rolled around I started having chest pain again while exercising. My cardiologist had me come in immediately for an exercise stress test, which I did, and I failed. I couldn’t complete the treadmill test without breaking down in tears because of the terrible chest pain. I was taken back to the catherization lab for further testing and was told I needed to undergo bypass surgery AGAIN. Only 11 months after my first surgery, and this time I would need quintuple bypass surgery. I was told 2 of my original bypasses seemed to be rejected by my body and 3 newer areas were showing up as areas of concern. All 5 areas needed to be addressed. The second surgery went much better than the first, probably due to the fact that I wasn’t completely healed from the first, and the recovery was much easier and quicker. At the time, we had decided it would not be in my best interest to return to work until we had some answers. So, I took the upcoming school year off.
Following the second surgery, I was sent up to Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN to get some answers. I was tested endlessly in the Chest Pain Clinic and released a couple days later with a diagnosis of Accelerated Coronary Artery Disease. Though none of my doctors here in Milwaukee or at the Mayo Clinic really could say, without a doubt, that that’s what was going on, that was how they would treat my situation. I was considered a high risk cardiac patient and would need constant and consistent supervision. Not the typical life of 35 year old.
As 2004 came to a close, I found myself back in the hospital with chest pain and needing to undergo another catherization for a stent implant. Mayo Clinic was called with this news and a visit was set up for March.
During my second visit at Mayo, my cardiologist told me he scheduled appointments for me to see a vascular specialist and a rheumatologist. He believed, at this point, there was something else causing my heart issues. And he was right! After many tests, and the mother of all tests, the 64 slice CT Scan; the specialists diagnosed me with a very rare autoimmune disease called Takayasu’s Arteritis. This disease is diagnosed in 2 out of one million people and typically affects the extremities. In my case, I am considered 1 in a million because it is affecting my heart.
Takayasu’s causes inflammation in the blood vessels that carries blood away from the heart and to the rest of the body, but in my case it is affecting the blood vessels that carry the blood to my heart. Which makes my situation even more unique and I’ve been told is rarely seen at Mayo Clinic. What I learned during this visit was that my heart is very healthy, and luckily for me, pretty much undamaged, but the vessels surrounding my heart were inflamed, not blocked. This condition caused my need for heart surgery.
The good news… is that Takayasu’s can be treated, it can’t be cured, but it can be treated very aggressively and with time, can reverse or almost turn itself off. Presently, I am past the aggressive stage of treatment and feeling amazing.
Now I’d like to say my story ends there with a diagnosis and a treatment, but it doesn’t.
Tuesday, June 9, 2005, started out like any other day for me. I didn’t realize that, before the end of the day, I would be back in the hospital for another 5 days. On that day, I ended up having some strange chest discomfort that was not the usual for me. By this time, I had already had 2 open heart surgeries, so you can say I was an expert on knowing when things didn’t feel quite right with me. As evening came around, I was taking a shower when my heart began to race in a way that I thought it would leap out of my chest. Putting my hand to my chest scared me, because the beating was so fast. With the racing heart came some pretty intense chest pain. After taking 2 nitroglycerin pills I called my cardiologist and was told to call 911 and get to the hospital. When the paramedics and fire squad arrived, I answered a couple of their questions, and then passed out. That’s the last thing I remember. I went into ventricular fibrillation, v-fib for short; this is a very fast erratic heart rate in the lower part of the heart. Because this arrhythmia can be fatal, the paramedics needed to use an AED to shock my heart rhythm back to normal. I was told they only needed to shock me once, which I guess is a pretty rare thing and I “woke up”. When I came to I had no idea what had just happened to me, but I did know something didn’t feel quite right. When the paramedics saw that I was awake, they called my name a couple times and asked, “Can you hear me?” Well, instead of saying “yes”, I responded, “Could someone please cover me up?”. The strange feeling I was having was that I had no top on because the paramedics needed to use the AED pads on me. Needless to say, I broke the tension in the room and all the men laughed. Following my incident at home, I was immediately taken to the hospital and 5 days later discharged with an AICD implant.
Of course, when all was said and done, what I found out was that the 1% of my heart that was damaged during my very first episode was the culprit of my v-fib incident. The electrical current that runs through my heart hit that spot and caused the arrhythmia. This was something that none of my doctors could ever have predicted.
The best way to bring my story to a close is with yet one more diagnosis and hopefully my last diagnosis. Most recently, February 2008, I was diagnosed with SVT, supraventricular tachycardia. This condition is a result of high heart rates in the upper part of my heart vs. my previous v-fib incident which is in the lower part of the heart and more fatal. The need of a pacemaker can control this condition. Lucky for me, my AICD implant is both a defibrillator and a pacemaker.
Today, I feel like Wonder Woman. I have had two bypass surgeries, a stent implant, I’ve been diagnosed with a very rare autoimmune disease, and I’ve had a defibrillator implanted all before the age of 36. I exercise regularly, I lobby on Capital Hill for women and heart disease, I am hoping to do a mini marathon in the very near future, AND I am here today to share my story. How could I not feel like Wonder Woman?! I have accepted everything that has happened to me and I have never been happier.
I can’t stress enough the importance of being your own advocate for your health and to do all YOU can to be heart healthy. I was doing everything right and had I not been, I wouldn’t be here today to share my story. And that is a fact, my doctors have told me more than once. It’s because I did and do take time each day to make sure I make choices that are in my best interest so I don’t have to go through what I went through before. I look at it as…I have heart disease, it doesn’t have me!
So I ask you, what will you do today to make a difference in your life or someone else’s to prevent heart disease? It’s never too late to change the way you live.
I BELIEVE…
“If sharing my experience with heart disease helps save even one woman, then it was all worth it.”
(This was the speech I gave at the 2005 Go Red for Women Luncheon in Milwaukee)
Much Heart Health to you all!
Kay Marie
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Kay Marie,
Your story truly inspired me. I don’t have much money, but I am going to donate $25 to the American Heart Association. I feel it’s the most I can do. I strongly urge everyone else to give what they can as well.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth