April 25, 2022
I woke up with chest pain the night of 11/30/21. I was 37 and in good health. I thought I was dreaming, and it went away briefly, so I fell back asleep. The following day, I got up and went to work, but the pain in my chest was back. I thought it was heartburn. It was unusual because I had never experienced heartburn. I called my husband at noon that day and said I was going home due to unexpected heartburn and chest pain. He was worried it was something more serious, and we went to the local Urgent Care after I got home. Urgent Care ordered labs and an EKG. The EKG was normal; however, my troponins were elevated. They said they weren’t sure what it was, but it probably wasn’t serious. Still, they wanted to admit me to the ER so they could monitor my heart. In the ER, I was again told me they did not know what was wrong. They took more labs, and my troponin was spiking. The ER physician did not think it was a cardiac issue. That evening my troponins were in the 3000k’s. At around 8 that evening, they admitted me. By 10 pm, my troponin was in the 6K’s. They said my EKGs were normal and still did not know what was wrong with me. They ordered an echo and stress test in the morning. On December 2, the cardiologist informed me she found “abnormalities” in my heart walls and ordered an angiogram echocardiogram. After the angiogram, I don’t remember much. Eventually, the cardiologist came to my room and told me that I had a tear in my artery causing a heart attack. The cardiologist recognized the condition as SCAD. She had a SCAD and participated in the MAYO Clinic research program and recommended I reach out to them for more information on the condition.