February 4, 2014
I’m a wife and a mommy to 3 children. I just turned 35 in December and relatively healthy however I do have a rare mutation blood clotting disorder in which for at this moment all I needed to tale for this was a baby aspirin. And I suffer from bad headaches so I take. Beta blocker for those and I’m on weight loss medication from me dietitian I see- which in the past 2 yrs I lost over 100 pounds-Other than that I’m feeling great considering the stressful year was about to be behind us! My husband went away for the summer out of state for job training after being virtually unemployed after his huge company laid him off and then shut down he FINALLY got hired back in to his passion of trains. Just after my husband left we got devastating news that our middle child was born with a rare brain disorder called PMG and docs don’t know what his future will hold. But it’s ok because I look at my glass half full there are blessings in all this and will fight through these test. I have an almost 3 yr old that depends on me to teach her the way of life- our only little girl so things are interestingly fun- dress and fairy dust oh my!
But Jan 9th my life changed for ever, my dad and I were in my kitchen talking and laughing, I just brewed a cup of coffee when I got this horrible pain in the center that took my breath away. I started to run my chest and the pain got immediately worse- the worst pain in my life. The pain went to both arms and stopped at my elbows. My dad said its probably something you ate. I said no this isn’t right – so I drank water, drank milk, the more I walked the worse I felt. I got hot so I went out on my porch and then my body turned into a water faucet ..the sweating was so horrible then the elephant feeling came on and then it dawned on me…I told me dad to rush me to the hospital.
By the grace of God my dad didn’t listen to me and instead drove around the corner to my local fire department in which I was rushed to the ER. After some testing my results came in that my troponins were elevated – ER dr said I suffered what seems to be a minor heart attack and I was being admitted. What?! So I was given a room finally at 4am. Come 9am I was told they were taking me lot the cath lab. I told them I was having little lightening fast type of pain in my chest again. Apparently I set off the heart monitors and BAM I was in the cath lab in no time. They told me I would be in a twilight…hum no I remember and felt the pressure of the cath through my body. At some point during this I started to yell I’m in pain it’s so bad and then I started yelling the best I could that I can’t breath my throat is closing….then all of sudden the pain immediately stopped! I remember feeling at peace- at rest finally and then everything went black.
The next thing I feel is my nurse Jeffery rubbing my cheek and forehead as I’m shaking uncontrollably and I kept saying I’m all sweaty and I’m cold over and over and he tried calming me down and said baby girl you gave us one hell of a scare but we got you back darling, we got you back. I said sorry to him. Jeffery said baby girl I’m getting your husband so he can see you before we transport you to the ICU. I said that’s not good and so many doctors in the cath lab came up to me and said your very sick.
Turns out the first cath they put in my wrist the doctors didn’t see anything wrong. I had a healthy clear heart. But it was actually after they just pulled out the cath in my wrist when I stated to yell about the pain and not being able to breath And when it got dark was actually when I FLATLINED !! So they rushed a cath through my groin and found that my right coronary had dissected. They had placed 2 stents to keep that flap open. When the cath lab looked at my pics and video in still framed they seen what they missed..it was thought in the moment to be a screen glitch because the flap opened up like a blink of an eye.
4 days in the ICU AND NOW 3 new heart meds and no more weight loss medication and a switch to a different beta blocker has changed me forever….now I have. Heart condition at 35.. I now have to carry a card with me at all times in regards to the placement of my stents.
I haven’t been the same since I have night sweats every night and I get out of breath easily I want to sleep often. But I’m hoping I get back to the old me who was very active and an avid walker. Today I started my cardiac rehabilitation – and YES IM THE YOUNGEST ONE and yes that brings lots of stares and questions …. But that’s ok because no one has heard of SCAD and I’m determine to be one of the voices for those effected ….. The scary part is the uncertain future because it’s not as common as other health conditions but I’m a fighter and I want to know all I can about this for others and the sake of my babies- especially my baby girl since this effects mostly younger healthy woman.
So welcome to 2014 , I’m. SCAD SURVIVOR!