September 1, 2017
Friday February 13, 2015- I was a 48 year old fit and healthy mother of 4 and one night I had “heartburn” took some tums and went to bed 2 days later it came back and all day I tried to get rid of it with antacids to no avail. After work I went shopping, I went home and it still had not gotten better. This was a Friday night and we had plans to go away the following week, I had a lot to do and since I started feeling weak I decided to go to the hospital so they could take care of the “heartburn” and I could go back to getting done what I had to get done.
When I arrived they checked my blood pressure ( nothing too crazy) did an EKG and saw nothing – they were about to let me go home to follow up with a gastroenterologist but then they got the results from the cardiac enzyme blood test and it showed elevated troponins, and they decided to keep me. They advised me that they need to do an angiogram to see what is going on and when I had it done the next day (which I don’t even remember) I was told that I had another heart attack on the table and flat lined, they had to resuscitate me and put me on a heart pump until the surgeon could arrive at the hospital, I then underwent double bypass surgery of the 2 left arteries, which were twisted and torn starting at the top and going half way down. Recovery was tough but here I am 2 years later and still dealing with the after effects.
I found out a couple of months ago that my bypass arteries had closed up and the original arteries are now working but are still dissected. Also I asked to run tests for FMD (fibromuscular dysplasia) which they found in my internal carotid arteries and renal arteries and I believe it is what had caused my SCAD. I just wish there was more information on this and I hope to one day be able to relax and not worry that this is going to happen again.