It started in the spring of 2005. More accurately, it probably started at least several years before that. A change in employment, reduced wages, long term care and the subsequent loss of my mother – in short, tons of stress. Couple this with bad eating habits, menopause, and less of the right kind of exercise you have a heart attack waiting to happen.
During that spring I noticed that I would easily get out of breath when climbing stairs. But, since I had put on almost 60 pounds since 1998, I figured that was the cause. I vowed, once again, to get serious about losing that weight. My doctor had expressed concern about this also on several occasions. Soon I started noticing a mild tightness in my chest that accompanied the shortness of breath, but only during extended periods of fast walking or while climbing stairs. At this point I contacted my doctor. His in office examination didn’t show anything conclusive, but in his words “at your age it probably wouldn’t hurt to have a stress test”. It seems that I hear that “at your age…” line more and more lately!
Oh well. His nurse scheduled the stress test for the following week. As it turned out I didn’t even make it to that Monday before I ended up in the ER. As that week progressed the pains were coming more frequently and going away more slowly. During the night on Friday they were the worst. I did not go to the hospital, but probably should have since I was having some pain in my left arm. I ended up spending most of Saturday in the hospital. Three EKG’s (electrocardiograms) and three sets of blood work later they finally determined that I had not had a heart attack, but my enzymes were elevated. Since I had the stress test scheduled for Monday morning they sent me home with a bottle of nitroglycerin and told me not to exert myself. The stress test did not go well. I was sent home with the same instructions as before and waited for the test results.
On Thursday morning I received the call. The cardiologist suspected at least one, if not two blockages. He could see me that afternoon and do the angiogram with a possible angioplasty the following morning. I could have made a dozen excuses for not following through that day, but in reality I knew that there was really only one decision to be made. Interestingly enough, as I sat in the hospital room waiting to go down for the procedure, Katie Couric was on the television doing a segment on what was now the number one killer of women – heart disease. Among the problems mentioned, in addition to the fact that women are the caregivers so they tend to not take the time to take care of themselves, is that heart disease in women presents itself in a very different manner than it does in men.
Oftentimes even if a woman does go to her doctor, or to the hospital complaining of chest pain she is sent home after being told that “it’s just gas”. Odds are, it’s not, and many of them die after being sent home. I did, in fact, have two blockages. One was at 60%, the other was 90%. A stent was inserted. I was back in my room in about 90 minutes. They didn’t even use general anesthesia, just valium. And while you have to lay flat until the blood clots properly, that isn’t really a big deal when you consider the alternatives. I spent the night in the hospital and went home the next morning.
After taking it easy over the weekend I was back at work on Monday morning. I did, however, take a slower pace that week. A recent article by Dr. Richard N. Fogoros found at About.com reiterates much of what had been reported in Katie Couric’s segment that May 13, 2005. That most women do not even realize that heart disease is the number one killer of women, that our symptoms do not present the same as men, and that since 1984 more women then men have died annually from heart disease.
Frequently it is not that crushing pain in your chest, but that tightness may be just as deadly. It is important to educate yourself as to what the symptoms may be. I will go one step further in saying that we, as a gender, have to start taking a more pro-active approach to our health. Not only do we have to take better care of ourselves and become more knowledgeable about our health issues, but also must be insistent with our health care providers that they follow through on our concerns. If you are having symptoms of a possible heart attack and feel that you are being put off, insist on a blood test that will include the markers for heart attack.
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