Hello, Friends,
I am still working on completing "My body, myself." In the meantime, I submit a story I wrote for my friends and family a few weeks after my HA. (Sorry, it is a little lengthy.)
A Cautionary Tale
Once upon a time, in a modest castle Queen Elaine was getting ready for bed at about 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday, January 24, 2007. (She had been “hanging out” with the Princess Susan, who often comes over on Wednesday nights to spend time with her mom and dad.) Lo and behold, the queen suddenly experienced pain in her jaw, a deep, dragging ache she hadn’t felt before. Shortly thereafter, a tight band of pain developed across her chest. It wasn’t the worst pain she ever felt, but it was quite uncomfortable. She brushed her teeth, crawled into bed next to her sleeping husband, the King, and waited to see if a comfortable position eased the discomfort. Alas, it was not to be.
She gently prodded sleeping husband, who woke with a start (pretty annoying—I was gentle!). She explained her symptoms, whereupon the king jumped out of bed exclaiming, “Let’s go to the hospital!” But Elaine replied that she really didn’t want to get out of bed. (The prospect of getting up, dressed, downstairs and into the car seemed far too daunting. Elaine wasn’t exactly scared, but she was unwilling to move or even open her eyes much.) The quick-witted king picked up the phone and called 911. Elaine suggested that the king go downstairs and warn the Princess (who remained in the family room surfing on the King and Queen’s computer) so she would not be alarmed when paramedics stormed the castle.
The paramedics arrived very quickly indeed, and began their questioning (questions such as, “Do you smoke?” “Any family history of heart problems?” “Are you short of breath?” “Are you on any medication?” To which the queen answered, “No” “No” “No” and “Yes” as the queen had been on cholesterol medication for about a year, as is her father and younger brother Steve) and ministrations upon the queen, including a baby aspirin and nitroglycerin (kind of yucky). They also pierced the queen with needles in order to start an IV and were in constant communication with the Heart Hospital, which was but a tiny handful of minutes away. At length the paramedics were ready to transport the queen to the emergency room. The queen’s arrival caused quite a stir indeed. A cardiologist was summoned from his bed, more needles inserted into the queen’s arm, many questions asked, etc., etc., etc.
In what seemed but a short time, the ER doctor presented himself to the queen bearing the document called EKG and announced for all to hear, “Well, you had a heart attack.” The queen’s eyes fairly popped out of her head (not unlike those of cartoon characters). Truth be told, as shocking as those words were to hear, the queen was not completely surprised. One does not suffer jaw and chest pain and not consider that perhaps one’s heart is being attacked! (Even though I was on the elliptical trainer at the fitness center that Wednesday morning for 30 minutes--no chest pains or shortness of breath, then or ever before. In September, I was hiking in mountains out West on vacation, for goodness sake!)
Events continued to move apace. The queen was to be transported to the Cath lab, where the cardiologist and his colleague, the cardiac surgeon, would perform angioplasty and insert stents. The kind cardiologist was very reassuring, telling the king that the queen would be “Just fine.” And the king and queen believed him. The last thing the queen remembers was being told “We’re giving you some medicine to help you relax.” The time was 2:01 a.m. The queen woke to the interesting sensation of a catheter being removed from her groin. The time was 2:31 a.m. In little over two hours from the onset of the queen’s travail, it was over! The doctors had opened the queen’s left descending coronary artery and inserted two stents. By 3:30 a.m., the queen was snugly ensconced in her very nice bedchamber in the CCU. And the people rejoiced and thanked God for His goodness!
“What of the princess Susan?” you ask? The princess remained at the castle for some time, praying and assuring herself that her mother would indeed be at her wedding to the noble Erich in September. Then, being as quick-witted as her father, the king, the princess called the cell phones of her siblings, the princes and princesses Anne, Jed, Tim, Erin and Dave to inform them of the queen’s crisis and to reassure them that all was well. She also e-mailed the queen’s siblings and copied the queen’s pastor. (The queen’s pastor, her dear friend, was at her hospital bedside before 7 a.m.)
More of the queen’s adventure could be recorded here, but suffice it to say that in but two days the queen returned to her castle. She rested and took it easy for a couple of weeks, and then felt very, very good and resumed her normal life. The cardiologist cleared her for cardiac rehab, where she can be found 3 days a week until the end of May. And the queen rejoices and thanks God every day for His many blessings.
The moral of our story? Just because you don’t have any risk factors (like the queen—her only risk factor was high cholesterol) doesn’t mean you won’t have a heart problem. (Especially as one reaches menopause. The queen herself believes she detected subtle changes in her healthiness and feelings of wellbeing after this time.) Exercise, eat right, stop smoking if you do, don’t start if you don’t, have your blood pressure and cholesterol checked, and pay very close attention to what your body tells you. The queen was very fortunate to have clear symptoms. Others are not so fortunate and do not live to tell their stories.
The End