New member of this crappy club!

• By julieinoz
• Reply 3481456
• October 23, 2012 at 10:13 am
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Welcome to the club Gina! I hope you feel better soon and with all your knowledge, you will be a huge help to those of us who feel like we know nothing. So sorry you had to go through this. Hope your day gets better.
Julie

• By Gschrei983
• Reply 3481695
• October 23, 2012 at 11:09 am
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Thanks Julie. I hope I can help. But right now having trouble helping myself. Did all I can do to keep my heart healthy, and bam!
Just going thru my stages of grief. Caught between anger and depression! Sometimes I feel I want to get back to work sooner than later to get my mind off this, but guess I have to wait a couple more weeks.

Gina

• By Pchyk
• Reply 3481729
• October 23, 2012 at 11:17 am
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Hi Gina.
Welcome, you will find that there are a number of us on this site that have no real reason as to why this happened. I got the shock of my life when they told me what had happened and for me it can't be undone. The only thing that keeps me sane is work don't give it up.

Pchyk

• By Gschrei983
• Reply 3481893
• October 23, 2012 at 12:12 pm
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No... Can't give that up.. But at times my work is so stressful. I'm wondering if that's not gonna be the best decision .
Just feel "stuck" with no where to go, can't concentrate on a book or movie to even distract me for a while.

Time will heal!
Thanks, gina

• By joy2day
• Reply 3481950
• October 23, 2012 at 12:34 pm
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The success of medical advances has taught us that immunizations prevent disease --- and we've seen remarkable success there. Then we come up with diseases like heart disease --- where all the medical advice is geared around risk reduction, not guaranteed disease reduction. When risk management doesn't prevent our disease, we are confused and dejected. If we know (or even think) we didn't manage our risks well, we add guilt and shame into the mix -- it is one jumbled-up pot of sour soup.

Gina, if you had a patient feeling this way, what would you tell them? Many of us at this site have been here and know that physical, emotional and spiritual healing take differing amounts of time. At first, I was frequently monitored due to a second hospitalization and a kidney insult from my treatment. Each doctor's visit, I would have a list of questions. After one of those visits, I asked "And what else do I need to be doing?" Her answer was cute, but I heard her message clearly: "You need to figure out which game show on Price is Right is your favorite, because you really need to rest and left your self recover right now."

Come here, talk and share --- We can understand in ways that your coworkers and family may not.

Karla

• By Gschrei983
• Reply 3482201
• October 23, 2012 at 2:00 pm
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Thanks Karla,
Yes, I should think of what I would say to my patients. Right now my brain is blocked, I'm in the waiting room of drs office cause I'm feeling intermittent chest pains. And these folk know me all to well. After any angiograms, which I have had many to clean out existing stents and check them, I feel like such a pain in the butt cause it will end up being the same old Vasospasums which alwYs get worse after a cardio cath. It's a crappy cycle in which I can't get out of. I actually thought I was out, I ran a 5 k this past spring and did a 2 hour workout the night before this new dissection! I thought I was done. Thinking I could see my cardiologist annually instead or every 4 months. Ok.. Hope I get called on soon do I can get on with my day!! Thanks for lettinge vent. This is all too much right now.

Gina

• By SojournHR
• Reply 3483379
• October 23, 2012 at 9:23 pm
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Hi Gina - Please post and give us an update on yourself. I had a SCAD on 09/01 so I understand how you are feeling because I tried to do all the right things to keep myself healthy and then WHAM, THIS happens!!! Just before the SCAD, I had read something about how an attitude of gratitude brings opportunities (actually, it was on a tea bag of all places). I started trying to put that into practice and things were going better for me, then the SCAD rocked my world. Fortunately, and thankfully, I didn't have to have stents or surgery, but as you know, a dissection is still a traumatic event. To get back into that gratitude attitude, I started beginning each day with thanking God that I was still alive ( and I try to do this before my feet even hit the floor). I returned to work, but the stresses of the past soon returned and it was hard to be grateful. But, the SCAD made me face the fact that I really didn't like my job anymore and I needed to move forward in searching for a new career. I haven't found a new job yet, but I have some exciting leads and I am grateful that the SCAD forced me to take steps to make a job change. I'm not saying that you should change jobs -- I'm just saying that those of us who are SCAD survivors have a lot to be thankful for and we sometimes have to look behind the scenes to find those things. I know that all of this is easier said than done. I wish the best for you and look forward to hearing how you are doing.

• By Gschrei983
• Reply 3483473 · In reply to 3483379 by SojournHR
• October 23, 2012 at 9:50 pm
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Thanks for you reply. No update yet. I'm a week into my new life. I am gonna try to remember to be thankful for each Day as everyone should! I was just talking to my brother who lost his wife 2 years ago, told him my plan was not to make my husband a widow too soon!
Just hard to move on with all the new paranoid thoughts in my head starting all over again. Went thru this march 02 days before my 38 th bday. Just still seems to unreal.
What do you do for a living?
Gina.

Ahhh the big 50, gonna need to celebrate!

• By KAKLeon
• Reply 3486552 · In reply to 3483473 by Gschrei983
• October 24, 2012 at 9:34 pm
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Hi Gina! It definitely is a "crappy club," but the people are really nice!! There are so many of us on here who can relate to how you're feeling, and even those who can understand what it's like to have a second SCAD. You are understandably down, but the others have given you great advice. I imagine it's really hard to be a patient when your career is cardiac nurse!

Have you had a chance to look through the "SCAD section" ... if you click on the discussion topic (right side of the page) for spontaneous coronary artery dissection, it will group the posts all together. Or, search SCAD in the find it box and you'll see several hundreds.

The most helpful ones right now may be the ones about the Mayo Clinic research, to read and also print off for your cardio. Then, apply to participate in the research! It's a great feeling to know that you are doing something to advance understanding of SCAD. We don't really have to feel like nothing is known, because progress has been made already (please see the post on the Mayo retrospective study).

I'll bump them up again in the list. Try to rest and recharge. Lots of times we feel worse because we are exhausted. Difficult to relax and turn off the brain!

Katherine

• By kittysheart
• Reply 3489732
• October 25, 2012 at 9:03 pm
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Hi Gina, welcome to the "crappy club". We are not perfect but together we harmonize perfectly and support one another sharing kinds of soooo many heart disorders (never knew so many heart problems existed), to feelings, and sometime good recommendations or shared news. I'm sorry for what you had to go through and endure. Anyone going through what you did describe deserves to be allowed to vent. Guess we are all human and go through the array of emotions depressed, angry, victimized, etc. and one or two pitty party is okay if it helps you relieve the stress. If depression doesn't go away, then please speak to someone close to you or the doctor. As a nurse, I'm sure you are well aware medicines can have adverse reactions for some including feeling sad or angry. Funny story (not really), my Mom-in-law and Father-in-law were happily in love and married for just 60 years when Mom starting slapping him out of the blue and snapped at him and that is far from her regular nice - sound level headed with so much sweetness in character. Told doctor and the depression & anger was a side affect as she was on 15 bottles of meds in a day. She was weaned from the one medicine and went back to being her beautiful self. She never even remembered the episodes - some drug. It's good we can talk on this site because sometimes our own families are going through their own difficulties and they don't quite understand what we are going through but here is always a heart sister on this site because someone may have or is walking in same shoes will listen and share with you. Hope you have a better and well day! Sharing my angel with you too. ^j^ Kitty