The Story Begins...It all Started as Pressure!

Thursday November 18, 2010 started as any normal Thursday, I got up... wait it really didn't. I was feeling rushed because I had waited to the last minute to get the new computer ready for our Santa Portrait shoot of the year (we help local animal rescues raise money for their animals). Things were not really going well, I couldn't get the computer or the monitor to cooperate with each other, and then Windows wanted to be difficult. Jim, my Santa and partner in the shoot, came by to help. He stayed for a bit then left. I was making enough progress that the computer would do what I needed it to do for the shoot.

At about 5:30pm I had my last cigarette. I felt horrible, like I was getting sick. I decided I didn't need to smoke anymore that evening so I was pretty much done with everything for the day. Then about 7:30pm my chest and back started to feel compressed with pressure. I had pressure across the front of my chest along the top of my breast area. The pressure in my back was at the bottom of my rib cage and it felt like it was under my ribs. I also had a pressure in my left shoulder. I thought, well, here I have talked myself into feeling like I am having a heart attack due to the stress of the computer malfunction and photo shoot. Also a friend from high school had passed away not a week before from a heart attack, so I just thought I was over reacting. At about 8:00pm I decided to go to bed, I lay there for an hour. About 9:00pm I could feel the pressure decrease so I drifted off to sleep.

The next morning at 3:00am I woke up and was surprised and a bit upset that the pressure was still there. Now I was starting to worry. I got out of bed and went to the kitchen to get ready for the day. As I was making coffee and unloading the dishwasher, the pressure intensified. I needed to talk to someone who had experienced a panic-attack; I needed to talk to my brother, so I waited until 4:00am to call him. I called his house phone, but no one answered so I left a message, not knowing if they had a “real” answering machine or voicemail. I waited and called back, still no answer. I called his cell phone, because he kept it beside his bed as an alarm clock, but I knew he was having issues with it so I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t answer. So I called his wife’s cell phone, knowing again that she kept it beside her as an alarm clock. I thought to myself if she doesn’t answer I am calling my Mom. Now some of you might ask, why not call my Mom first, because I didn’t want to upset or scare her if this pressure turned out to be nothing.

So Melanie answered her phone, I asked to speak to Andy, she handed the phone to him. I asked him about his panic-attacks and what did they feel like? He told me the symptoms he had experienced were not what was going on with me. I then started to cry and said I think I am having a heart attack. Well actually I said “Oh, Crap!” Andy said “What is wrong?” I said “I think I am having a heart attack.”

At that point he told me to call 911, then he told Melanie to call 911, then I was so hysterical I couldn’t talk to him, I had to hang up. EMS tried to call me but they have an unpublished number, so my phone had an app on it that would pick up the call then hang up on the unknown number. This happened twice, by the time I got the app turned off, the police showed up to my house.

I had the dogs blocked off in the living room, and I had the side door open waiting on the EMS. The police officer came into the house, I sat down.

He asked “Are you OK?”

“NO!

“Are you being held against your will?”

“No?”

“Are you alone in the house?”

“Yes”

The whole time he is checking out the house. Then he asks why I didn’t answer my phone when EMS called me. I told him about the app on my phone. As I was explaining that, Fire Rescue/EMS pulled up to my house. The officer then yelled out to them “She wasn’t hanging up on you on purpose, it was her phone.” Someone yelled back “Yeah, there is an app for that”.

Then all 5 (which seemed like 25) EMS/Fire Rescue people came in my house, asking questions, writing down my meds, taking vitals; it was a mad house, the whole time the dogs are barking. Then the EMS lady hooked me up to an EKG machine to measure my heart and as she was doing that, she was trying to calm the dogs. “It’s OK puppies we are here to help, shhhsssshhh”, but they kept on barking. I said in a loud voice “OK, that’s enough!” They stopped and all the people turned and looked at me, I said “That’s right, they know.”

Then the EMS lady said “I am showing that you are not having a heart attack, but because of the pressure you need to go to the hospital to have it checked out.”

I said “So you show I am not having a heart attack, but you want me to go to the hospital to have my chest pressure checked?”

“Yes”

“OK, I will go, but I will have my brother take me, he is on his way now.”

“Uh, I don’t think that is a good idea, we should take you”

“According to your instrument, am I having a Heart Attack?”

“No”

“Then I will have my brother take me.”

Andy and Melanie arrived moments later, the EMS lady told them I needed to go to the hospital and all the EMS people left.

Andy put me in my car and off we went. As he pulled in front of the Emergency Room I got out and went inside I told them I might be having a heart attack, but I thought is was a panic-attack. They rushed me into the back and got me on another EKG; it was normal again. Now they were waiting to get blood and have the doctor talk to me, so they put me in a cubicle.

The on-call doctor said they were going to run some tests and then have the cardiologist come talk to me. They gave me 3 nitro pills (oh the pain of the headache) and took blood.

The on-call doctor said that my blood work showed some abnormalities but they didn’t think it was a heart attack. But they wanted to be safe so the cardiologist was coming to talk to me.

By this time we called Mom and let her know what was going on. She immediately came to the hospital. Mom had arrived by the time the cardiologist came to talk to us. He said that he thought it was indigestion and muscle fatigue (because I had worked out the day before). He gave me an indigestion cocktail and the pressure went away.

I thought, oh yeah, I am going home today.

Then he came in and said they wanted to keep me for observation and run some more blood work, so they moved me upstairs and drew blood.

So after the blood was drawn and I was moved, the cardiologist came in and shut the door and dropped his head, I knew I was in trouble then.

I thought, Oh Crap.

As it turned out, indeed there was a problem with my heart and they wanted to go in and see that problem. They would start with a Cardiac Catheterization to go in and view the heart, if the problem was small then they would put in a stent, if it was bigger than a stent then they would put in a balloon. If the problem was bigger than a balloon, then they would do bypass surgery. But they had to first get in and see what was going on.

So as I lay there contemplating my future and whether I actually had one, I started to pray.

Was I scared, of course I was. Did I trust my Lord and Savior, why yes I did! How did I feel about whatever the outcome would be of this procedure? I was happy with which of the two outcomes it was going to be. One, I would go on to be with my Savior and my loved ones (My Grandma and Grandpa), or two, I would live to see another day. If it was the latter, things were going to change. One, I would change, two, eating habits would change and, three, exercise would be done everyday.

As I lay on the table and the cardiologist put the catheter into my leg then my heart, they discovered 35% blockage, but it was blockage in my main artery on the front of my heart, the best place for a blockage to be, so they inserted a stent. Done and done… wait not done, as the stent was being put in place, they knocked some plaque loose and it went down a side artery causing me to have a second more painful (fire feeling) heart attack. It was not good, at that point anything bad that was causing me to go through this pain was on a list to be removed from my life. I never want to go back to the hospital to deal with that kind of pain or trauma again.

After 24 hours of painful fire in my chest the pressure and fire started to lift. I was ready to go home. I felt better than I had felt in 15 years. I was very weak but ready to make changes and get healthy.

Ten days after my heart attack I started working out again with my trainer; 5 weeks after my heart attack I started rehabilitation.  That got my heart rate up and me working out and sweating. I was losing weight and gaining health.

I walked into that heart attack, I knew I was at risk, but I kept saying I have time to turn it around, finally God said “No you don’t, WAKE UP!” and I did take the wake up call, it was scary but productive.

I started walking 3 miles a day and working out with my trainer twice a week.

Then on March 10, 2011 I was having dinner with my Sister-in-law, Marie and her husband, my Brother-in-law Reid. We were talking about walking and getting healthy, when all of a sudden Reid says to me, “You should walk the ½ marathon at Disney in January. You will be able to do it easy.”

I sat there in confusion and shock… “What are you crazy?”

“No there were a lot of people walking it this year.”

I laughed it off, but the more I thought about it, the more it niggled at my mind. So the next day as I walked, I went just a little bit faster. I wanted to see if I could get up to the 16 minute mile you have to maintain during the race. I couldn’t do it walking. But running might be an option. So I experimented with my knee and body to see if I could even run. I found that I could run, it didn’t hurt and I enjoyed the thrill of it.

So at that point I made the commitment to actually run the 1/2 marathon.  I started doing research on training. I backed off on my walking and started to run. Slowly and a short distance to begin with, it was like I was starting over. But I was committed at this point, and there was no turning back. There have been many things in my life I have failed at and just plain stopped doing. But this was a new me and new way of life. I was going to follow through even if it killed me.

I read as much material as I could get my hands on, I talked with other people, I got advice and I put it all too good use.

I was in training for a ½ marathon. Then all of a sudden, I felt a change, I was happier, I was losing weight easily, quickly, and I was sleeping better, my sleep apnea was fading as well. I was even craving good healthy food.

Everyday I got up early, I would get dressed, I would go out and run a little bit farther everyday. It was a struggle, but I had a goal, and the bigger clothes (my closet was getting cleaned everyday as I had to make a pile for Good Will), the smaller body, the better sleep was just a wonderful side effect. I tell everyone I keep leaving my ass on the asphalt. Well, the road can have it.

Slowly I built up to 4 miles a day, which was a long and hard process; I thought I would never get there. But once I hit that 4 mile mark, each mile after was easy, I started to do “long” runs weekly once I hit 4 miles a day. The first “long” run was 6.25 miles, I was so excited I couldn’t see straight. It was half of the ½ marathon, so I knew I could complete half of the race. Then over the next few weeks my distance increased weekly. I maintained a 5 to 6 mile daily run, and by the time I was a month out from the race I was running 12 miles and feeling good at the end.

Then it was time to go to Disney World…