I had a huge wakeup call today. And I will never again ignore my body when I am feeling off and feel like something is wrong. You see Monday of this week I started feeling a little off. I had a slight pressure feeling in my chest, but it wasn’t pain. It just felt like a pressure or weight on my chest. I thought about calling my doctor and going in to be checked. But my husband got called into work and someone had to watch our 6-year-old. I put it off, I told myself if I still felt bad on Tuesday I would go to the doctor. But Tuesday morning although I felt bad and was now feeling really drained and the pressure was still present in my chest; My little one my little one wanted to play, I had consultations booked, and so on. I put it off again.
The rest of the week it remained the same. But the pressure got worse, the fatigue got worse, and I noticed my left hand was swelling. Saturday morning, I finally went to the ER to get checked. I was sure they were going to tell me I had really bad indigestion or a pulled muscle, an infection. I was sure it was going to be nothing. I explained my symptoms to the nurse, she took me back to EKG, then the doctor came in and said I needed to come with him to a room. He did a second EKG, ordered blood work, and a bunch of other test.
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6 hours later I found out that Monday I actually had a mini or mild heart attack. And the reason I was still feeling bad was a small section of my heart wasn’t working correctly. It appeared to be weaker, and it all of this had caused a lot of inflammation. The good news, scans and a ultrasound of my heart, showed no blood clots. The doctors agreed I could be treated with rest and medicine. I still have to go next week to see a cardiologist, and have more tests done. I am lucky I got to come home to my husband and son. Right now, it looks like I can avoid surgery if I take the medicine and follow a cardiac diet.
I realize things could have gone much differently and I am beyond thankful that everything worked out like it has. I will never again put off going to the doctor when I feel like something is wrong, and I will take my health much more serious.
I wanted to share my experience in hopes to let other women know to get checked if they are having any type of discomfort in their chest. And don’t ignore how you are feelings, if it causes you any concern go get checked. I promise it is better to go get checked and it be nothing than to ignore something that turns out to be extremely serious.