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Age: 57
Sex: Female
Race: Caucasian
Occupation: Educator
History
- Recent diagnosis of high blood pressure
- Had endless stamina, unsurpassing energy, and an optimistic outlook on life
- Cholesterol was normal, never smoked, not overweight, no family history
Turning Point
One night while walking on the beach Jennifer became slightly short of breath. The shortness of breath came and went in less than one minute. Several days later she felt an odd, uncomfortable and fleeting pain in the center of her chest. The pain stopped and she forgot about it. However, she began having hot flashes. For two weeks she suffered with more than 15 “hot flashes a day. On September 17, 2007, two weeks into the “hot flashes” the same pain she had felt earlier in the year returned. Dissimilar to the prior pain it did not go away. She recalls the pain in her chest was so severe that it felt as if her sternum would break, she was having a heart attack.
Jennifer did not have the usual heart attack symptoms. There was only a terrible pain in the center of her chest. The initial test for cardiac enzymes came back negative and the cardiogram appeared fine, according to the hospital she had not suffered a heart attack. Jennifer was very aware that she was having heart attack; she refused to go home.
Contrary to hospital protocol, her husband called their primary care physician. Together they got her admitted into the heart hospital. After having further blood work and another cardiogram Jennifer’s fears were validated. A cardiac catherization showed she had sustained an acute myocardial infarction. The echocardiogram showed the mitral valve was moderately damaged causing regurgitation of the out going blood from the heart, along with mild damage to the tricuspid valve.
Today
Jennifer is attending cardiac rehabilitation. She is learning her limitations and continuing to heal. |
