A story I thought I'd never tell...
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This is a story that I thought I would never tell in my life. And one reason I want to tell it is because heart attacks for women are very different and not always represented correctly. Last Tuesday, Dec 4 I had a four and a half hour heart attack. And that's not what I thought was happening initially. And though I was sure this would never happen to me, it did.
I woke up that morning and had a strange pain in the middle of my back, like the middle of my spine really hurt. At first I thought I slept wrong, but the pain told me otherwise - like, that could not be possible that I my back would feel like this from sleeping in my comfy bed. The pain was gripping and intense, like someone was twisting the middle of my spine. I WAS NOT HAVING PAINS IN MY CHEST!!!!!!
After a few minutes the pain started to radiate up and across my back, my shoulders, and then up the back of my neck. I honestly did not know what was happening. Then my breathing becomes labored and then the gripping, what felt like strangulation took over my entire torso and I could hardly breathe. At this point I thought I was having a heart attack. My son was next door so I yelled for him and he came up and called 911.
The EMTs came, checked my heart and said I was not having a heart attack because my heart rate was normal and my oxygen level was fine. I was having a full on myocardial infraction and they couldn't tell. Then I thought maybe it was a blood clot (my leg was in a cast for two months and this is common) that was going to my lungs. The EMTs couldn't tell but took me to the hospital.
This first part of the story is for all women to know that we do this differently. And it can and does come out of the blue. We feel heart attacks differently than men. The good news is we can be saved, and the next several hours of that day was all about that. What a thing to experience and to witness.
I rode shotgun with death in a Mexican hospital for hours. It was so amazing seeing these nurses and doctors, all of whom looked like angels to me, doing everything they knew how to do to save my life. Meanwhile, I was being pinched and poked and handed handfuls of pills and cups of water and all the while the heart attack is in full swing. So fucking intense!!!!!!! All the doctors and nurses were surrounding me and talking to me and so loving and kind, meanwhile my life is having int he balance while we wait for a cardiologist to come, which took about and hour.
My glorious son was with me, I said goodbye to him, I was pretty sure I might die. I wasn't afraid. I was at peace, grateful for my life, and okay to go. I could feel death right there, like it was observing my responses to what was happening. Then the cardiologist came and said that they would need to put a stent in my heart which was a simple procedure of running a catheter through my vein up my arm and into my heart. I was just there (now having been shot full of morphine, they could probably do whatever they wanted). After 4.5 hours my heart stopped spamming, or whatever it was doing, and the rest is a whole other story. When the surgeon because to do the procedure the equipment wasn't working, so he couldn't see to thread the catheter. WHAT?!?!?!?! Panic ensued in the OR and suddenly they hooked me up to a millions things, threw me in the ambulance and took me to a hospital an hour away. Thank god for the morphine, and meditation.
I'm writing this four days later - I'm alive, and surgery went well and they saved my life so I can be here another day, day by day.
Why am I doing a gofundme.
The other part of this story. The hospital they took me to in Celaya (for those of you who live here, don't go to that hospital unless you are visiting someone), a private hospital, would not let me out without making a full payment, which was thousands of US dollars. They literally were holding me prisoner. I was ready to go on Wednesday, doctor released me in the afternoon - it took the next seven hours for my son and his girlfriend to negotiate with the hospital. They could leave, but I couldn't! So I bottomed out my checking and savings, my son gave what money he had and we had to borrow money quickly and for a short time. It was so strange. I can't think of another word, other than strange. I felt like I was in a prison, rather than a hospital. I was literally tailed by security guards when I left my room. lol Anyway, that's why the gofundme. And the first part of the story - for all the women in the world, whatever your age, your health, we are different. In fact, two things the cardiologist told me; 1. every woman's heart beats differently to all other women. :) 2. They have 12 hour to save a heart when it is having a myocardial infraction.
Wishing you great appreciation and love for each and every moment you are living in this world. =- Sharon
I woke up that morning and had a strange pain in the middle of my back, like the middle of my spine really hurt. At first I thought I slept wrong, but the pain told me otherwise - like, that could not be possible that I my back would feel like this from sleeping in my comfy bed. The pain was gripping and intense, like someone was twisting the middle of my spine. I WAS NOT HAVING PAINS IN MY CHEST!!!!!!
After a few minutes the pain started to radiate up and across my back, my shoulders, and then up the back of my neck. I honestly did not know what was happening. Then my breathing becomes labored and then the gripping, what felt like strangulation took over my entire torso and I could hardly breathe. At this point I thought I was having a heart attack. My son was next door so I yelled for him and he came up and called 911.
The EMTs came, checked my heart and said I was not having a heart attack because my heart rate was normal and my oxygen level was fine. I was having a full on myocardial infraction and they couldn't tell. Then I thought maybe it was a blood clot (my leg was in a cast for two months and this is common) that was going to my lungs. The EMTs couldn't tell but took me to the hospital.
This first part of the story is for all women to know that we do this differently. And it can and does come out of the blue. We feel heart attacks differently than men. The good news is we can be saved, and the next several hours of that day was all about that. What a thing to experience and to witness.
I rode shotgun with death in a Mexican hospital for hours. It was so amazing seeing these nurses and doctors, all of whom looked like angels to me, doing everything they knew how to do to save my life. Meanwhile, I was being pinched and poked and handed handfuls of pills and cups of water and all the while the heart attack is in full swing. So fucking intense!!!!!!! All the doctors and nurses were surrounding me and talking to me and so loving and kind, meanwhile my life is having int he balance while we wait for a cardiologist to come, which took about and hour.
My glorious son was with me, I said goodbye to him, I was pretty sure I might die. I wasn't afraid. I was at peace, grateful for my life, and okay to go. I could feel death right there, like it was observing my responses to what was happening. Then the cardiologist came and said that they would need to put a stent in my heart which was a simple procedure of running a catheter through my vein up my arm and into my heart. I was just there (now having been shot full of morphine, they could probably do whatever they wanted). After 4.5 hours my heart stopped spamming, or whatever it was doing, and the rest is a whole other story. When the surgeon because to do the procedure the equipment wasn't working, so he couldn't see to thread the catheter. WHAT?!?!?!?! Panic ensued in the OR and suddenly they hooked me up to a millions things, threw me in the ambulance and took me to a hospital an hour away. Thank god for the morphine, and meditation.
I'm writing this four days later - I'm alive, and surgery went well and they saved my life so I can be here another day, day by day.
Why am I doing a gofundme.
The other part of this story. The hospital they took me to in Celaya (for those of you who live here, don't go to that hospital unless you are visiting someone), a private hospital, would not let me out without making a full payment, which was thousands of US dollars. They literally were holding me prisoner. I was ready to go on Wednesday, doctor released me in the afternoon - it took the next seven hours for my son and his girlfriend to negotiate with the hospital. They could leave, but I couldn't! So I bottomed out my checking and savings, my son gave what money he had and we had to borrow money quickly and for a short time. It was so strange. I can't think of another word, other than strange. I felt like I was in a prison, rather than a hospital. I was literally tailed by security guards when I left my room. lol Anyway, that's why the gofundme. And the first part of the story - for all the women in the world, whatever your age, your health, we are different. In fact, two things the cardiologist told me; 1. every woman's heart beats differently to all other women. :) 2. They have 12 hour to save a heart when it is having a myocardial infraction.
Wishing you great appreciation and love for each and every moment you are living in this world. =- Sharon
Organizer
Sharon Jeffers
Organizer
Laredo, TX
