Recently Douglas underwent a procedure very few 27 year olds ever have to. It turned our world upside down and in some ways, we’re still reeling from it all. We’ve been doing the best we can to handle our new normal however we can’t do it alone. We need your help. With Douglas and I both working and raising Petra, we still can’t cover the hospital and ambulance expenses. We ask you for any help you can give and thank you with all our hearts for your support and love. Douglas has shared his experience below.
Monday morning (May 17th) I had a heart attack. I was sound asleep and woke up to one of the worst pains I have ever felt… in my chest.
After waiting for awhile the pain did not go away and my wife rushed me to ER. I was promptly brought in and they set up heart monitors and drew blood to test. They also ran an EKG on me.
After waiting awhile the doctor came in and told me the EKG looked fine. “Great I get to go home” I thought. Except he then proceeded to tell me there was an enzyme in my blood called Troponin that is normally undetected in the blood stream. This enzyme is found in the sack of fluid that surrounds your heart, the pericardium. He told me he has been on the line with a nearby hospital that has a cardiology unit and was counseling with the cardiologist there. They then proceeded to get another blood sample. When that sample came back the Troponin levels had increased even more and it was determined that I would be taken by ambulance to the other hospital for some more testing.
Once at the other hospital I was again hooked up to heart monitors and met with the cardiologist. At this point I should mention I had the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine the Saturday before this. Well the doctor explained that the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine put strain on my body and caused my heart and the sack of fluid (pericardium) around my heart to become inflamed. This is called Myopericarditis.
So more tests needed to be done. I had an echocardiogram, then later Monday night the cardiologist determined he wanted to do an angiogram because my family has a history of heart issues and my Troponin levels were still on the rise. So I got an angiogram.
Luckily for me angiograms are done through the arm arteries now and they went in through my right arm. Unluckily for me they discovered my heart was in much worst condition then they had originally thought. One of the arteries leading to my heart has aneurysms and one of the arteries/valves on the right side of my heart is smaller then it should be. To top it off there was clogging and I had in fact had a heart attack. So they put a stint in.
(My cardiologist believes the reason my heart is misshapen is due to a disease called Kawasaki disease. He thinks I had the disease when I was a kid and it went undetected.)
I was fortunate enough to be released from the hospital late Wednesday morning but I am now on a strict low sodium, low cholesterol, and low fat diet. This is something I will be dealing with for the rest of my life. I am a 27 year old who had a heart attack. The worst part is, it wasn’t all my fault. Yes my diet wasn’t the best but I had so many other factors against me that I was told I was a vary rare occurrence. I am one in a billion.
I am grateful I am alive and I get to continue to support my family and spend time with my wife and 10 month old daughter. I am grateful I have been given these tools to prevent this from happening again. It will take time and it won’t be easy but I will live my life to the fullest.