February is American Heart Disease Month. There is a strong movement in the medical and health community that continues to raise awareness and recognize heart disease as the leading killer among women. Most often, women follow the recommended guidelines for the detection and treatment of breast and ovarian cancer but often fail to recognize the signs of a heart attack which can cause loss of function in the heart and/or death. As I sat down to write about the importance of spreading this message of awareness, I could not help thinking about the phone call I received last summer that shocked me to my core. My best friend called me in a panic and told me one of our former high school friends, a fellow dance instructor, a Mom of two, a wife, and a dear friend to many in the community, was in the hospital. She had suffered from a heart attack. She was only 36 years old at the time. How could this happen? She doesn’t smoke, exercises regularly, and did not have any of the high risk factors usually involved with this disease yet she lay in a hospital bed diagnosed, after days of agony, with heart failure. As my friend described her condition I knew the chances were slim to none of survival. Thankfully not only was I wrong this amazing woman is now back home with her loving family and is a brave survivor telling her story so that other women can become aware of this terrible disease. Here is Karen Hanselman Bazzell’s incredible journey of her fight for her heart and health, in her own words:
It all started on Saturday, July 24th, 2010. I had taken my family to Dollywood in Tennessee and after riding the first roller coaster of the day, I got off feeling lightheaded, had minor chest pains and my left arm felt weighted. I opted out of the next few rides, took 800mg of ibuprofen and went on the rest of the day, riding coasters and having a good time. For the next few days I stayed home resting thinking the time in the car driving and the exertion with the kids and my family had simply just drained me. However, I was wrong. Three days later I began to feel a little light headed and started having some minor arm pain and couldn't breathe well. After dropping my child Evan off at Mother’s Day Out, I told my daughter Ashton I wasn't feeling well and I wanted to stop by the doctor’s office to have them check me out just in case. After describing my symptoms to the doctor he advised me to drive myself straight to the emergency room.
By time I was walking to the car, I couldn't lift my arm. It honestly felt like it weighed 200lbs. I couldn't carry my purse or even open the car door. My chest was hurting and I had difficulty breathing & "catching" my breath.
I arrived to the ER exactly 30 minutes later and was taken straight back. I was then hooked up to EKG, which was borderline abnormal. No signs of blood clot in the CAT scan or from chest x-ray. My blood work came out fine. I was given an aspirin by the nurse and was told she didn't know what was wrong but she would give me this "just in case". Pain and anxiety medicines worked only for a little while.
Several hours later I experienced the worst pain I have ever felt in my life. It felt like someone was stabbing me across my chest. I couldn't breathe and I was literally rolling around on the hospital bed, vomiting, crying, and just gasping for air. The nurse came in and gave me more Ativan & more Dilaudid. It seemed to have lasted an eternity but was probably about 3 to 4 minutes. However, despite this episode I was being discharged within two hours not knowing exactly what had happened! The doctor was clueless and had suggested maybe I should go for a stress test. My discharge paperwork states “possible pulled muscle”. So as I'm being wheeled out...I am still extremely ill, even vomiting, yet I still had no idea what I had been through. I felt that I was told to go to the Emergency Room or a doctor immediately with these symptoms, yet I left not knowing anything more than when I came in!
The next day and a half I was in the bed, on pain medicines and muscle relaxers and could not get up, or even hold a conversation. By Thursday of that week I was back at the doctor’s office having a stress test. This test is done taking two different set of images. They hook you up to an IV and bump up your heart rate and blood pressure taking pictures to see how your heart is responding. Normally, you do this hooked up to blood pressure machine while they monitor you while you walk on the treadmill. However, my heart rate was too high yet my blood pressure was extremely low. The second set of images are called the "resting images" and this was done several hours later. I have to say I felt at peace during the second set of pictures, truly thinking it was a fluke and there was no problem. About 30 minutes later the doctor enters the waiting area, kneels down, and tells me my stress test was abnormal and we would need to do an ECG (electrocardiogram). He knew exactly what he was looking for and after only 4 images from this ultrasound he was able to show me the damage I had suffered and that the apex of my heart was not pumping. This is the part of your heart that pumps the blood to the rest of your body. With the test not even completed, he told me when we were done I would be taken next door to Memorial Hospital and admitted for observation. The cardiologist says at this point he is about 90% sure I had suffered from a heart attack. Are you kidding me???? Tears, tears and more tears. I was admitted to the hospital by 3:00pm and stayed for 6 days.
That Friday was my daughters 11th birthday. It was so painful to be in the hospital and not be home for her! I had a heart cath that afternoon. My heart attack was confirmed and I was told I suffered a significant MI (myocardial infarction). They found I had lost about 30% of my heart function and that I had several areas in my arteries that had were almost closed. Because I had no plaque buildup, stents were not an option. They pulled the camera out, unable to "fix" anything.
The doctor then put me on an aggressive medicinal therapy to hopefully deal some of the damage and to hopefully prevent it from happening again. I was placed on a daily aspirin regiment, beta blocker, ace inhibitor, blood pressure, anxiety, and cholesterol medicines. Remember...all these meds for someone who did not have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or any plaque buildup. He made sure I knew there were no other cases like mine that he, or any other cardiologist he knew, had ever seen. I did and still find it so hard to believe that I am the only person this has happened to me.
During the next several days, I couldn't help but wonder what I did to deserve this. Was I going to wake up the next morning? Would this happen again, creating more damage and more problems? I left the hospital knowing that I had a huge battle ahead of me. I was told that after 40 days from the date of the heart attack I could have another ECG to see if any healing had taken place. I was looking forward to this day as well as dreading it. We had discussed with the cardiologist that if there was no improvement at this point, the next step would be to have a defibrillator implanted. This is because with my entire heart not pumping, it was more likely to get out of rhythm or to stop and having this implanted was almost like an insurance policy that if anything happened, it would shock my heart back to correct working condition. It was so scary!! I also asked the doctor what was the worst case scenario and even though the defibrillator would be a starting point and there were other things they could do, it was very possible I would need a heart transplant one day. This information was overwhelming to take in. All I could think of was the people who die every year who need some sort of transplant waiting on someone else to die so they could live!
Six weeks later the ECG was performed and to my doctor’s amazement most of my heart function had returned and I was considered "close to normal". Obviously he doesn't really know me...lol
I went thru 36 sessions of a cardiac rehabilitation program in order to gain confidence in my everyday life. I also needed to learn and understand what my limits were going to be from now on. This process helped me tremendously to know that I could vacuum, run around and do some of the things I was used to without worrying about my heart. Even though I finished the program, I am still there working out 3 days a week. It makes me feel more comfortable knowing I have nurses monitoring what I'm doing, my blood pressure, my heart rate and I also get weekly EKG's. I am supposed to be working out at least 5 days a week however I am not able to do this as I am too tired. The more I do one day, the less I can do the next. It's so hard when you've always been on the go and doing all you could in a day, regardless of what it was.
The major thing that kept me going was my kids and my husband Alan. Every time I was down (which was a lot), Alan was there to give me some sort of pep talk. I didn't always believe what he said but I guess it helped a little. I just wasn't ready to die nor was I ready to leave my children without their Mother. Other than being tired and wearing out easily, you would never know I had been through this! At this point, the only thing I am totally not allowed to do is roller coasters. Being a coaster fan, this is devastating to me. I have pushed my limits working out, even started to run which is a huge accomplishment.
I have to say that in hind sight, I should have gone to the doctor on the previous Saturday when I started having symptoms. However, since there was no evidence of a blood clot I'm not really sure it would have done any good. I am so glad I took myself to the doctor that devastating day. I do not typically go to see a doctor unless I am in dire need but something told me there was definitely something wrong that day! My future looks good, as long as I take my medicine, exercise and watch my sodium/cholesterol intake.
Every person, male and female, needs to know his/her average blood pressure and cholesterol. This information is so important. High cholesterol = plaque buildup = heart attack = stents or bypass or death!! High blood pressure can cause a heart attack as well.
I've always known I was a strong person (my personality, my beliefs, everything). However, I learned I wasn't as strong as I thought I was and that it was OK to be weak. It's OK to depend on others and to allow people to help you. Superwoman doesn't truly exist, you can't be her nor can you do everything yourself. I was and I still am amazed by the support I received from friends, old and new, and my family. You find out exactly who you can count on during rough times. Remember - anything is possible!! That includes a young and healthy woman having a heart attack, just like I did.
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