I am a 46 year old mother and wife. My husband and I have a blended family of five kids from 30 down to 12, a daughter-in-law and the world's cutest granddaughter and a brand new grandson.
One of the things that adds some humor to my nutrition journey is the fact that my kitchen hates me. Black smoke rolling out of the kitchen and the sound of the smoke alarms is normal when I am in the kitchen! Truly, my kitchen hates me!
I am a Kansas Jayhawk fan through and through--we bleed crimson and blue. Rock Chalk!
This is my story:
This is my journey to find my skinny bitch. I am by no means
currently skinny, but because of a very early heart attack, I am
striving to get back there. I used to be one--you know the one. The
one that you look at who is beautifully thin and you know she has
probably had kids. You mumble under your breath, skinny bitch. I by no
means am using this term in a derogatory manner, it is complimentary.
My skinny bitch status has been gone since shortly after I was married
for the first time. It is time to get that status back.
I suffered a massive widow maker heart attack on October 13, 2011 at the age of 42. This
came as a complete surprise. Although I knew I wasn't he healthiest
person, I didn't think that I was that unhealthy. That day, I started
feeling bad on the way home from work. In retrospect, by the time I got
home I knew I was really sick. Trying to deny it, I changed clothes
and took the dog out. By the time I got back in the house I knew that I
needed to call an ambulance. I had a bad heaviness in my chest and a
searing pain in my entire lower jaw. I put the dog in her crate and
called. They had me chew aspirin and swallow it.
The ambulance arrived and my husband who was out of town called
about then. I told him I couldn't talk because the paramedics were
there and I hung up the phone. I'm sure it was the blood pressure of
200/120 and the foggy head this causes and I'm sure it totally freaked him out. I did call him back to let him
know not to worry that I was going with chest pain to the hospital.
They loaded me in the ambulance, and let me just say that there is no
such thing as HIPAA (healthcare privacy) in my small town. Every cop in town along with the
paramedics were out in front of my house with their lights going. This
means that the entire neighborhood was outside trying to figure out what
was going on at our house.
So, I am in the ambulance
and I look down at my purse and what do I see? It of course is my week
to have the on call work phone. If it rings and I don't pick up the
message, it rolls its way to everyone's phone numbers above me all the
way up to the COO. So I ask the paramedics if I can make calls from
the ambulance. They look at me like I've lost my mind but say yes. I
call my coworker to come and get the phone from me at the hospital and
then my ex husband to make sure he picks up the oldest daughter from
school after the bus brings her back from a choir field trip.
I
arrived at the hospital via ambulance and this is where I realize the
paramedics were lying to me. They told me I am probably just having
angina. They wheel me in and there are 25 people waiting on me--fortunately, it was a fabulous cardiac team. Right
then I probably knew that it was as serious as I thought it was. The
doc takes one look at the heart monitor and says "This is the real
McCoy. You are having a heart attack and we are going to surgery right
now." Someone puts a consent form in front of me and asks me if I will
sign it. Like I am going to say no? So I signed it. About then, the
coworker I called to come get the phone arrives. She looks at me and I
said I'm having a heart attack, the phone is in my purse. She looks at
me as stunned as I think I look. I remember saying to her, don't feel
like you have to stay. She looked at me too like I had lost my mind and
said of course she was staying. She called my husband to let him know.
She called my ex-husband to let him know because he had my kids.
Once
in the cath lab, they discover I have a hundred percent blockage in one
of the arteries. I later came to find out that this type of heart
attack is known as the widow maker and only 20% of women that suffer
this kind of heart attack survive. For the other 80%, the first
noticeable sign is death. I feel very fortunate. I had a very good
interventional cardiologist, LMH was fabulous and the surgery is was
success. I spent the next couple days in the hospital and after a few
weeks started researching my options to become healthier.
This
blog is to chronicle my journey and share the information that I have
learned. In the end, it will celebrate my rediscovered skinny bitch
status. Enjoy!
Jodi, I absolutely laughed out loud while picturing you in the ambulance, making phonecalls to coworkers and ex-hubby to get life organized while en route to the E.R. This is SO TYPICAL of women even in mid-heart attack (ultra-responsible, always thinking about others first, even when in the middle of a frickety-frackin' heart attack!) It would be hilarious if it weren't so deadly serious, right? Glad you survived!
ReplyDeleteI too am another 'widowmaker' survivor (the name itself just confirms doctors' mistaken belief that this type of myocardial infarction happens only to men!)
cheers,
C
I was quite a sight! I couldn't leave any loose ends. You are right that it would be hilarious if it weren't so deadly serious. I have learned how lucky I was to survive and I think of all the women who don't because they had too much to do to call an ambulance.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you survived as well--it puts us in a club I never thought I would be in!
Hi Jodi,
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my blog so I could find yours! I love your story, so typical and so much like mine. I was emailing work colleagues from the ICU after my surgery. It took about 24 hours to really just let go and let this happen. I look forward to reading your blog.
Jen
Hi Jen! Thanks for stopping in--I look forward to reading your blog as well. It is nice to know I am not alone in this club I never even knew existed! It took about that long for me as well. It was happening and such an odd thing to come to peace with!
ReplyDelete