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A nurse has heart attack and describes what she felt like when having one
I am an ER nurse and this is the best description of this event that I have ever heard.
FEMALE HEART ATTACKS
I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is description is so incredibly visceral that I feel like I have an entire new understanding of what it feels like to be living the symptoms on the inside. Women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have… you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat, grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor the we see in movies. Here is the story of one woman’s experience with a heart attack:
"I had a heart attack at about 10:30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might have brought it on. I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me, and actually thinking, ‘A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up. A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when you’ve been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like you’ve swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn’t have gulped it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach. This was my initial sensation–the only trouble was that I hadn’t taken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.
After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight, it was probably my aorta spasms), gaining speed as they continued racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses rhythmically when administering CPR). This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out into both jaws. ‘AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was happening – we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven’t we? I said aloud to myself and the cat, Dear God, I think I’m having a heart attack! I lowered the foot rest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a heart attack, I shouldn’t be walking into the next room where the phone is or anywhere else… but, on the other hand, if I don’t, nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not be able to get up in a moment.
I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the next room and dialed the Paramedics… I told her I thought I was having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum and radiating into my jaws. I didn’t feel hysterical or afraid, just stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to un-bolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see me when they came in. I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and lost consciousness, as I don’t remember the medics coming in, their examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way, but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the radiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending over me asking questions (probably something like ‘Have you taken any medications?’) but I couldn’t make my mind interpret what he was saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where they installed 2 side by side stints to hold open my right coronary artery.
I know it sounds like all my thinking and actions at home must have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the paramedics, but actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the fire station and St Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents. Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I learned first hand.
1. Be aware that something very different is happening in your body, not the usual men’s symptoms but inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and jaws got into the act). It is said that many more women than men die of their first (and last) MI because they didn’t know they were having one and commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed, hoping they’ll feel better in the morning when they wake up… which doesn’t happen. My female friends, your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is unpleasantly happening that you’ve not felt before. It is better to have a ‘false alarm’ visitation than to risk your life guessing what it might be!
2. Note that I said ‘Call the Paramedics.’ And if you can take an aspirin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE! Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard to others on the road. Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding and looking anxiously at what’s happening with you instead of the road. Do NOT call your doctor – he doesn’t know where you live and if it’s at night you won’t reach him anyway, and if it’s daytime, his assistants (or answering service) will tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn’t carry the equipment in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do, principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr. will be notified later.
3. Don’t assume it couldn’t be a heart attack because you have a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI (unless it’s unbelievably high and/or accompanied by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused by long-term stress and inflammation in the body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones into your system to sludge things up in there. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let’s be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive to tell the tale.“
Reblog, repost, Facebook, tweet, pin, email, morse code, fucking carrier pigeon this to save a life!
I wish I knew who the author was. I’m definitely not the OP, actually think it might be an old chain email or even letter from back in the day. The version I saw floating around Facebook ended with “my cardiologist says mail this to 10 friends, maybe you’ll save one!” And knew this was way too interesting not to pass on.
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Lucky day! #penniesfromheaven #weekend #run
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The living will a nurse...
Dear Colleagues,
If there is a situation when I end up admitted here, this is what I ask….
1. Please make sure (unit creeper) is not in the room when you put my foley in.
2. Never let (list of unit dumb-asses) be my nurse.
3. I’m sorry for my mother.
4. and my sister.
5. I want to remember none of my stay. Sedate me to the gods.
6. I swear to God, if you motherfuckers give me c.diff, you’re dead to me.
7. Yes, I want a warm blanket.
8. Also don’t let (nurse-frenenemy) be my nurse, she will def. try to kill me.
9. Please do not turn me every 2 hours. That shit’s annoying.
10. If my “story of how I got injured” is embarrassing or humiliating, y’all better fucking lie.
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So true. You never know what the other nurse is going/has gone through.
Walk in Their Nursing Shoes
Before criticizing the nurse you’re receiving report from; listen to the whole report - consider they may have had a rough shift. Consider how many times you’ve been there.
Before criticizing the way another nurse practices; consider you have your way and they have theirs.
Before you become irritated at the nurse you’re trying to transfer a patient to - for taking too long to come to the phone; consider what’s happening on their floor. Consider how many times you have been in with a patient and the phone is for you. Consider how many times you’ve had two or three admissions at once and just can’t take another one right now. Consider that there are some tricksters, but not every nurse is trying to pull a fast one.
Before you argue with the nurse who’s actually trying to send you a patient; consider what’s happening on their end. Consider they’re probably receiving an emergent patient, and need to get this one moving fast. Consider their charge nurse is pushing them to move fast, consider admin is pushing them, consider they are going back to a shit show of their own, since no one was really free to watch their patients while they were transferring one to you. Consider they know what it feels like to be you, but too stressed to say it just now. Consider they’re just trying to do their job as best they know how, just like you.
Before you try to palm off the worst patients to the float nurse, per diem, or traveler - think about how it felt when you floated etc. Think about how you had no idea where anything was on that unit, think about how it felt to be frustrated.
Before gossiping about a fellow nursing student’s failure, consider how devastating this may feel.
Before blasting another nurse for not handling a code well, think about how frightened you’ve been when it was your patient, think about how it affects you differently each time, think about how it takes time to build resilience.
Before passing along personal information another nurse had shared with you; consider the level of trust he/she had to confide in you in the first place.
Before mocking another nurse’s mistake, before you tell the world about his/her error; remember you aren’t perfect. Remember you have made mistakes, and will again. Remember how it felt when you did.
Before you exclude someone, consider how it feels to be on the outside.
Before criticizing the doctors for making stupid mistakes, remember they are human too. Remember all the times you felt like an idiot, or embarrassed for making “stupid” mistakes.
Before you complain and demand to know why another nurse called out; consider they have a right to do so, without having to provide an explanation to anyone.
Before you get impatient with a graduate nurse, or nursing student, remember your own beginning.
Before you say something mean, and chase it with “don’t take it personal” or “you won’t survive if you’re weak” consider this; do you want to be remembered as the person who taught lessons by cruelty? Consider we all learn under the toughest of circumstances, but retreat under bullying. Consider a tough person can still have weak moments, consider you’re not the person who decides if they’re going to survive or not, consider tough love is correcting errors, correcting mistakes, tough guidance in emergent situations, tough love is being able to say what you mean without resorting to jibes - and it isn’t an opportunity to tell them they don’t belong in this arena. Consider the wealth of your experience as a positive guide to their learning, consider they may be weak now, but with support they will go on to be an extraordinary caregiver.
Before you criticize a younger inexperienced nurse for no other reason than being new, before you cut them down for asking questions, consider the impact your words will have on their career. Domino effect.
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Absolutely!
At the end of a bad shift ...the room is a wreck, none of my lines and dressings are changed, I’m sure I forgot to chart some stuff, but everyone is alive...
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