When Jenny looks back on the weeks leading up to her heart attack, there are many small signs she now recognises yet didn’t fully understand at the time. Dizziness, tiredness, back neck and shoulder pain and indigestion all seemed explainable.
She attributed her back pain to her scoliosis, the dizziness to climbing stairs or getting up too quickly and the fatigue to a gym session earlier that day.
One Saturday evening in early May, while cooking dinner, Jenny felt all the symptoms come together, but this time more intense and focused. There was also a strange pressure in her chest like severe heartburn that did not go away.
After two hours of unrelenting pain and the onset of pain radiating down her left arm, her husband recognised the seriousness of the situation and drove her straight to the hospital.
Over the next five days while in hospital, Jenny suffered another four heart attacks, each worse than the last. Finally, an emergency angiogram revealed a full 100% blockage which resulted in three stents being inserted to restore blood flow in what the surgeon referred to at the time as “a tricky situation”.
Three days later, Jenny was discharged and returned home. However, after only four hours at home, Jenny lost consciousness, twice within a minute, from pushing herself to do what would be considered normal tasks, just too soon. An ambulance returned her to hospital where she was diagnosed with pericarditis, a common complication following the type of cardiac procedures she had endured.
There have been several take aways’ from this:
- Do not dismiss small symptoms
- Small signs can add up
- Call an ambulance – don’t wait
- Stay alert, even after treatment.
To process the whirlwind of emotions, Jenny turned to her love of creative writing and music. The song, Heartbeats (which you can play here), was a way to creatively express what had happened and help her come to terms with everything that had happened. “It’s been an important part of my healing.”
Dedicated to the nurse who saved her life, the song details Jenny’s journey and, as the song recites, “facing down the fear”.
Through this experience, she’s learned how heart attack symptoms can be different between men and women, and how important it is to understand the small signs.
“I had lots of different signs in the lead up to my heart attack which I dismissed and rationalised. Feeling dizzy, changes in my heart rate while exercising, aches in my back, neck and shoulders, indigestion. Each symptom by itself could be explained away. I wish I had known what I know today as these were all the early signs of a heart attack.”
The silver lining? Jenny and her husband now see life through a new lens.
“It’s really shown me how my time is a gift, and my husband feels the same. We’re now enjoying life and not taking things so seriously. We’ve talked about how different things could have been, a real life ‘sliding doors’ moment which we’ve also turned into a song. Sliding Doors which you can play here.
Jenny’s experience taught her to live each day fully and not to delay what matters, because life can change in an instant.