Heart Disease Almost Killed My Mom

So basically I got a scare of a lifetime on Monday. I woke up on Monday bright and early getting my regular routine down: checking websites, checking in on progress from web developers and business partners across the globe. Then, my mother told me her chest was hurting. She occasionally says she doesn’t feel well, normally for sympathy sometimes (not always lol), but today was different she was stuck stiff in one position, I could tell something was wrong.

Now normally my mother is stubborn and doesn’t like to go to the hospital but today I didn’t have to ask to much and after about 10 minutes she agreed to go. So, we got her dressed and into the car, to the hospital we went. Upon arriving they got her in the back pretty quickly, but my day was only about to begin and it was only 9 am.

Nurses saw her in a matter of minutes, they took a couple tests, EKG and took some chest x-rays, but things didn’t look too bad. The doctor came in and asked a few questions about her medical history. The only noticeable thing they could observe was that her blood pressure kept bouncing up and down up and down up and down. Fast forward a few hours, at about 1 o’clock they decided to admit her for further observation.

We made it to the 3rd floor of the hospital at about 3 o’clock. I could tell this was going to take a turn for the worst because when we arrived in the room, the pillow on her bed was dirty, didn’t look like people got much attention on this floor, looked just like a holding tank for sick people or for sick people who are ready to go home. They didn’t hook her up to any monitor, all she had was a box that recorded the heart rhythm and oxygen, which she didn’t really need.

I asked her was she doing any better, she said, a little bit, at this time it was 3:30 pm probably close to 4 pm. She told me well since I am in here you go home and get some rest and do some other things. I didn’t want to go at first but then I said okay. I knew around this time or a little later one of my brothers would probably come up and check in on her.

She told me she was doing a little better, but still felt some pain, but she insisted that I go home. So, I left her for a little while and called here over the phone at about 6:20 to see how she was doing. We were laughing and joking on the phone, she was already complaining about how uncomfortable things were, how bad the food was etc. We laughed like we normally do, she is a very sarcastic lady, hilarious. So, a nurse came in and she said she would call me back.

Well…need I say I never got the call back from her, but it was a call from my brother that almost gave me a heart attack. The phone rang and my brother U told me “you need to get up here, they found mom on the floor unresponsive and they are working on her now.”

My pulse must have accelerated, panic set in. Grab the shoes first, pray, run out of the door, what to tell the kids (I was babysitting my niece and nephew ages 11 and 9) I didn’t really know what to do first and in what order. I don’t even think I could pray myself or even how to do it, with my nerves getting to me. I called my pastor, who answered the phone on probably the last ring, I told her what was going on and she prayed with me, while I was putting on my shoes, afterward I ran out the door while trying to say as calmly as possible “hey kids I’m going to the hospital to check on grandma again, be good I’ll be back soon.” I had no idea when I would be back or how that night would turn out, but after a little prayer, it calmed me a bit.

Went to the hospital and my brother met me downstairs, he was going to retrieve something in his car at the time. And he said she was stable, but they were still working on her and about to move her to ICU, the doctors were talking to her and she knew her name and so forth.

I could tell my brother was a little shaky, just thinking about it. He informed me, that when he and his wife made it to the floor, they asked him who they were there to see and immediately the nurses started yelling “stay right there, stay right there, you need to go into the waiting room.” He knew something was wrong and all the nurses were running back to her room. Basically she went into cardiac arrest and they only knew it because they heard her fall. About 3 shocks where given to jump-start her heart again, after having 0 pulse.

20 people I must have spoken to over the phone that night, informing my aunts and uncles, my mothers brothers and sisters, what had happened.

Ironically, this all took place only 1 hour after I talked to her over the phone.

By 9 o’clock they had a catheter inside her heart with dye so that they could figure out what was going on. Long story short, basically her main artery was blocked, the one going down the front of the heart. She wasn’t getting any blood through, she had an irregular heart beat as well. The doctor said she was lucky to be alive. People who have irregular heart beats don’t normally respond well to the shocks from the fibrillator. Stents were placed in the heart to open up the artery in the heart.

There were about 15 people at the hospital there supporting her, a lot of her church members came to pray with us and all of my siblings and my aunt G, cousin G and uncle C.

Things went well after she got revived.

Which makes me ask the question, “Do we have to be half dead in order to get proper assistance in this American Health System we have?”

I find it hard to believe that we were in the hospital 8 hours before she had a heart attack, why couldn’t they find out what was wrong sooner? I keep asking myself this question. I may never know the answer to it, but at least I have my mother here with me and that is enough for me.

Moving forward, there is a lot to be thankful for as well as aware of.

Heart disease the number one killer of women in America. I think I have enough motivation now to lose weight, eat healthier and live a more active life.

Not like I shouldn’t have been more conscious a long time ago, but we all know there comes a time in life where we become more aware of other people’s feelings, our feelings, what we like,what we don’t like, our purpose in life; its a process and if this had to happen for me to take things more serious, I emphasis more here, then so be it… done. I learned what I had to learn….THANK GOD FOR THE TEST. I think I almost failed it, but at least I can go back and look at the score sheet and figure out where I went wrong, it was only a test, but not the Final Exam!

Update on Mom:

My mom is doing much better now, still in the hospital trying to get some rest. She had so many visitors the nurses were getting mad. But she is still resting, trying to recuperate, still on cloud nine because of some of the medication. Trying to talk to someone high on Vikatan is like talking to a newborn baby…they get going in and out of sleep lol its funny to see. She’s doing good just trying to rest.

I want to thank all of you, friends, family and church family who supported myself, my mom and my family this week with prayer, with your presence and with your love. We won’t forget it.

Regards,

“I’m the connoisseur of all things me!”

-Yetta