Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection

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SCAD survivor

March 29, 2019

October 25th was a normal morning. I got up to a quiet morning as usual. got ready for work and was just about to head out the door when I felt a heaviness in my chest. My first thought was gas. I started making myself burp to try to relieve the pressure. when that didn’t help, I thought acid reflux. But then I began to feel like I was struggling to breathe. I sat down and took several deep breaths. Again no relief and the pressure was turning to pain. I was early, so I made the decision to lay back down for 20 minutes to see if a little rest would help. By the time I got to my bed, I knew something was wrong. I woke my husband up and told him I needed help. 911 told him to give me 4 aspirin to chew. It helped but not enough, the pain returned very quickly. I don’t even recall the ambulance coming or the ride other than them putting nitroglycerin under my tongue.

My family was in a panic, my son says he was screaming because the ambulance was driving slowly around our neighborhood. I feel horrible that my kids had to see me in that moment.

They were going to discharge me the same day but my troponin levels were elevated in the 3rd blood testing, proving that it wasn’t an anxiety attack, yet it still took the hospital 5 days (and a cath lab) to figure out what was wrong with me.

The doctor and his PA sounded way too surprised at what they were seeing in my heart (during the cath lab) so when he requested a follow up, I didn’t go to him.

I am blessed to be a survivor, but it was the scariest moment of my life.