Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection

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The day my life changed

May 6, 2019

I am a 51 year old female.
On 2 Nov 2018, I finished work and contacted a friend to take the dogs for a walk. I headed to my friends house in a nearby suburb.

I was playing with my dog and felt an unusual sudden sensation in both my cheeks, I was rubbing my face and asking my friend “what is wrong with my face?” Shortly after I felt nauseous and threw up. Then came clammy sweats and uncontrollable shakes. I didn’t know what was happening but knew I didn’t feel well.

We decided to head to the local medical centre as it was 5pm on a Friday and my GP clinic was 25 mins away.
On arrival at the clinic the nurse took one look at me and took me straight in and hooked me up to an ECG. The doctor came in and said my ECG was showing some changes in heart and they were going to have me transferred to hospital for monitoring.

My friend went out to call my husband and next minute I had a cardiac arrest.
I was worked on for an hour. CPR commenced and I was De-fibbed 4 times before a stable rhythm was established. I was then sedated and transferred to hospital.

I was taken straight in for an angiogram and a tear was located in LAD . no narrowing of any arteries, no plaque etc.
I was in hospital for 6 days, got pneumonia from the CPR, plus severe bruising form CPR.
I have been medically managed for 6 months. Statins, beta blockers, aspirin, blood pressure etc.
It has been 6 months and I am now on aspirin and blood pressure tablets and weaning off the beta blockers.

I am so lucky to be here as I would not have survived if I had been out walking my dog as planned and I was super lucky that my friend got me to the medical centre in a timely manner. It was 40 mins from my first symptom to my arrest.

My life has changed forever and I am still coming to terms with all that has occurred.