The designation marking February as American Heart Month was made in 1964 by President Lyndon B. Johnson as an initiative to encourage Americans to take their heart health seriously.
Each year this message hits a little too close to home for the Monica family because my husband Dave has congestive heart failure.
In 2011, we just had our first child — a three-month-old baby girl—when my husband suddenly needed a quintuple bypass at the age of 42.
Over the long Fourth of July weekend that year my husband increasingly complained of heartburn.
Working in the floral industry at the time and being in the dog days of what the floral industry calls an “unprofitable summer,” we both had an extended vacation we were spending at home, safely celebrating the birth of our nation.
All weekend, within a few minutes of eating anything, my husband would be doubled over from heartburn and nausea.
My first red flag came when no matter how many antacids he tossed back, his heartburn persisted. I begged him all weekend to go to the doctor or the hospital, wherever, just please go get checked out.
But Dave did not.
When it was time for him to return to the daily grind, the heartburn was still burning strong.
My second red flag waved when Dave, an avid coffee drinker to the point of almost being a snob about it, decided not to drink any that morning. “The heartburn is just too intense,” he said.
I made one last ditch effort to try and talk some sense into him before he left for work, but he again assured me he was fine and headed outside to his truck.
I went back to caring for our daughter, but I could not ignore the annoying sense that something was not quite right. Laying her back down, I decided to check on my husband again — surely by now he had left for work.
A flower salesman at the time, my husband’s loud, large, refrigerated truck was not hard to miss still standing in our driveway when I looked out the window.
I was not alarmed, per say, but I was beginning to feel the first tip taps of panic dancing about in the pit of my stomach. More so, when I pounded down our backsteps and found my husband lying in the driveway.
Now fully alarmed, I rushed over to Dave’s side, just in time for him to flutter his eyelids and mumble something about “chest pain.”
When we arrived at the hospital, Dave was seen immediately.
An old hand now, but back then it was our first experience with EKG machines, stress tests, and echocardiograms—to say, as a young wife and mother I was terrified is an understatement.
After making all the necessary calls to family and friends, I waited with our parents in hallways and waiting rooms because his situation was too touch and go at first for visitors.
Finally, a doctor came out and showed us on a diagram that my husband had five blocked arteries. He said during two previously unknown, minor heart attacks my husband’s heart made two new veins to carry his blood past the blockages, saving his life. They were now going to need to perform a quintuple bypass by removing veins from his leg and grafting them into his heart.
Over the years we have been through many similar scares — more heart attacks, ICU visits and even a stroke because my husband likes to keep me on my toes.
Heart damage is not always preventable but knowing the signs of a heart attack in the event of an emergency, maybe even your own, can save lives.
As a former medical professional, and now as a caregiver, I cannot express the importance of getting checked when you don’t feel right. Hospitals are required to provide emergency care so don’t let a lack of insurance kill you.
According to the American Heart Association, typical early signs of a heart attack are:
Chest discomfort. Most people having a heart attack feel discomfort in the center of their chest. It can last more than a few minutes, or it may go away and then return. The pressure can feel crushing, squeezing, fullness or pain.
Discomfort in other areas of the upper body:
Arms (one or both)
Back
Neck
Jaw
Stomach
Shortness of breath; this can happen with or without chest pain.
Other signs:
Breaking out in a cold sweat
Nausea
Rapid or irregular heartbeat
Feeling unusually tired
Feeling lightheaded
For women, symptoms of a heart attack might manifest differently, and females may be more likely to experience:
Anxiety
Shortness of breath
Nausea
Vomiting
Upset stomach
Pain in the shoulder, back or arm
Unusual tiredness and weakness
Feeling like you have the flu, malaise
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms or if something else just isn’t feeling right, don’t be Dave and call your doctor today!