I am a 52 year "young" female. On July 25, 2001 I was telling fellow workers about some really bad heartburn I was suddenly having and it felt like a welding torch going in my stomach and out my back with pain in my left arm. They looked at me and said, "That's not heartburn! That's heart attack! My shop steward would not let me report to work that day and said I was to call in sick and go to the doctor immediately for an EKG, blood tests, whatever it took! So I called my GP's office and they took me in reluctantly (the receptionist over the phone said SHE did not think there was anything to worry about and that they could take me on Saturday...this was a Wednesday that I called. I said, No, I need someone to see me right now as I have been having these little attacks for almost 10 days now.

So I got in to see the Nurse Practitioner and all she did was have the nurse hook me up to an EKG machine for about 15 seconds and then took down my information and complaints. I told her the welding torch feeling and that it was going into my left arm - I was a smoker at the time but trying to quit with the patches - I had high blood pressure - overweight - stressful driving job - history of father having two bypasses - migraines....etc. etc. etc. She said I probably had a good case of ACID REFLUX and sent me home with Prevacide acid reflux medicine. Exactly one week later on August 2, 2001 I had a massive cardiac arrest. I don't remember that morning at all except a brief out of body experience where I saw myself lying on the floor but I vaguely remember thinking, "Oh that poor woman, what is wrong with her?" It was me! I'm such a Queen of Denial.

The next thing I know, I'm waking up in the hospital with tubes in me and its 2 days later. My daughter was sitting in the chair next to me and I looked over at her and she calmly said,

"You had an artery blockage Mom and they've put some stents in your one artery. You are in Evergreen Hospital and you're alive." She was afraid to tell me I had had a cardiac arrest.

This is how it happened according to my daughter and my doctor:

Apparently, that morning on Aug. 2 , I woke up and felt horrible and was in really bad pain. I had taken a Prevacid around 6 am and it wasn't helping. I guess I was having trouble breathing also and I had called my daughter to tell her I couldn't babysit for her that morning because I had called 911 (Thank God!) and was waiting for them to show up. I was scared and told her I couldn't breathe and the next thing I said to her "I'm going down" and she heard me hit the floor and also heard me take my last breath! Can you imagine a child (even at 28 years) hearing that from their parent. She said about 3 minutes later she heard the firemen break down my front door. She heard a woman's voice say, "She's gone!" Then someone hung up my phone! My daughter freaked and called 911 on her cell phone and told them the story about what had happened and they patched her into the team that was working on me. They told her I had been revived after, CPR, paddles and adrenalin shot and that I was being taken to Evergreen emergency where a cardiologist was waiting. In the meantime, the cardiologist on call that morning called my daughter at home and said he was there at the hospital waiting for me to show up and that she was to expect the worst (I wasn't expected to make it) He said that according to the medics my condition was really bad and that she was to get to the hospital ASAP!

Well, I made it (thanks to the firemen, medics and my cardiologist - all angels in my book). I was in Intensive Care for a week and even though I got really good care, I do not want to go through with that again. It was scary. I didn't know how bad off I was until I got out of the hospital and my daughter explained everything and my doctor had told me on my exit day that I still was not out of the woods.

Well, in October I had to have a defibrillator implanted due to the damage the cardiac arrest did to my heart, then in November I had to have my artery radiated on as I grew scar tissue. Then this February I started getting really bad chest pains again and so once more I was in the hospital to have two more stents put in. Whew! I'm feeling really good now. I'm taking additional amounts of Coreg and Vit B-12 and Folic Acid has been added to my repertoire of medications. For the most part, I have kept an upper lip on this but there were some touch and go times where I wasn't grateful I was still here because I was hurting, depressed, alone, and wasn't getting better. I'm tearing up right now just telling my story.

But since I am a fighter and I have a lot to be alive for, and a wonderful supportive family, I have made it. I AM A WALKING MIRACLE!