I am the oldest of 4 girls, and I am 36 years old(yes I gave up my age here). Being 36 I don’t consider myself old at all. We have things that we have to worry about on a day by day basis, work, bills, family, and being healthy.

Being in my 30′s I do worry about health, being that I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. but I never worry about having a heart attack. You think about people who are in their 50′s or higher having heart issues. women who have gone through menopause are at higher risk of heart attacks, because of the loss of estrogen, but being in the 30′s, that is the last thing I worry about.

Well the other day I received a text from my sister who is only 30. and it went as… I am heading down to the cardiac cath lab for a test. My thought was, wait who is going? Picking up the phone and calling to find out who was going, I thought I read the text wrong. As it turned out she was heading down to the cath lab. She was admitted to the hospital the night before with pain in her jaw, then down into her arms and then having trouble breathing.

While in the ER, an EKG was down as well as blood work, everything was pointing to a heart attack, but who has a heart attack at the age of 30? She was then admitted and monitored, overnight she has multiple episodes of heart activity. First thing in the morning she was sent to have a cardiac catheterization. When they wheeled her in, the staffed looked at her and said, oh this is an easy in and out. Well it turned out she had one of her major arteries LAD (Left Anterior Descending Artery), was 99% blocked. The Doctor was stunned! At that point all family was called to come to the hospital, we are going to try to do a stent, but if it doesn’t take, she will need Open Heart Surgery!

Holy Cow! Are you serious! This can’t be happening is all we were thinking as we rush to Florida Medical Center. Luckily, the doctor was able to stent her, he had to put in a Heart pump because her heart is very weak. It turns out that she had a major heart attack last week and didn’t even know it! Yes you read that right! She had a heart attack last week, coming from the gym she felt her arms heavy and hard to  pick them up, never thinking that she was having this at the time. Not even when her jaw was hurting her.

Now when the doctor came in to talk to us, he did say that the blockage she had been not caused by cholesterol. She actually dissected the artery and it somehow clotted off, by doing that, it also prevented the heart from getting the oxygen and blood it needed. All of us are looking at each other wondering HOW? Freak of nature I guess.

Thanks for the quick thinking of doing the cardiac cath, my sister’s life was saved! I am not sure she would have survived if she didn’t go to the hospital at the time she did. Now the rest of us are going to have to get checked out. Just to be on the safe side, our father also had a heart attack at 36, and he is now 54.

My point being, never take for granted certain types of pain. One of the main signs of a heart attack is jaw pain then radiating down into the arms. No matter what age you are! Please go get it checked…. A simple EKG is all that is needed!

Jeannette Neerpat, CDPE, e-PRO
CondoDomain
7727 NW 79th ST
Tamarac, FL 33321
954-993-4104