Wow! Unbelievable!
“he ran an EKG, and it was a little bit off,” she said.”
Ya think!!??
That mostly affects men.
Jumping to the conclusion:”When they finished her procedure, they showed Hummel that she had a 95 percent blockage in the left anterior descending artery of her heart. When that becomes completely blocked, it can cause a particularly lethal heart attack referred to as a widowmaker.”
Medical Underwriter here.
Very unusual case, but shows CAD can happen to anyone. Lean build, normal cholesterol profile, normal BPs, no family history, good exercise, young female - and still - BAM.
You think you have no risks, no symptoms? Get your physical anyway.
Blockage in the same artery killed my brother, FReeper Holger Dansk, about 13 years ago. So my surviving brothers and I get our hearts checked on occasion. The imaging technology these days is amazing. I’m in the clear, but you better believe that if I have these symptoms I’m not going to be stupid and “tough it out”.
In looking back on our family history so many died of “Acute indigestion”.
In 2006, I also had chest pains and the doctor suggested it was “acute indigestion”. After doing minor exertions I would get a stabbing pain, like someone driving an ice pick into a spot in my heart.
After a couple of more weeks of indigestion medication, and no relief, it was found to be a near Widomaker, even though I was on blood thinners for an artificial heart valve. I now have a heart stent, and a larger dosage of blood thinners.
So, IF they say it is “indigestion,” GET ANOTHER OPINION, FAST!
My appendix had been ruptured for over a week before my wife insisted that I get my abdominal pain checked out. She said my complexion was changing color and she thought I had appendicitis. The people I had seen during my career with appendicitis were complaining of excruciating pain where mine seemed manageable. So I didn’t think that was the problem.
It turns out that a high tolerance for discomfort is not always a good thing. Nasty goo had been leaking into my abdominal cavity and causing all sorts of bad things to happen along with creating a bad infection. The surgery lasted for hours while they removed all my guts and washed them and my abdominal cavity out. My incision went from hip bone to hip bone. The surgeon told my wife that I was very lucky to have survived.
but they weren’t obvious enough to make her immediate think something was wrong with her heart—”
I have zero medical training but her symptoms SCREAMED you’re gonna die!
While I admire the fact she got help and is doing well, I don’t think I would be pushing things to go back to marathon running. Moderation is the thing she should be thinking about, don’t give up running but reduce and run less distance.
Classic presentation of exertion induced angina, and highly predictive of a significant coronary artery blockage. You would think, after the Jim Fixx death, that people would be more aware of this possibility.
And she doesn’t have a cholesterol problem.
I tell you, there has to be some metabolic factor they haven’t found yet that produces coronary artery disease. The cholesterol hypothesis seems more and more to be another instance of correlation doesn’t prove causation.
I’ve been through almost the exact same procedure. Nagging, deep chest pains woke me up one morning but I thought I could go on and it would pass off. Showered, went to work, stayed about an hour and decided to get home and visit the ER to get checks. 90% blockage and the same procedure in my forearm. That night I was very uncomfortable in the hospital but have felt great ever since, more than 3 years ago. Pay attention to pain. It’s there for a reason.
REALLY??
She was the HUSBAND of a woman?
Just being snarky...
I think they mean: Widowermaker