My origin story: I was born in the UK and lived there until I moved with my family to Vancouver Island in 2010. I’ve lived in Cowichan Bay as of three years ago (2021).

My age: I’m 54 years old. I was 53 when I had the heart attack.

Occupation: I work as a school secretary at a local school.

My heart health story

On July 10, 2023, I was praticing kayak rolling. I was holding my breath, and you can get dizzy and nauseous while you’re doing this activity. So, I didn’t think it was unusual to have to take several breaks to get over each bout of nausea and dizziness.

From the kayaking, I went to meet a friend to walk our dogs. We started hiking on Cobble Hill Mountain and, luckily, we were on the less steep side. As we were walking, I suddenly felt the need to sit down due to shortness of breath and a tight feeling in my chest. But there was nowhere to sit, so I stood there for a while and regained my breath and then we carried on really slowly and managed to finish the walk

I went home and just assumed I’d overdone it that morning. I didn’t realize anything serious was happening but, with the benefit of hindsight, I realize I’d been having symptoms for months. I was going through a divorce at the time and I was under a lot of stress. When I went out on my hikes, I would have to start slowly and gradually warm up.

The next day, July 11, I took my dog out in the morning but the pains in my chest came back. They were less intense than the day before. It was more like a tightness in my chest and I couldn’t take a full breath. But I didn’t feel it was anything dramatic. But then I thought about my family history. My dad had had his first heart attack at 45 and died at age 55.

I finished the morning dog walk, which I cut a bit shorter than usual, and I decided to phone my family doctor. I’m a school secretary and this was the first full day of school holidays, so I went to see my GP. She agreed with me that it was probably nothing, but she still decided to send me for blood tests. I also had another medical appointment that afternoon with my osteopath that I had to go to.

Doctor advises going to hospital

Thankfully, I got the blood test done before my other medical appointment. That afternoon, after my appointments, I tried to walk the dog but the tightness came back to my chest. Then at 7 pm that evening, my GP called me. She said my blood tests had come back and that my troponen levels were elevated, and she wanted me to go to hospital to get checked out. Troponin is a kind of enzyme that shows up in your blood after you’ve had a heart attack. She said I could drive or she could send an ambulance to pick me up.

Then she told me to pack a bag with a toothbrush and phone charger and other necessities. At this point, I started to panic and was tearful on the phone. My anxiety started to build as I started putting things into a bag, envisioning having to sit in a waiting room until the early hours of the morning. And then my dog threw me over the edge: I was trying to make arrangements for him and was not 100 per cent sure who was going to be able to take care of him. He was just sitting there, looking up at me. I remember saying to him, “I’m sorry, I don’t know”, and as I walked out the door, I simultaneously realized I should tell my next-door neighbours that I had to go to the hospital, and that someone would be coming to get the dog. It was while I was talking to them that I got teary so my neighbours thankfully drove me to the hospital.

When I arrived at Cowichan District Hospital in Duncan, I was taken in right away for an ECG (electrocardiogram). I was then put in an emergency bed and had a halter monitor put on. I was placed in the emergency ward for the night and I spent most of the night crying. I was using a CPAP machine at home but I didn’t bring it with me to the hospital that first night, so a nurse put me on oxygen which felt like it was burning my nostrils.

Heart attack confirmed

I texted my kids the next morning to tell them I was in hospital but I didn’t really know what was happening. My daughters are young, in their 20s, and one lives in Kelowna and the other lives in Toronto. The emergency doctor did confirm to me that my troponin levels were high and that I had indeed had a heart attack. It had happened on Monday, July 10.

I thought I was just going to the hospital for tests and had visions of sitting in a waiting room until the early hours of the morning to be seen.

That day I was taken to the ICU and had an echocardiogram done. Then I was told that I’d have to go to Victoria for an angiogram. But I wasn’t sent that day. I spent two nights in the Cowichan hospital before they finally sent me in an ambulance to Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. I had the angiogram procedure and had two stents inserted. One blockage was 100 per cent so they inserted two overlapping stents in the same artery. Two other arteries were blocked at 40 per cent but I did not receive stents for those blockages. I was told that generally only blockages of 70 per cent or over are treated with stents.

I stayed in the Royal Jubilee for one day, then I was taken by Medi-Van back to Duncan and stayed overnight in Cowichan hospital. A friend picked me up the next day and took me home. Before I left the hospital, I received some instructions on how to look after myself and how to take medications.

Learning to cope post-heart attack

My friend who took me home also took me to the pharmacy to get my medications. Another friend, my mainstay, stayed with me at my place for two nights. Then my oldest daughter came home for two nights to help.

Believe it or not, I drove myself back to Victoria a few days after the stents were put in due to pains and tightness that I was feeling across the top of my chest. My friends all said if I had pains in my chest that I should go get checked out at the hospital. My daughter came with me but I drove the car.

In Victoria, at Royal Jubilee Hospital, they put me in a bed and the doctors said they suspected pericarditis, the inflammation of the thin tissue surrounding the heart which is called the pericardium. As a result, I was put on a really aggressive drug which gave me a bad tummy upset. I was discharged at 7 pm that night.

Following that, I ended up in emergency in Duncan hospital once more, on July 19, due to chest pains. But the doctor there couldn’t see any inflammation so I was then sent to the internist in Duncan. He put me on an aggressive aspirin regimen to work in tandem with the pericarditis drug I’d been given in Victoria. I also did a stress ECG, and it was decided that my heart was ok. But the doctor was uncertain about the original pericarditis diagnosis.

Treatment plan

I believe the ongoing chest pains and tightness I’ve experienced after my heart attack have largely been due to personal stress: to the emotional stress of the heart attack, to the stress of my divorce, and stress at work. I believe stress is one of my biggest contributory factors to heart disease, as I have a relatively healthy lifestyle. I have never smoked or drunk more than the odd glass of alcohol, my diet is reasonable and I exercise relatively regularly. The internist did tell me that my cholesterol levels had been sky high since June 2023 just before I had my heart attack.

My treatment plan consists of taking six heart medications, including Clopidogrel, a platelet inhibitor or blood thinner, which I was prescribed because I received stents. I took a three-month online cardiac rehab program based in Kelowna (at a private clinic, Pulse Cardiac Health), and I continue to do various exercises, including strength conditioning, as well as yoga and hiking.

Gradual return to work

My overall health now, apart from my out-of-control stress, is pretty good. I’m physically in pretty good shape. I’ve made a few tweaks to my diet and I feel better than before the surgery.

Unfortunately, I’ve found that trying new exercises seems to trigger my stress pains, until I get used to the new level of exercise. As a result, I’ve turned to alternative medical treatments to try to help including acupuncture, osteopathy and a naturopath. I have also started taking the hormone progesterone, which is really helping with anxiety. I had not realized anxiety was such a common perimenopause symptom. I have also learned that progesterone can potentially protect against heart attacks and that women are at a heightened risk of heart attacks once they reach perimenopause.

And I’m also getting back into teaching kayaking.

My job as a school secretary can be stressful. I feel that for the past three years, my body has been telling me to take care of myself. As my heart attack occurred during our school’s summer holidays (beginning in July), my contract didn’t cover a gradual return to work. So, when school resumed, I had to go back to work fulltime. It was challenging.

Finding the Nanaimo Heart Sisters

After my heart attack, I found a women’s heart support group through the Royal Jubilee Hospital that meets by Zoom. But I found it too impersonal. Eventually, I found out about the Nanaimo Heart Sisters and I contacted Diane Shipclark in January 2023. So far, I’ve been to one meeting.

I’m hoping the group will enable me to share my experience of having a heart attack as well as learn about the heart and stroke experiences of the other members. I’m looking forward to possible social experiences with the other members, as well.