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6 Things I Learned From My Hollywood Heart Attack
Out of the blue, I was about to have a heart attack, the kind medical experts term “the widow maker”
Few life experiences described as unremarkable merit high approval. A doctor’s appointment that concludes with unremarkable written in the medical chart is one. A seamless, multi-stop transatlantic airline flight is another.
I had just landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport after one such unremarkable flight, my husband of 36 years beside me. I felt rested and energized, and mused that travel like this could happen more if we become better long-term planners. He nodded a perfunctory “uh-huh” without looking up from a Baldacci thriller, speed-reading the last few pages before the airplane engine stopped.
Little did I know, and “out of the blue,” I was about to have a heart attack caused by a blockage of my Left Anterior Descending artery, the kind medical experts term “the widow maker.”
1) Time is critical in a heart attack. Medical treatment within 90 minutes of symptoms means a greater chance for full recovery, according to the American Heart Association and partners.
We breezed through the automated passport control area, scanned our passports and took selfies. Then I raced to claim our luggage. Baggage claim triggers my disquiet. Long ago, someone took my luggage off a carousel and abandoned it in a remote area of the airport. I found it eventually, intact, but my pesky cortisol and adrenaline hormones spike whenever I’m at baggage claim.
My husband does not share my baggage claim angst. He headed to the restroom.
At baggage carousel 6, I circled around to the chute opening and waited. Like a bird of prey, I was poised and ready to lunge at the first sight of our luggage when it dropped onto the conveyer belt. A baggage handler plucked a few unclaimed bags orbiting in perpetuity from an earlier flight.
In the distant crowd, I spotted my husband and gave him a spirited wave. As the baggage chute began to spit luggage I felt a sudden jolt of “indigestion” in the middle of my chest. It slowly intensified and radiated from shoulder to shoulder.
