Transcription:
Listen to Your Heart: Heart Attack Survivor Shares Her Story

Introduction: This is Hello Healthy, a Dignity Health podcast. Here's Bill Klaproth.

Bill Klaproth: So it's time to have a discussion about heart attacks in women. Listen, I know you don't think this could happen to you, but cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of women causing one in three deaths each year. That's approximately one woman every minute. So we're not here to alarm you, but this is something you should know about as it did happen to our guest today, Lesly Minney. She has a heart attack survivor and is going to share her story. Leslie, thank you so much for your time and for talking with us today. So could you give us a little bit of background on yourself, your age, your occupation, and what you were feeling at the time? Tell us your story.

Lesly Minney: Sure. I'm 48 years old. I've been a teacher for 17 years and prior to the heart attack I was very, very active in shape, went hiking every weekend, worked out almost every day, felt pretty great.

Host: So you're feeling good, you're active, you're healthy. What did you start to feel? Can you share with us the signs and symptoms that you were experiencing?

Lesly Minney: Sure. I have to take you back to kind of the beginning of the day there because I started out going to the heart walk with my husband that day.

Host: So you went to a heart walk. That's a little ironic, but okay. This is good.

Lesly Minney: Right. So yeah, so I actually have a great picture of us in heart walk shirts. But anyhow, we decided, we went to the heart walk and then after we were going to go up hiking, so we went hiking on a new trail. It was up at 7,000 feet elevation. And as I'm going up, I'm having trouble breathing, I'm having this horrible tightness in my chest and my back starts hurting and I'm thinking, I'm getting sick. You know, it's a new trail. It's elevation. I, you know, I wasn't really sure. So I, you know, I stopped and the heart attach was never even in the question at that point. So, you know, and I asked my husband, I go, this isn't right. Maybe I'm just getting sick. And he's like, you know, and we knew the signs and symptoms, you know, and still didn't think that that's what was going on.

Host: So you're walking up the trail, so you're having shortness of breath, tight feeling in your chest, and you said your back started to hurt your upper back.

Lesly Minney: Correct. My upper back and see when we were hiking, I carry a backpack. So you know, there's another excuse. I was like, oh it's fine. You know, it's just my backpack. It's heavy, you know, I can't breathe cause it's, you know, there's not a lot of air, that kind of thing. So yeah, it wasn't, it didn't seem crazy out of normal.

Host: So did you finish the hike and then head back down then?

Lesly Minney: Yeah, I went all the way to the top and then we went down and then that night we camped and, I didn't sleep very well. I, you know, it felt, ugh. And I thought, man, I'm just getting sick, you know? I don't know. So then we went home and fast forward three days I was okay.

Host: So three days after this you felt okay then?

Lesly Minney: Yeah, I was just a little run down. You know what that is just, you know, I'm tired and it's.

Host: So you went to work and, you thought, okay, I'm just going to tough it out. Just caught a bug or something, but I'm feeling a little better so I'm just going to keep going.

Lesly Minney: Exactly. Yeah. I went to work, but I didn't go to the gym on those two days, those first two days. So on the third day I went back to the gym and went to work out after work, and I got on the elliptical and within two minutes I was like, Oh my gosh, there's that chest pain again. I was like, what is, what's wrong? You know, I didn't know. So I got off and I have an Apple watch and I did the little ECG feature, you know, and I got three that said that they were inconclusive and I was like, oh, that's weird. You know? And then I can message that says, maybe you should seek medical attention. And even at that point I was still, no, there's no way. You know? I'm like, this is just crazy. I don't. What's going on, you know? So I called my husband and he's like, well yeah, that's kind of weird. Why don't you take an aspirin? So I went home, I left the gym and went home, drove, you know, no problem. Took an aspirin and then, you know, within maybe a few hours was starting to get horrible indigestion, just not feeling right, couldn't lay down, couldn't go to sleep, had a horrible backache, you know, just that same stuff going on. And I was like, man, I don't know what the heck is going on. So I went downstairs and was trying to like walk it out. I don't know how else to explain that, but you like kind of stretch, you know, like when you don't feel good. And I had a really sharp pain go down my left arm and that's when I knew, I was like, I need you to go to the hospital. So yeah, I got there very, very quickly and they took great care of me.

Host: What did you have? What happened? Did they go, Oh my God, you're having a heart attack? What happened to you?

Lesly Minney: They do. When you go in and you tell, you know that you have chest pain, obviously they go through that whole protocol, you know, checking for that. But honestly, they were like, well, it doesn't your ECG normal. You know, your breathing's fine right now, or are you having pain? I'm like, no, you know, so I'm thinking, man, I wasted everyone's time. You don't feel bad. Like, Oh, and then they take a blood test and the doctor comes in and he goes, whoa. He goes, your levels are way elevated. Something's off. And I was like, okay, I'm not crazy, you know. And, so then a cardiologist came and talked to me and he didn't even think they were going to find anything. He was like, Oh, you probably just have this broken heart syndrome. And I was like, okay, cause it's just caused by stress, you know? And I'm like, all right, you know.

Host: So you were exhibiting these symptoms, but most of the tests were coming back normal.

Lesly Minney: It was, yeah. I mean, it was, it was really weird. It was like mostly with exertion that it was happening. So now, once I was calm, then it wasn't showing signs. So decided to do an angiogram. So that's where you lay there and you're awake, you know, so you can hear what they're saying. They get all ready, you know, and he's like, Oh, this will just take a second. You're probably fine enough, can find anything. And I hear him go, Oh my God. And I'm like, that's not what you want to hear. You know? I'm like, what? And he's like, okay, you have a really severe blockage and you know, we'll fix it. We'll put a stent in and you know, you should be okay. And so when I got out, when I got out, he had a picture of it. It was 99% blocked in my right coronary artery.

Host: Lesly, Holy cow. 99% blocked.

Lesly Minney: Yeah, I was, I mean, it was bad. I was one of the worst ones he'd seen in a while. And I was like, wow. And he goes, and you went hiking. I'm like, yeah I went hiking. I mean, I explained all my symptoms away, you know, I didn't, I just thought that can't be it. You know, I'm just sick. That's just crazy.

Host: So they placed a stent in that blocked artery. And did you feel better right away?

Lesly Minney: I did actually. I came out of surgery and I was like, man, I already feel better. You know, I was like, this is great.

Host: Wow. What a story. So Leslie, does heart disease run in your family?

Lesly Minney: My mom did have heart problems, but what you have to understand is she was very, very overweight. She was diabetic. I mean everything that you could imagine, you know, that could be wrong was wrong. And so I just like said it's sort of lifestyle choices. We never had a discussion about it, so I didn't know.

Host: So I guess one of the lessons here is really understand your family history. You really need to know that. So how are you feeling now?

Lesly Minney: I, you know, I'm feeling a lot better. I am just taking it day by day. I'm not back to the hiking and that yet, but I really want to get there. So, I've been working little by little towards it. But yeah, I mean I haven't had any of the other symptoms that I have before.

Host:

So what changes have you made to your life since then?

Lesly Minney: And so that's what was really difficult is, cause we were already eating really clean and working out. I was like, well what else do I do? It's genetic.

Host: What else can you do? I mean for goodness sake.

Lesly Minney: Right. So really what has helped more than anything is, was going to cardiac rehab.

Host: Oh, so tell us more about cardiac rehab.

Lesly Minney: Yeah, they were supportive and I'm still going, I'm about halfway through at this point. But you know, I was scared to go back to things and they kind of take that out of you because you're monitored and they make sure that everything's fine and that you're breathing fine. You're working to the right capacity and they're supporting you the whole time.

Host: That type of support is really important. So you said earlier that you ate clean, you were watching your diet, obviously you were active and exercising. So what other suggestions did they have for you?

Lesly Minney: Well, it was funny. They sat me down and they actually said that, they're like, well, you know, most people, we talk about diet, we talk about exercise, you know, what is it maybe that you know, we can help you with. And I said, well, you know, managing stress is a big one for me. So they, you know, went through and gave me some tips. They talked to me, they, you know, made some suggestions. It's just really great. So that's helped a lot too.

Host: And I think another lesson here is if you're exhibiting these types of symptoms and you just don't know what it is better to go to the emergency room sooner than later or seek medical attention. Isn't that right? Because you had this delay of feeling the symptoms and then three days later you went to the emergency room. Talk to us about the importance of seeking medical attention right away.

Lesly Minney: Absolutely. You know, the original time when I was up on the mountain, there wasn't anywhere to go. So that's a little scary. But you know, when I got home I probably should've gone right then. And definitely when I was at the gym, I probably should have called 911 at that point. The faster you get there the, you know, better off you are. I didn't have any like significant heart damage luckily, but the longer you wait, the worse it is.

Host: So Lesly, thank you so much for sharing your story. Last question. So you were watching your diet, you were active, you were getting routine health checks, still you had a heart attack. So through your story, what do you want the public to know about this?

Lesly Minney: Yeah, for sure. I mean I was getting routine health checks, but I didn't have those, you know, normal symptoms of high cholesterol and things. But I needed to have a discussion with my family, you know, and I didn't ever have that. So you know, knowing your family history is super important and then knowing, you know, just paying attention to your body. If something's off, don't be afraid to say something.

Host: So remember that lesson from a heart attack survivor. Lesly, thank you so much for sharing your story. We're so happy that it turned out to be a good story at the end. Cause certainly with 99% blockage it certainly could have gone the other way, but we're so happy that it didn't, and the people at Dignity were able to help you. Lesly, thank you again for sharing your story. We appreciate it.

Lesly Minney: Thank you for having me. I hope that it helps you know, women to go out and Get checked, and listen to their bodies.

Host: That's Lesly Minney, and we thank her for sharing her story. And for more information on women and heart attack, please visit dignityhealth.org/bakersfield/heart, that's dignity health.org/bakersfield/heart. And if you like what you've heard today, please share it on your social channels and be sure to check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Hello Healthy, a Dignity Health podcast. I'm Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening.