| Your Health Matters | spring 2004 |
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Nurse Urges Women to Watch for Warning Signs of Heart Disease
A series of gastrointestinal diagnostic tests revealed no problems. But Martel’s condition continued to worsen. She began feeling tightness in her chest when walking — a favorite exercise. Then one day she felt the tightness when she was doing nothing at all. A friend rushed her to the emergency department at St. Luke’s Hospital. Martel underwent a cardiac catheterization at St. Luke’s, which revealed two blockages in her heart. She was transferred, to Charlton Memorial Hospital where doctors performed an angioplasty and inserted a stent at the site of the worst blockage, that very same day. Martel had thought something might be wrong, but she had no idea she was suffering from heart disease. “The warning signs are different for men and women,” Martel said. “That’s why it didn’t occur to me that when I began having bad indigestion, that I actually had heart disease.” Martel was lucky. She was released from the hospital the day after her angioplasty and began cardiac rehabilitation at St. Luke’s. Soon she was back to working part-time at a local extended-care facility. After her experience, Martel is dedicated to helping women understand their unique warning signs for heart disease. “It was really an eye opener,” she said. “Women can have much subtler symptoms than men, and it is important that they understand what may be happening to them when they are not feeling well.” |
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