Helping Hearts
Herald and News, August 13, 2010
Before Brenda Anderson flatlined, she remembers watching a doctor cut through her brand-new blouse.
She remembers protesting, saying she had just bought it.
She remembers the doctor’s response: “Don’t worry about it. I’ll buy you another one.”
Then her heart stopped.
Doctors at Sky Lakes Medical Center brought her back.
Anderson, three weeks off the operating table for a double-stent heart procedure, had suffered a heart attack. She considers herself blessed to be alive and credits skilled medical professionals and a bank manager for helping her stay that way.
“I praise God for being here,” Anderson said. “I am a totally resurrected woman.”
Brain shutdown
Anderson’s chest pains started at Pacific Crest Federal Credit Union. It was late July, and Anderson had come for help getting her checkbook balance in line with the bank’s. Credit union manager Char Paradis said the signs of an attack started when Anderson was in her office. “I kept watching her. She started to turn really pale and sweat,” Paradis said. Paradis brought Anderson some water. Anderson sipped. She laid her head down on the desk. Her face went paler. Paradis offered to call an ambulance, but Anderson declined. She was still recuperating from heart surgery and had suffered a severe reaction to some medication days before.
“I had just assumed, ‘Well, maybe I’m having another reaction,’ ” Anderson said.
Paradis thought otherwise. Heart attack flashed in her mind.
“I’ve never been around anybody that had one before. I don’t know why my mind went to that,” she said.
Anderson asked Paradis to help her to the bathroom. Paradis obliged. Anderson felt nauseated, weak and lightheaded. She said it felt like her brain was shutting down, so she took two nitroglycerin pills.
Paradis went back to her office and called 911. She told Anderson as soon as she returned.
‘The accident was me’
Paramedics arrived and prepped Anderson for transport.
Paradis tried to stay calm, not wanting to get Anderson more upset.
Anderson died and came back to life in the Sky Lakes emergency room. Her expensive new blouse was gone. A pacemaker clicked inside her chest.
She watched doctors and nurses rush through the ER and thought a car accident or some major disaster had occurred. It only took her a few minutes to realize a majority of the activity revolved around her heart attack.
“The accident was me,” she said.
Paradis arrived to check on her, which touched Anderson.
“I thought that was so remarkable. That was on her own time,” Anderson said.
Doing well
Anderson has been discharged from the hospital. She feels better and continues to recover. The pacemaker continues to work.
Anderson considers Paradis an angel for intervening and visiting her. She brought Paradis flowers as a thank you. Paradis also received an award from the credit union for her actions.
“She didn’t have to do what she did,” Anderson said. “She was right there.”
Signs of a heart attack
Herald and News, August 13, 2010
Stacey Holmes, Sky Lakes Medical Center trauma coordinator and an emergency room nurse, said heart attacks have a variety of symptoms.
The condition begins with a blockage in one of the heart’s major vessels, preventing oxygen flow to the cardiac muscle tissue.
“Ultimately, if it’s not addressed, the lack of oxygen to the tissue leads to tissue death or death of your heart,” Holmes said.
Signs include chest pain on the left side of the body that can spread to the left arm, neck, back and jaw. Those symptoms can be accompanied with shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and lightheadedness.
If someone witnesses these symptoms, they should call 911 immediately. The victim should sit still and try to remain calm until the ambulance arrives. Stacey Holmes, Sky Lakes Medical Center trauma coordinator and an emergency room nurse, said heart attacks have a variety of symptoms.
The condition begins with a blockage in one of the heart’s major vessels, preventing oxygen flow to the cardiac muscle tissue.
“Ultimately, if it’s not addressed, the lack of oxygen to the tissue leads to tissue death or death of your heart,” Holmes said.
Signs include chest pain on the left side of the body that can spread to the left arm, neck, back and jaw. Those symptoms can be accompanied with shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and lightheadedness.
If someone witnesses these symptoms, they should call 911 immediately. The victim should sit still and try to remain calm until the ambulance arrives.
