I wasn’t tired. I had heart failure.

As said Erica Rimlinger

“It’s going well. I just didn’t eat enough breakfast,” I told the medical staff in the first aid. I made up to walk out of the hospital. My colleagues, I explained, were overly careful by ordering the ambulance for me. They told the EMTs that I fainted, fell and hit a desk on my way down. I didn’t remember that, but the developing bruise on my side testified to the truth of their account.

Yet I was ashamed of all the fuss and I wanted to go home, so I spoke to my way out. As a lawyer I am pretty good at fighting. Of course I was tired. Which working mother is not? I blamed the menopause, my migraine medication and lack of sleep for the breathlessness I experienced to walk up the stairs or to wear my skis to the ski lift.

That night, and the following days and nights, I generally felt bad. I couldn’t describe it: it was more a malaise. I was exhausted but couldn’t sleep. One night at 2 or 3 o’clock I was restlessly turning channels in bed when I stopped at a Rosie O’Donnell Comedy Special.

At that time, O’Donnell happened to describe the symptoms of heart disease in women. I remembered that the medical staff had presented a heart problem as one of the many possible causes for my fainting and recommended that I follow a follow -up of one cardiologist. I did not believe, as a reasonably health-conscious 48-year-old, I had a heart issue, but I made the cardiologist anyway.

Now, on television, O’Donnell mentioned all the specific symptoms that I felt. Pain in the back of the arm or neck? Account. Fatigue? Account. Excess water profit? I looked at my ankles who were swollen. Account. Feeling of fear? Absolute.

O’Donnell said, “If you experience it, go to the hospital now.” I was worried now. At 5:15 am I woke up with my husband and we went to the there.

This time I stayed for a full exam. The cardiologist with whom I had made the appointment, but had not yet seen it, was not there yet. He suggested me with full heart failure. There were no blockages in my heart, but it functioned with only 5% -10% capacity. He said, “You hardly have a heart function. We don’t know how you live.” I should undergo emergency operation for a Defibrillator and Pacemaker.

I was shocked. I couldn’t believe I was so sick. In fact, my oxygen starved by oxygen were so resistant to this news, I told my husband that the doctor told us that I could get my medication and go home. The doctor had to explain my situation three times and even had to draw a photo for me!

My surgeons installed a defibrillator and pacemaker to make my heart beat properly. I had to free up for a month and then return part -time. While my doctors and I have come up with my right medication dosing, I worked hard for months in Hartrehabseld to regain my health three times a week for two hours a week, as long as my insurance paid for it.

At the time I wanted to completely recover, but in retrospect I wanted me to have been more patient. In addition to the physical toll of my illness, a wave of uncontrollable sadness touched me. Fortunately my surgeons warned me this was one common event after heart surgerySo I was not completely overwhelmed by my seemingly random outbursts of sobbing.

With the combination of the devices and medicines that helped my heart to function again, I felt a huge difference in my energy levels early in my recovery. My brain felt like it was on steroids. I fully understand how long it took me to process information when I was sick. I almost immediately lost 20 pounds of water weight and within a month and a half of my operation I was able to take three miles evening walks with my husband. I couldn’t have taken it that far for a while.

2025

I share my story with other women because my own life was saved by someone who speaks out. I am a well -trained, health -conscious person, but I did not recognize the symptoms. I think back to how I had turned my busy life, felt sick but did not analyze or stopped the feeling to place it or to question. Today I listen to my instincts. If something feels off, I don’t ignore it. I get it checking out.

I say women of my age not to automatically exclude the possibility of heart conditions. Although I was not a drinker and I didn’t use any drugs, I learned that the heart can get sick in other ways. One of my doctors suggested that my heart conditions may have been caused by an infection, helped by my genetics.

My doctors recently discussed the possibility of removing the pacemaker. Sometimes, after it functions well for a while, the heart can start to send the correct electrical signals in itself again. I don’t know yet what my medical future has in store. I never wanted to be the face of heart conditions, but if only one woman reads this and recognizes her experience in my story, my heart will be happy.

This educational source is made with support from Novartis.

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