All Heart

By: Jason Marcle

I endured a scary experience back in 2009 that still haunts me today. We were all traveling on Interstate I-40 in the month of June. We were heading on our annual vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains. I was driving through Nashville at night when all of a sudden, I started feeling very strange. I broke out in a sweat. I got dizzy. I felt like someone was sitting on my chest. It became hard to take regular breaths as I was short of breath. I had this pain in the front of my left leg that I cannot even describe.

I quickly pulled over on the side of the interstate. I remember telling Amy that I thought I was going to pass out and I did not know why. I moved over to the passenger seat and propped my feet up on the dashboard. I reclined in the passenger seat backwards trying to get comfortable. Amy immediately checked my blood sugar to make sure it was not low for some odd reason. It was completely normal. Haley was only 6 years old; she did not understand what was going on. Neither did I. We sat on the side of the interstate for at least 15 minutes to make sure that I remained stable.

I was scared. I was only 29 years old, and I honestly thought I was having a heart attack. As my breathing started to become more regular, I was finally able to start calming down a little. I was still dizzy, and I still felt pain in my left leg. I felt a tremendous amount of pressure on my chest, and I was very tired. Amy tried to get me to call 911, but I refused. I mean, I was going to turn 30 years old the following month. Who would believe that I was having a heart attack? I did not even believe it myself.

After the chest and leg pain subsided, Amy drove us to Cookeville, TN and we decided to stop for the night just in case it happened again. We thought that we were still close enough to Nashville if I needed immediate medical attention through the night. I did not have any energy at all. I had never felt exhaustion like I felt after that episode.

I called my mom since she was a nurse and told her what had happened. I went into detail explaining my symptoms and how I felt. My mom told me that it sounded like I may have thrown a blood clot or that I had a heart attack. She tried talking me into going to the ER that night, but I did not want to spend my week off getting tests run and then finding out that there was nothing wrong. That is what had always happened in the past. I had passed out a few times in the past and nobody could figure out why. I wore heart monitors, and had EKGs performed with everything always being normal. I had had chest pain for several years and every doctor blamed it on acid reflux. They told me that I was too young to have heart issues.

I did not have any more issues through the night and other than being very tired, I was fine. We went ahead and finished driving to the Great Smoky Mountains. It was about a three-hour drive from where we had stopped for the night. We spent the next week there. I never regained my energy. I was tired. We normally could walk the streets of Gatlinburg at night. This was something I loved to do. This time it was a little different. I had to rest often. We stopped more than usual to let me sit on a park bench and gain some energy. This was not normal for me. We had to do the same when we went to Dollywood. I had to take numerous breaks throughout the whole week. I never got my full energy back during our trip.

When we returned home, I decided to make an appointment with my primary care doctor. I wanted to find out why I was so weak and why I had all of those symptoms that night. My doctor did not seem too concerned but ordered bloodwork, a heart monitor, and an echocardiogram. An echocardiogram is basically an ultrasound of the heart. It allows them to measure the ejection fraction of the heart. It allows them to see the heart valve. It also allows them to measure the size of the heart and valves.

You may ask what ejection fraction means. It is a measure of the heart’s pumping efficiency. It represents the percentage of blood pumped out of the left ventricle with each heartbeat. A normal ejection fraction is typically between 50% and 70%. According to the echocardiogram result, my ejection fraction was at 25%.

Being that I was so young, my primary care doctor did not believe the results were accurate. He actually told me that if they had read it backwards, it would read 50% lower. He thought that would be the case in this situation. I requested to see a cardiologist at that point so I could get a second opinion. My primary care doctor had no problem with that so that was our next step.

I saw the cardiologist in late June of 2009. He ran another echocardiogram that same day. He came in after the test and told us my ejection fraction was really at 25% and that meant I was in heart failure. He then said, “we have to do a double heart catheter as soon as possible.”

The next week was hard for me mentally. It was hard on my family as well. I can remember my dad crying, asking my mom if I was going to be ok. She did not have the answers. I remember my dad’s boss telling me that my dad had come into his office one day that week and started crying worrying about what the heart catheter would show. Did I have a heart attack? If so, how much damage was done. My dad was worried about me dying.

The next week, I had the heart catheter procedure. When the cardiologist came in with the results, my mom got scared and so did I. He told us that I did not have a heart attack even though I had experienced all the right symptoms. He told us that I was in chronic systolic heart failure and that there was so much pressure in the left chamber of my heart, that it was ready to pop at any given moment. He said I had cardiomyopathy. He told us that a streptococcus virus damaged my heart. Yes, untreated strep throat can cause heart failure. Every time I tell this story, it makes me realize how close I came to dying. That is not the news I wanted to hear. That is not the news Amy wanted to hear.

The doctor then told us that it would take time, but there was a medicine that would help me as long as my heart did not “pop” from the internal pressure beforehand. He asked that I be careful and try not to get excited, mad, or to overexert myself. So basically, I felt like a walking timebomb. I started the medicine and I felt ok other than getting out of breath easily and getting very tired easily.

I started the new medicine, and I took it easy. I went back to see the cardiologist every three months until he felt comfortable that I was going to b ok. I stared showing improvement and he started seeing me every six months. I continued to improve and now I only have to see him once a year. He runs the echocardiogram annually. Today, me ejection fraction is between 65%-70%.

It is a miracle that my heart did not explode. I can only attribute my healing to God. I beat the odds and I am still alive. I ask myself often why? What is my purpose? What does God have planned for me? Why did God spare me? Yes, I still have heart failure today, but it is controlled. If I were to stop taking my medicine, my heart would go right back to the condition that it was in before.

I mentioned at the beginning of this blog that I am still haunted today from my experience. What I mean by that is now every time I get heartburn, I get nervous. I have chest pain since all of this occurred. When I have chest pain today, it scares me even though my cardiologist tells me it is typical angina from my heart failure. I am kind of confused on when to seek medical attention and when not to when my chest is hurting. I do get checked out if the pain becomes unbearable. That does not happen often. I can be hard-headed sometimes, but I have to remember that God is in control.

I wanted to share this story because I am sure many out there have had a similar experience. You may have been diagnosed with something that scared you. I want to prove that there is hope in every situation. You may feel like you cannot recover from what you are facing, but you are not in control of that. God is. God’s plan will always manifest. There is nothing we can do to change it. I want those facing battles to know that there are better days ahead. I always say if it were not for rainy days, we would not enjoy the sunny days.

Maybe you have a story you would like to share with us. We would love to hear it. I hope this blog finds those that need to read ii, those that feel alone, those that feel like nobody else cares.