Vicky Hadaway's Story: Surviving a Heart Attack

A survivor’s story: Vicky’s heart attack journey begins with jaw pain

If you remember nothing else from her story, heart attack survivor Vicky Hadaway wants you to remember this: The only symptom of her heart attack was jaw pain.

Unlike on TV, she did not fall to the ground gripping her chest. Her jaw hurt and she was tired. That was it. She thought she might have started grinding her teeth at night. But when aspirin stopped easing the pain, she got worried.

And don't think she had a "minor" heart attack. The right coronary artery, which supplies blood to about half the heart, was 98 percent blocked.

The fact that she got treatment at all was God's grace, she says. She owes her life to heavy traffic.

Early warning signs

It was Saturday, July 4, 2020. The 57-year-old Greensboro resident was getting ready to babysit one of the youngest of her 17 grandchildren. Just before leaving home to pick up the baby, sudden pain spread across her jaw. "It felt like an uppercut," she says.

She took a baby aspirin and the pain vanished, leaving her feeling a little tired. After her husband, Neal, was comfortable that she was feeling better, she set out to get their grandchild. On the way, the jaw pain hit again. There was a headache powder in the car, though, and as soon as she took it, the pain went away. For the rest of the weekend, the pain would flare up every few hours and then vanish when she took aspirin – though not acetaminophen.

Monday around 9 a.m., after Neal had left for work, the pain struck again. But this time, aspirin didn’t help. Vicky decided to get checked out at St. Mary's Good Samaritan Hospital.

A blessing in disguise

As she approached the hospital on Highway 44, she began having second thoughts.

"’Lord, with all this coronavirus and so many people needing care, maybe I shouldn't go,’" she prayed. "’There's someone who needs care more than me.’ I actually stopped the car so I could turn around." But traffic was so heavy in the other lane, she gave up and drove to the hospital.

In the Emergency Department, she apologized for troubling them with a minor complaint and described her symptoms. “By the time I finished, a nurse had a wheelchair behind me!” she says.

An EKG showed troubling signs within seconds, so emergency physician Dr. Kristina Collins ordered a blood test to look for signs of heart tissue damage. The test was positive.

"She was awesome," Vicky says. "I kept saying, 'No, that can't be true,' and she kept telling me it was. She was very firm but also reassuring."

Dr. Collins had her transported by ambulance to St. Mary's Hospital in Athens, where she was taken directly to the intensive care unit. No sooner had her nurses gotten her changed and in bed than cardiologist Dr. Charles Neckman came in. After a thorough assessment, he recommended a cardiac catheterization procedure first thing the next morning.

Opening a blocked artery

Tuesday morning, as St. Mary's staff wheeled her into the procedure room, she was feeling anxious. One of the team asked if she would like to listen to music. She said yes ("I love music. I love to dance. I danced a lot with my Daddy," she notes). When they started singing along, she did, too. With music and light banter, they kept her mind off her worries.

While she was under anesthesia, Dr. Neckman threaded a thin flexible tube called a catheter into an artery in her upper leg and then up through the inside of her blood vessels to her heart. He used dye and real-time x-ray video to quickly find a nearly complete blockage of her right coronary artery. Using a tiny inflatable balloon, he widened the narrow spot and then inserted a device called a stent to keep it open.

"I don’t remember much from the procedure," Vicky says, "but I remember Dr. Neckman telling me, 'I hope you realize how blessed you are. In another 24 hours, your name would have been history.'"

Full speed ahead

Back in the ICU, Vicky leapt into her recovery with her trademark enthusiasm for life. "I was supposed to get up and walk, but the nurses had to tell me to slow down!" She did so well, she was able to go home the Thursday after her Tuesday procedure.

But that was not the end of her journey. Dr. Neckman prescribed Cardiac Rehabilitation for Vicky. Three times a week for 12 weeks, she came back to St. Mary’s for education and monitored exercise in the safety of St. Mary’s dedicated Cardiac Rehabilitation gym. She quickly became friends with Todd Drake, a certified cardiac rehab professional and St. Mary’s cardiac rehab coordinator.

“Todd is awesome; I love him,” she says. “He helped me in so many ways, especially learning to get my habits in order. He helped me learn to listen to my body and make the changes I need to make.”

How Cardiac Rehab helps

Patients who have had a heart attack or heart procedure typically face three challenges, Todd says: Maximizing the strength of their remaining healthy heart tissue, learning better habits to reduce their risk of another heart attack, and overcoming their fear of another event.

“Heart disease impacts your spirit as well as your body,” he says. “Cardiac rehab helps patients learn to listen to their body so they can return to active living with a sense of safety and confidence.”

In gratitude, Vicky did something special for her last cardiac rehab class: she arrived in a cap and gown.

“I wanted to make people smile,” she says. “God kept me here for a reason, and I wanted to share my joy with all the people who had been so good to me while I was there.”

A new perspective on life

Today, Vicky understands that her heart attack grew out of a combination of family history and unhealthy habits. She can’t change her family history, but she is working on getting more exercise and is making good progress toward a healthier diet. She happily reports she no longer needs blood pressure medication but takes an aspirin every night as a blood thinner.

“I am so thankful,” she says. “Every day is not a to-do list. Now I ask, ‘What can I do’? Who needs me? Who needs extra prayers?’ You can’t focus on ‘what if’ – you’ll miss what’s happening now – but it’s there, in the back of my mind. When I hold my grandbabies, I hold them a little tighter.”

Heart attack warning signs:

• Chest discomfort (pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain)
• Discomfort in other areas of the body, including arms, back, neck, stomach or jaw
• Shortness of breath, with or without chest discomfort

Additional signs (more common in women):

• Cold sweat
• Nausea/vomiting
• Lightheadedness
• Excessive tiredness

Source: American Heart Association, www.heart.org

St. Mary’s offers

• Three hospitals with 24/7 emergency care
• Oconee Heart & Vascular Center – comprehensive heart and blood vessel care from Board-certified cardiologists
• Emergency and non-emergency cardiac cath procedures
• Advanced diagnostics
• Rhythm disorders diagnosis and treatment
• Cardiac device implantation and follow-up
• Cardiac rehabilitation
• Wellness services – smoking cessation, nutrition counseling, fitness center