Maria saved my life. Literally. Because of her personal commitment to care, because of her persistence in the face of my resistance, and because she logically and compassionately gave me direction, I survived a 99% blocked LAD and am here to talk about it. In December 2019, I was a very healthy 53-year-old running a global business, traveling around the world, exercising every day doing yoga, and eating a healthy diet (80% vegetarian). It's important for me to share that for two reasons - it reinforces that I am strong-willed and that I couldn't imagine I could have a heart attack.
One morning, I woke up to take a run before I hopped on the plane to go to Houston. During my run, chest pains that had been somewhat more regular were very intense and I had to stop my run multiple times. I also had some strange pain in my jaw (but had just had a crown filled) and had some pain in my arm (but had been lifting weights the day prior). I left for my trip but decided I would reach out and try to get an appointment at Mayo when I returned as I felt something just wasn't right. To start that process I emailed the portal with a description of my issue and a request to come in when I returned. Within what seemed like minutes my phone started ringing. Maria was calling me as she had seen my portal communication. She asked me just a couple of questions before telling me to go to the hospital. And this is where Maria saved my life. You see there was no way I was going to the hospital. I was in Houston for a board meeting and as a director, I had a commitment. I would be home in just a couple of days, and I wanted to be at Mayo. So I let her talk and then I would ask again what I should do when I got back to Phoenix - ex: can I get an appointment for Thursday? She would start again reviewing my symptoms telling me what was happening and telling me to go to the hospital. This must have happened at least 5 times (not exaggerating!) and she was relentless with compassion facts urgency and firmness. During that time, she got my brain wrapped around the fact that it didn't matter that I was fit, healthy, strong, and (relatively) young. That was no small feat and she frankly didn't have to do it. She took more of her time, she invested her own energy, she cared about me as she would have a sister or mother or friend - and most importantly, she got me to go to the hospital. You can guess the end of the story since I am writing this.
I went and they admitted me, I had evidence of a heart attack, they tested me further they identified blockage, and they asked me to please stay and have them do angioplasty and possible stent. They too were shocked based on my health lifestyle blood work etc. but they were even more shocked when they found 99% blockage of my LAD. The head of cardiology told me that had I left I likely had a 50/50 chance of having an episode on the way home. But I had a 100% chance of dying if I did.
Maria went beyond what was expected and beyond what was required. But because Maria cared, I am alive. Because Maria persisted, my kids have their mom, my husband has his wife, and my parents have their daughter. I give that credit to her every time I tell this story to others. I hope that by sharing this with you can give her that credit too.