Atlantic heart attack survivor has a message for other women: Out-of-the-blue symptoms can serve as red flags

Taking advantage of an unusually mild November day, Ann Hansen, 71, of Atlantic, Iowa, decided to join her husband in some yard work.

But after about 10 minutes of leaf-blowing, Hansen began experiencing “terrible sweating – almost out of nowhere.”

“I thought, ‘Well, maybe I overdid it,’” she said. “So, I stopped for a minute.”

That minute turned into roughly 10, she estimates, before a gut feeling prompted her to alert her husband.

“I just knew something wasn’t right,” the former nurse of 40 years said. “And I knew it probably wasn’t good.”

Insistent on Jennie Edmundson

It wasn’t long after Hansen arrived at the Cass Health Emergency Department in Atlantic that an electrocardiogram detected a heart attack. Her right coronary artery was 100% blocked.

Her Cass Health care team proposed transporting her to Des Moines for more specialized care, but Hansen insisted otherwise – she knew exactly where she needed to go. And within 30 minutes, she was on her way to Council Bluffs by helicopter.

“I just remember everyone working really quickly,” she said of her Methodist Jennie Edmundson Hospital cardiac care team. “They told me they were prepping my arm. I remember a little pressure there from the stent going up, and then I was done.”

Hansen required a heart catheterization, in which a stent – or small mesh tube – traveled through a tiny incision in her wrist to her coronary artery to restore blood flow to the heart. This was all done under light sedation in one of two new cath labs – part of Jennie Edmundson’s recent $6 million cardiovascular suite project aimed at expanding cardiac care to save more lives. And that’s exactly what it did for Hansen.

Skilled, compassionate care

The expert care that Hansen received came as no surprise to her. That’s what she expected after her husband received the same at Jennie Edmundson following his heart attack about a year prior.

Although she recalls his care team being kind and attentive, too, being on the receiving end of that, she said, was more comforting than she anticipated.

“It felt like I was surrounded by family,” she said. “In fact, my husband said they all treated me like I was their mother. Even the cleaning ladies were so nice. Everyone wanted to make me comfortable. And they did. During my flight, I wondered if I was going to make it through this. And almost as soon as I arrived, they reassured me.” 

According to Methodist cardiologist Joseph Ayoub, MD, who tended to Hansen in the hospital postoperatively, that kind of compassionate care is just as important as quality medical care. Combined, it’s what makes Jennie Edmundson such a destination for cardiac care.

“Each patient needs to know that they’re in good hands – that we really do care about their outcome and well-being,” Dr. Ayoub said. “That’s what we’re known for at Jennie. And I think that’s why patients continue to choose us – over and over again.”

“Oh, I’m very grateful for the Jennie Edmundson cardiac team,” Hansen said. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be sitting here today.”

But Dr. Ayoub gives Hansen all the credit – for knowing that unusual symptoms, even as seemingly minor as sweating, can serve as red flags. 

“I had no warning sign that this was coming until it did,” Hansen said. “Pay attention to yourself – to any out-of-the-blue symptoms.”

And it doesn’t matter if you’re active and presumably healthy like Hansen, Dr. Ayoub said. When it comes to heart attacks, nobody is immune. And quick action saves lives.

“Sometimes a cardiac event isn’t preventable,” he said. “But knowing the symptoms and seeking help immediately when one or more appear can prevent a tragic outcome.” 

“I do wonder what would have happened if I would have waited longer to say something – waited to see if the sweating passed,” Hansen said. “Well, let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t.”