You At Your Best

S usan May of Bentonville suffered the symptoms of a heart attack for two days before a colleague in another state convinced her to seek medical attention. The mother of two school-age boys works in the Information Systems Department for Walmart and had been experiencing the tell-tale signs of a heart attack since the day before the attack – chest pains, fatigue, shortness of breath. Yet Susan was in denial. "I thought it was something else because the symptoms would go away," says Susan, 43. "I'm just not a person who goes and has things checked out." She didn't even tell her husband, Steven, about it. "I just kept it quiet, trying to be strong. I just kept thinking, 'It's going pass and it's going to be something simple.' I didn't want to be a wimp." She and a coworker were discussing her symptoms over in-house instant messaging the afternoon of Aug. 23, 2017, when the colleague, Tabatha Drain in Oklahoma, sent a stern message: "CHEST PAINS = HEART ATTACK." Still skeptical, Susan went to a convenient care clinic instead of the hospital emergency room. (The American Heart Association recommends calling 9-1-1 rather than driving to seek help.) But by the time she got there, she was in a great deal of pain and sweating profusely – she was having a full-blown heart attack. Once transported to the emergency room at Northwest Medical Center - Bentonville, doctors swarmed her. This is where she was met by Dr. Garrett Sanford. He is a non-invasive cardiologist who practices at Northwest Cardiology - Bentonville. "He had a very calming demeanor," she says. "His was the fi rst face I saw when I got there." She found herself caught up in a whirlwind of machines and testing. Susan was scared and emotional. Even now, she tears up while talking about it. She was in the hospital two days, during which she had an operation to have a stent put in. Doctors found a coronary artery where she had a 99 percent blockage. "There is a difference when it comes to symptoms of a heart attack," Dr. Sanford says. "Men tend to experience more chest discomfort. This is not always the case for women. Women can have more shortness of breath or sweating or simply pain in the jaw or neck. This is why some women don't immediately seek medical care." Susan says she chose Dr. Sanford as her cardiologist based on his caring bedside manner. "He really listened and wanted to Story of survival: Attention to heart attack warning signs could save a life Special to NWa Democrat-Gazette Susan May Photo courtesy of Joe Wittkop, Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette 4 | YoU AT YoUR beST | nwADg.coM/YoUATYoURbeST ApRil - TAckling AlleRgieS | SATURDAY, MARch 31, 2018

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