She did not want to strain the busy hospital, so she ignored the signs of a heart attack

Wednesday, May 20, 2020 (American Heart Association News) -Every April night, Charlie Bedernash opens a window in an apartment on the 5th floor, opposite the World Trade Center. At 7 pm, she leaned over, hit a metal spoon into the pot, and shouted with joy as part of a New Yorker chorus salute the health-care workers fighting the coronavirus.

It was pretty noisy in the Bednash house, where the kids were humming, another neighbor playing the trumpet, and the car horn. Still, the Atticus named Labradoodle with an 85-pound caramel-colored floppy ear was barely agitated.

Around mid-April, something began to occur in Atticus in the early morning tranquility. Almost every night he howled until she woke up.

In retrospect, she found it to be a sign-one of the many she missed.

Bednarsh had a heart attack. Not only did she not recognize it, she refused to seek help from the 911 or emergency room for the pandemic.

“I’m a smart man, but I wasn’t so smart with this,” said Bednersh, director of child service at the New York City Family Justice Center in Brooklyn. “I understand how silly I am. It’s embarrassing.”

During the pandemic, the hospital reported a surprising depression in patients treated for heart disease and stroke. Given that they are the top two causes of death in the world, it is unlikely that few will experience them. People are much more likely to avoid hospitals, perhaps because they are afraid to catch the coronavirus there or do not want to strain already-heavy health workers, like Bednash.

Doctors encourage patients to get the treatment they need. Although their message bears the weight of authority, there are some things that should be said about hearing it from patients. That is why Bednash shares her story and her message: Learn from my mistakes.

For several weeks she had a hacking cough and a pale complexion. Her colleague insisted that she see a doctor for them, if not hers.

She finally went. Diagnosis: pneumonia. It was December.

By mid-February, she was feeling well, but still not. Then her back began to hurt. The pain continued to get worse. When the lockdown occurred, Bednarsh turned to Google for medical advice.

She was convinced that she was an early victim of COVID-19 instead of pneumonia. She theorized that the lumbago was a ruptured disc or bruised rib due to a cough.

She hardened it while she continued her work.

Many people she spoke to were suffering from unemployment, fear and sadness. One woman told Bednarsh that the virus had claimed 13 in her church. Another woman lost 12 friends. Every time she heard an ambulance siren or a tough report in the news, she thought about those conversations.

“Nothing I have experienced It “Bad,” Bednash told himself. “There are people in the world who are really sick. I am not one of them.”

Atticus, on the other hand, needed to walk.

Atticus is not an ordinary dog.

A registered healer, he works with Bednash to comfort children who are witnesses and victims of domestic and gender-based violence.

He is also a goofball as adorable as featured on TV commercials.

Before the pandemic, Bednash walked around the Atticus for 1-2 miles daily. She loved to walk a few blocks to the waterfront and get a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. He loved being outdoors and around people.

By April, Bednache was very uncomfortable, with only a few blocks walking with Attics.

So when he started howling at night, she chalked it until he was lonely and needed more exercise.

Then, as Bednash landed on the ground early in the morning, Atticus blew his ears. She was rolling from the bed and running out of air.

A few days later, she took Atticus for a walk and had to stop and hold her breath every few steps.

She insisted on self-diagnosis and thought that COVID-19 had ruined her completely.

“I was really depressed,” she said.

When she heard that a coronavirus antibody test would be easier to find, she urgently wanted it. She sent a message to the doctor asking for a referral.

The doctor she contacted happened to be a cardiologist.

Bednarsh admits that visiting a doctor makes her nervous. Dr. Harmony Reynolds is an exception.

Reynolds treats Benash for high blood pressure and arrhythmias. Her humility and empathy, in addition to her direct, non-critical and collaborative approach, reminds Bedernash of the best crisis counselors.

In Bednash’s message to Reynolds, she described shortness of breath and back pain. She reminded Reynolds of a recent pneumonia attack and suggested that it might have been COVID-19. That’s why she wanted to have an antibody test.

With the words “shortness of breath” and “backache,” Reynolds started calling the cells of Bednash.

Reynolds immediately suspected a heart problem, but she dabbed and deserved the attitude that made Bednash so much loved.

She convinced Bednarsh to visit a nearby clinic. The imaging results prompted another chat with Reynolds.

She urged Bednash to go to the emergency room.

“People are dead there,” Bednarsh told Reynolds. “It’s not just a good place for me.”

Again, Beddash’s reluctance was due to his refusal to siphon the care of COVID-19 patients. She wasn’t afraid to catch the coronavirus because she believed she had already caught it.

Bednash, who met at Reynolds’ office the next morning, said her back pain had spread to her shoulders.

It particularly hurt her descending left arm, further increasing Reynolds’ suspicion. Test results confirmed that.

“You have a heart attack,” Reynolds said.

Bednarsh was shocked.

Working with Tonama’s victims, Benash knew she needed an advocate to take over part of this conversation. She chose the eldest son, John. Reynolds called everything and explained to him.

A few hours later, Bednarsh was in NYU Langone’s recovery room. A stent was inserted through a catheter to restore the blood that flows into the main cardiac artery called the left anterior descending artery.

It was 100% blocked.

While at the hospital, Bednash didn’t feel she could be ill more than she arrived.

Everyone was so busy that I never felt her care compromised.

“I thought it would be really scary,” she said. “No, it was an exception from start to finish.”

I’m not saying it was a business as usual.

Her temperature was taken more often than in her previous hospital stay. She answered the question further. Everyone wore masks, some with face shields. The staff talked to them about fear and pressure.

But they also shared some laughs and spent time getting to know each other.

“One of the nurses was engaged,” said Bednarsh. “She takes her phone out-it uses plastic all over it-and she’s showing me her picture of her wedding dress. It made my day.”

In addition to examining patients, Reynolds is the Director of Sala Ross Sotter Center for Women’s Cardiovascular Research at NYU Langone and an Associate Professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

It was her idea that Bednash shared her story.

“I wasn’t the only person with heart pain she told me to go to the ER,” Reynolds said. “I don’t know anyone who has suffered a heart attack at home yet, but I’m more worried. Some people think that a heart attack cannot be ignored unless it feels terrible. To remove it from my heart. “

Aside from the pandemic, Bednarsh’s story also helps set records in other areas.

– Heart attacks don’t only occur in men. In fact, he claims that heart disease is the largest murderer of women, killing more lives each year than all forms of cancer combined.

– Heart attack symptoms can vary. They don’t always play like Hollywood portrays them.

“My vision for a heart attack was to hold a chest when admitting a crime or confessing to a loved one,” said Bednarsh. “I don’t see a woman dying on TV because of a heart attack.”

Women are also more likely to delay seeking treatment than men. Bednarsh has become one of them. She said it was difficult to prioritize respiratory problems when working with children who were victims of domestic violence and human trafficking. It is also part of the nurturing instinct she has honed as two mothers and three grandmothers. The pandemic has added some obstacles that Bednash can see in retrospect.

If she went to work, a colleague would probably recommend going to the doctor sooner, as she did in December.

If she was walking her dog in her usual group, hanging out with family and friends, someone might have noticed her warning signs.

“I was very lucky that I didn’t die,” she said.

Bednash breathes freely after waking up in the recovery room.

The day she arrived home, she always thought, “I can breathe!”

After a few weeks her health continues to increase. Her depression is gone. She is sleeping well too.

“Atticus completely stopped bothering me at night,” she said.

Finally, there was an antibody test. She finally took it in the second week of May.

It turned negative.