Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/73202
Listen to your symptoms It may be your heart After dinner on a Thursday evening, Stevia Keller started feeling nauseous. Then she started vomiting. "I am a preschool teacher, so I thought I had the flu," she says. After midnight she started feeling a little better, but at 2:30 a.m. she began getting sick again. "This time my left shoulder was killing me," says Stevia, who lives in Nixa. The next morning she drove herself to an urgent care clinic and told the physician her symptoms. The physician ordered an electrocardiogram (EKG) to record the electrical activity of her heart. "I was told I needed to go to Cox South and an ambulance was called," she says. At Cox South she was immediately taken to the cardiac cath lab, where cardiologists James Rice and Stephen Kuehn and their teams were ready. Stevia had an angiogram, an X-ray test that takes pictures of blood flow in an artery. "The angiogram confirmed that her left anterior descending artery was completely blocked," says Dr. Rice. "This artery helps supply blood to the front side of the heart." Dr. James Rice Mary Yocum, a registered nurse, checks Stevia's blood pressure while walking on the treadmill. This is part of Stevia's cardiac rehabilitation to strengthen her heart. After returning home Stevia began cardiac rehab at Wheeler Heart and Vascular Center. "It's important to recognize when you're not feeling right because every woman I met in cardiac rehab had different heart attack Dr. Stephen Kuehn Because of the blockage, Dr. Kuehn performed an angioplasty. "An incision is made near the groin and a balloon catheter is guided to the heart and inflated to open up the blocked artery," says Dr. Kuehn. Next, a stent – a metal mesh tube – is placed in the artery to prevent it from closing up again. 14 symptoms," says Stevia, who says she couldn't have asked for better care. Your experts in heart health It's no secret that women often put family health needs before their own. But now it's easier than ever for women to manage their heart health. Cardiovascular risk screenings, varicose vein screenings and Conversations from the Heart classes – with expert tips for weight loss, heart-healthy cooking and more – are all available at The Women's Center. For an appointment, call 269-LADY.