The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Surviving a surprise heart attack at 47
This is American Heart Health Month, and Feb. 1 kicked off National Wear Red Day Go Red for Women, an initiative by the American Heart Association to bring more awareness to women’s heart health.
“Heart disease and stroke cause one in three deaths among women each year — more than all cancers combined,” according to the AHA. Fortunately for Tara Stermer of Cromwell, her story had a different ending.
Stermer is a wife and working mother of three of children, one in high school and twins in college. She considers herself blessed and grateful, because a year ago, at 47, she survived a heart attack. She wants to share her story in the hopes that it will help at least one woman from missing the warning signs of heart disease.
In sitting down to interview Stermer, it was clear that she is still emotional recalling the months leading up to the day she went into cardiac arrest March 25, 2018.
Stermer didn’t have risk factors for a heart attack. Her blood pressure and cholesterol were normal, she’s always been a nonsmoker, not diabetic, and no family history of chest pain, heart attack or stroke. One wouldn’t think her age was a factor, either. She walked regularly and participated occasionally in exercise classes. She didn’t fit the profile of a candidate for cardiac arrest.
However, she did have a few symptoms: mainly heartburn for a good year prior, during which she took over-the-counter medication. She also had bad headaches. Jaw pain she associated with a prior diagnosis of temporomandibular joint and muscle disorders. Stermer learned later all these were warning signs. She never experienced chest pain.
Two months prior to her heart attack, she went to urgent care when her right shoulder blade was achy. “I just didn’t feel right.” This didn’t raise a red flag for heart disease, since her blood pressure was normal.
That February, she went to see her primary care doctor because her heartburn had worsened. She also shared other concerns. She would have to open her shoulder blades, pushing her chest out, to get a good breath; and her right shoulder blade was still sore. Her medication for heartburn had changed, and the doctor attributed her shoulder pain to using the snow blower and shoveling following a few recent snowstorms.
At this appointment, the doctor did order an EKG (which Stermer requested based on a coworker’s suggestion), and the results were normal.
She was also sent for blood work and a gallbladder ultrasound as shoulder pain and heartburn can be warming signs of gallbladder disease. Her blood work was normal, however, her triglycerides were not checked, because she wasn’t in a high-risk age group.
The day after having her lab work and gallbladder ultrasound, Stermer said she felt very nauseous with flu-like symptoms. The next morning, she went to church with her daughter and husband Brian, who didn’t always attend with them. Throughout Mass, she describes feeling like she was in another world, not focused, and very agitated/anxious.
At one point, she nudged her daughter and insisted they go. By the time they were at the entrance of the church, she felt like she couldn’t walk. “I don’t know what is wrong with me,” she repeatedly said to her husband and daughter.
Her husband took her to the Middlesex Hospital emergency room, where at first staff thought she was passing a gallstone (results from her ultrasound were eventually negative).
“By the grace of God,” she said, the ER doctor was in the room when she flat lined and was able to revive her. Stermer was triaged to Hartford Hospital, and within 22 minutes of arriving, she was brought into the operating room. She remembers being told she was going into a big room with bright lights and lots of people for heart surgery following a massive heart attack with a blocked artery.
She credits Middlesex and Hartford hospitals for their lifesaving care. “I am also most grateful to my husband — he saved my life,” she said. If he didn’t wake up that morning and say “girls, let’s go to church,” and attend Mass with her and her daughter, the outcome may have been very different.
What Stermer knows to be true is that after two surgeries, a week in the hospital, outpatient cardiac rehabilitation, eating healthy on a Mediterranean diet and regular exercise, is that she has never felt better. She is back at work and no longer suffers from heartburn and headaches. Her lifestyle has also changed to include a list of medications now part of her daily routine.
“I am so thankful for my family and friends for their support after my surgery and for the meals they provided, flowers sent, etc.,” she said.
It’s been a long road of recovery for Stermer, and she admits that she does get anxious since her heart attack (something new to her), and a year later is working to manage and address it.
Now 48, her message is: “Advocate for yourself. If you believe that something doesn’t feel right, don’t dismiss it.”
No doubt, Stermer is a strong woman with a lifesaving message to share. She is a true ambassador to speak out on women’s heart health.
Laura Falt is director of business development at Water’s Edge Center for Health & Rehabilitation in Middletown. She welcomes the opportunity to be a resource to the community on services for older adults, and can be reached at lfalt@nathealthcare.com.