Thread by @ErinatThePost

I keep my personal life off Twitter, but explaining my absence could save someone else’s life.
-in April, I had my 3rd child
- in July, I had emergency double-bypass surgery, following to a rare type of heart attack that can strike younger, healthy women, often postpartum 1/x

Had I not face-planted on a beach, I’d be dead. 2/x

I would have not sought care for dizziness or chest pains on my own. I wouldn’t have been hospitalized for observation overnight, when the worst waves of the attack hit. 3/x

Had I collapsed elsewhere, I might not have had a doctor who recognized my condition, called #SCAD, and airlifted me for emergency surgery. 4/x

I could have been among the unknowably large legion of women with SCAD before me who died or lost significant heart function, their symptoms overlooked or misattributed to anxiety. 5/x
nytimes.com/2019/02/01/wel…

Several doctors told me flatly: “You’re lucky to be alive.” Indeed.
It’s incredible to nearly die and wake up in your own life, your blessings put in dazzling relief and the day-to-day noise reduced to a whisper. 6/x

Typical heart attacks often follow the warning signs of heart disease - blocked arteries, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, unlucky genetic history. SCAD is more of a lighting strike from a clear sky.7/x

With SCAD, the lining of coronary arteries spontaneously disassemble and tear, stopping blood flow to the heart. Research has not uncovered why it happens, only some correlations - pregnancy and heightened physical or emotional distress among them. 8/x

There's no way to predict or prevent it.

I collapsed in front of my husband @RickMaese and our 3 kids. The oldest says she never wants to go to Virginia Beach again. The younger two don’t know nearly had to grow up without memories of their mother. 9/x

@RickMaese spent an agonizing stretch unclear if he’d have to raise them alone. 10/x

Please, if you or someone you love feels weight on their chest, dizziness, aching arms or jaw, or a general “not right” feeling, get help even if they’re young and healthy. If something’s wrong when it seems nothing should be wrong, keep pressing for a diagnosis. 11/x

My longer-term prognosis is lucky and much better than I’d hoped for: the immobile patch of scar tissue is vastly outmuscled by the rest of my heart. I’m slowly easing back into the Md politics beat this winter. 12/x

I do so indebted to hundreds of people - the medical expertise/kindness of doctors, surgeons, so many nurses and other people affiliated with Sentara Heart Hospital; my delightfully optimistic cardiologist at Johns Hopkins; the cardiac rehab team at Suburban Hospital. 13/x

Our colleagues at The Washington Post fed us for three months, helped with anything we needed and offered unyielding support. It has overwhelmed me. My Baltimore Sun family, and my book club, rallied. I can’t estimate how many prayer lists we’ve been on. 14/x

Mostly, though, I’m awed by the unshakable and hilarious @RickMaese, who shouldered immense strain with grace and patience (and bourbon). 15/15