Brian, It is very hard to read these stories because I have lost my husband and my daughter within six years. My story starts when my husband had his first heart attack at 38 yrs. old. It was a mild one not much damage to his heart. His family has a history of heart.

He had his second heart attack at 43 yrs. and again not much damage but 2 stents put in. He was told if he had anymore problems he would probably have to have open heart. He never made it that far. We were married for 29 yrs. and he went to Arizona for a Zane Grey Convention to relax from a lot of stress with work in June of 2003. I had to stay home that year and it was the only time we weren't together. He was in a hotel lobby with friends and I was told that he stood up from the couch to leave the hotel for a party and took one step and went down.

There were two retired doctors at the convention who just happened to be right there but he didn't make it. Since he had previous heart problems they didn't do an autopsy. Oh how I wish I would have requested it now. On October 9, 2009 my 30 year old daughter who was 38 wks pregnant called me at work and hour before she died. I work at a hospital. She was crying and I could tell she was scared in her voice. She had took a shower and laid down on the bed and stretched and felt like she had pulled a muscle in her neck. She said it felt something like a pulled muscle but different. She was really scared about the H1N1 and was hoping to get the shot before she had the baby.

Her husband said she was on the computer looking up the symptoms right before she left the house. She had asthma and I asked her if she was having trouble breathing? She said she was and had taken her inhaler. She said it had helped a little. I told her to go to the ER if she felt like she should. She said no that she had called our family doctor and had an appointment at 1:20 p.m.. I told her I would call her back in about 15 mins. to see how she was doing. I got busy at work and never got to talk to her again. I looked up at the clock and it was 1:15 p.m.. I knew she was probably already there at the doctors office. Ten minutes later my son-in-law called me at work and said he got a call from the doctors office that she had fainted and they were taking her to the hospital. I started to cry because I had the same strange feeling in my heart that I had when they called me and said her father went down.

They took her to our other hospital campus about 10 mins. away. I was out the door crying and made it to the hospital before the ambulance got there. They were doing CPR on her and it is a painful picture of my daughter that I will never be able to erase from my memory. I just had to be there with her because I should have been with my husband. They were able to save my beautiful granddaughter and she spent two weeks at Children's hospital and is just perfect.

No brain damage....they kept up CPR for her baby even though they knew my daughter was gone. The not knowing what happened to this beautiful healthy pregnant woman was so frightening. Was it her heart? What could have caused her death? The next day we got a preliminary autopsy report. A small tear in the ascending aorta. An aortic dissection. My family doctor feels that my husband died from this also. We will never know for sure about my husband but we do know about my daughter. Since then my 29 yr.old son has been checked and his children are being checked. He checked out ok for now. He will have to be checked every 3 to 5 years. My husband's sister and her children are also being checked.

My daughter's children will be checked at age five or six. The "what ifs" are hard not to think about. What if I would have ordered an autopsy on my husband. It could have saved my daughter. This thing must be able to take people fast. My daughter saved her child. She didn't wait for her husband and four yr.old son to take her to the doctor. She left the house without saying goodbye and if she hadn't we would have lost the baby too or worse she would have died in front of them in the car if she would have waited for them even to get in the car. If she would have went to the hospital it was further than the doctor's office and we would have lost them both and she could have hurt someone in a car wreck. My doctor told me she walked into the office and they took her right back.

The nurse checked her vitals including blood pressure and everything was fine. They were laughing about how she looked like she was ready to have that baby and she reached for the nurse and said there was that funny feeling in her neck again and she died. Maybe the doctors should do an autopsy on every heart patient especially when they have already had a history of heart. It could of saved my beautiful daughter. I have read online the percentage of woman under forty that die from AD and are pregnant with there first child or second.

The percentage is high. I to got on line and started reading about AD and it scared me so much I had to quit reading anything about it until I talked to my doctor so he could explain some things to me. I has so scared for my son that I was going to lose him next. I just wanted to share my story of my husband and daughter so that maybe this will help save someone else. I want to show you pictures of them and my granddaughter but I can't get them to copy on here. Thanks for letting me tell you my story.

Pam Myer

© AorticDissection.com 2003-2008. All Rights Reserved. Everett, WA.