I thought I caught the flu from my kids. In fact, I was having a massive heart attack.

• Jenna Tanner started experiencing chest pain shortly after her children recovered from COVID and the flu.

• She didn’t think her symptoms were serious and she managed to get through them; a few days later, she had a heart attack.

• Tanner couldn’t move, but thinking about her children helped her reach the phone to call 911.

This essay as told is based on a conversation with Jenna Tanner. It has been edited for length and clarity.

The start of 2022 brought a succession of illnesses to my family. Between COVID and the flu, it felt like I was constantly at the doctor’s office for three months.

Finally, in March, the kids were all back at school, so I set about cleaning and disinfecting the house. I started feeling chest pains that felt like a fleeting twinge. It would last for a few seconds and I would feel pressure, but when I sat down it would stop. I thought I had the flu and persevered, trying to get the house in order before I got really sick.

It lasted two days. By the third day, the pain was persistent enough that I almost told my husband about it. But I knew he would want me to go to the hospital, and I just couldn’t face yet another trip to the doctor. I was so exhausted from being in waiting rooms.

I felt like I had an elephant on my chest

Later that day I was vacuuming when I suddenly felt like I needed to sit down. I plopped down in my husband’s recliner and placed my phone on the armrest. When I felt better, I got up and walked to my office, two rooms away. When I arrived, I knew I was going to pass out. My vision darkened and I could hear the blood rushing as loud as the ocean in my ears.

I lay down on the ground and immediately felt like an elephant had landed on my chest. Seconds before I passed out, I realized I was having a heart attack.

I’ve passed out in the past, but this time when I came back it was much more violent. It felt like an electric shock going through my body, or like I was in labor. My whole body was convulsed, but I could not make any voluntary movements. When I started vomiting, I had no way of getting away from the vomit – I just watched helplessly as it came towards me.

My life flashed before my eyes and I thought I was going to die

The only thing I could control was my breathing. I started humming as I exhaled. It was a way of making sure I was still alive, and it became almost like a mantra. When the buzzing got louder, I knew my breathing was louder, so I tried to move, but I passed out again.

This time when I came to, I felt disconnected from what was happening. My life flashed before my eyes and I saw memories I didn’t even know I had. As the memories flashed before me, I knew I had lived an incredible life. Forty-six was too young to die and I was sad for my children, but I was okay if this was the end.

However, this was not the case. When my buzzing became loud again, I screamed for help. I knew no one would hear me: I was home alone and my office is at the back of the house. But my cat came into the room and I instinctively reached out to pet her. That’s how I realized I could move.

Thinking about my son gave me the strength to pick up the phone

I imagined my youngest son, who was 10 at the time, coming home and finding me dead. It gave me the push I needed to get moving. I started crawling back to the living room, where my phone was. I planted my feet very little on the face, but eventually I reached the chair and called my husband.

I never called him at work in 13 years, so he knew something was seriously wrong. He told me to hang up and call 911, and he did the same. The 911 dispatcher asked me if the door was unlocked and my mind flashed back to the five locks we had to install because our child was an escape artist.

I really thought that if the first responders were to break down the door, they wouldn’t get to me in time. Somehow I crawled to the door. As I undid the last lock and collapsed, I could see the firefighters running across my lawn.

Heart Attack Changed My Parenting

At the hospital, doctors realized I had a complete blockage in my left main coronary artery, which meant half of my heart no longer had blood flow. Normally doctors treat this with open heart surgery, but I wasn’t stable enough. Instead, doctors used a Impella pump, a device inserted into an artery in my groin, to restart blood flow to my heart. After that, I was stable enough for the operation.

It’s been about 18 months since my heart attack. I still deal with some physical side effects, such as taking blood pressure medications and blood thinners. But the biggest challenge was dealing with the trauma. I experienced such emotional upheaval. My hair is thinning from stress.

I hope more women will pay attention to their heart health and speak up when they feel something is wrong. Today, I see life much differently than before the heart attack. I am more lenient with my children. I know how precious each day is and I am very grateful to be here.

Read the original article on Business Insider