DEAD for Hours: She Came Back with a Warning | Ep 071

❤️ This episode contains critical information everyone should know—it could save a life. 

In this special edition of Gurus and Game Changers, we're closing out Heart Health Month with Stephanie Austin, who experienced cardiac arrest at just 35 years old while sleeping beside her doctor husband. 

Learn the difference between heart attacks and cardiac arrest, discover how CPR saved Stephanie's life, and understand why heart disease is the #1 killer of both women and men. 

Stephanie shares her powerful journey from death to advocacy, including memory loss and her new perspective on life. 

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction: Stephanie's Life-Changing Cardiac Arrest
03:25 - Stephanie's Story: The Morning She Died at 35
08:16 - What Does CPR Actually Do? Essential Life-Saving Knowledge
13:07 - Why Women Receive CPR Less Often Than Men
15:53 - Cardiac Arrest vs. Heart Attack: Critical Differences
17:57 - Heart Disease: The #1 Killer of Women
21:29 - Women's Heart Attack Symptoms You Need to Know
24:54 - When to Trust Your Instincts and Call 911
27:25 - Tests and Screenings Everyone Should Request
32:39 - Finding Purpose After Near-Death: Stephanie's New Mission

Key Takeaways:
❤️ Heart disease: #1 killer of women, exceeding all cancers combined
❤️ Cardiac arrest = electrical problem; heart attack = blockage problem
❤️ CPR: Call 911, push hard and fast (center chest, 100-120 BPM)
❤️ Women's symptoms: jaw/back pain, nausea, not just chest pain
❤️ Women 80% less likely to receive CPR in public
❤️ Trust your instincts - better safe than sorry
❤️ Know your numbers: BP, cholesterol, BMI
❤️ Good Samaritan law protects CPR providers
❤️ Preeclampsia increases later heart disease risk
❤️ Annual checkups crucial, especially post-menopause

❤️ SUPPORT STACEY AS A WOMEN OF IMPACT (American Heart Association) ❤️
https://bit.ly/4hUZS0o

📲 Connect with Our Hosts:
Stacey: https://www.instagram.com/staceymgrant/
Mark: https://www.instagram.com/mark_lubragge_onair/

⭐️ Watch/Subscribe to Gurus and Game Changers on Youtube: www.youtube.com/@UCsRyuQWlLAYzM4IyJlF2IWQ 

📲 Connect with Stephanie Austin
Article: https://www.heart.org/en/news/2018/07/13/pennsylvania-doctor-makes-lifesaving-house-call-in-his-own-home
Nonprofit - Faces of Heart Disease: https://youtu.be/4j6zor4A9hc?si=tCJCBTh54PfKEwo-
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saustinheart/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephanie.austin.9256

#HeartHealth
#CardiacArrest
#CPRSavesLives
#GoRedForWomen
#HeartDisease
#WomensHealth
#SurvivorStory
#HeartAttackSigns
#KnowYourNumbers
#HeartHealthMonth
#AmericanHeartAssociation
#HeartSurvivor
#TrustYourBody
#LifeSavingTips
#HeartAwareness
#WomenAndHeartDisease
#HeartHealthAwareness
#SuddenCardiacArrest
#CPRTraining
#ListenToYourHeart

Transcript

00:01 - Stacey (Host)
Mark, yes, that was such an important episode for me, for women, for health, for the world. I don't know I'm getting a little bit Dial it back. Getting a little bit of dial it back, no, but seriously. 

00:16 - Mark (Host)
I had no idea. I'm like we're going to do an episode on heart health, on CPR. 

00:20 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
I had no idea what I had no idea about. 

00:24 - Mark (Host)
I was captivated. I know it really was one of the best conversations I learned so much. 

00:28 - Stacey (Host)
Stephanie Austin is incredible. She's so inspirational I'm not using that word lightly. Her stories give me chills. 

00:37 - Mark (Host)
Yeah. 

00:38 - Stacey (Host)
What she talks about. You guys, this is so crucial and important for you to listen to this episode right now. 

00:44 - Mark (Host)
This is so crucial and important for you to listen to this episode right now Because she died, stephanie died. Legit died. 

00:48 - Stacey (Host)
And came back to life, obviously because she's able to talk to us on the podcast. She had a cardiac arrest when she was 35. 

00:54 - Mark (Host)
35. Yeah, yeah, and I learned today the difference between cardiac arrest and heart attack and the symptoms that women have that I never knew existed. That are an indication that you need to pay close attention. That woman's about to have a heart issue. There's just so much in this episode that is so educational. 

01:14 - Stacey (Host)
Did you know that heart disease was the number one killer of? 

01:18 - Mark (Host)
It did not. 

01:19 - Stacey (Host)
Everyone women and men. 

01:21 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, I didn't know the women. 

01:22 - Stacey (Host)
It kills more women than all cancers combined. 

01:26 - Mark (Host)
It's a huge number. Yeah, this is. I learned more in this episode about the topic that we covered than any episode. And I thought I knew everything, Like I've been certified at CPR years ago and I had no idea what I didn't know. 

01:40 - Stacey (Host)
And you'll hear Mark needs to go to the doctor. 

01:43 - Mark (Host)
I feel great. 

01:45 - Stacey (Host)
Everybody needs to go to the doctor. I feel great. 

01:46 - Mark (Host)
Everybody needs to go to the doctor and get checked up, but anyway, please enjoy. 

01:48 - Stacey (Host)
Stephanie Austin. Hi, I'm Stacey. 

01:52 - Mark (Host)
And I am Mark, and this is the Gurus and Game Changers podcast, so welcome everybody. So today's guest, stephanie Austin, has experienced something that very few women do At the young age of only 35,. She suffered a cardiac arrest while she was sleeping. Now, beside her, her husband a doctor, fortunately enough was able to administer CPR and try to sustain her until the paramedics arrived, which they did. Unfortunately, ultimately they could not regain a pulse, so she was essentially gone. Now, obviously, she did get revived and she's with us here today, thank goodness, but the impact of that event was profound. She not only lost memories of the of years prior and years since. She has a defibrillator that she lives with every day now in her chest, but, most importantly, that event sparked a passion in her to share her story, both as a warning and a call to action, because it doesn't matter how quote unquote young, you are man, woman. This could happen to anybody, and she's here to help us prepare. So, first off, thank you for being here. And thank you for being here. Welcome you for being here. 

03:04 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Welcome to the show. Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here, especially during heart month, it is perfect timing month and I am so excited to have you here because we spoke previously. 

03:14 - Stacey (Host)
Yes, but I do want. I know mark went through it a little bit, but I would love to hear your story of the morning of the cardiac arrest you know, to somewhat set the stage, I was 35 years old. 

03:25 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
I have two children At the time they were four and seven two boys and, like a lot of young moms, juggling a million things. So I was PTA president and running the house and mother of the boys. But I was also really active. I'm an athlete. I was a total jock growing up. So at this point in my life I was on three soccer teams. I played co-ed soccer, I played co-ed ultimate frisbee, I lifted weights. I just started playing tennis because I knew soccer wouldn't be sustainable for the rest of my life, and so it's important to note that when this event happened, I was very healthy, because I do think that that is part of the reason I came out of it as well as I did, because I had a good base to survive. 

04:12
Fortunately for me, my husband got a phone call at 6 am on Sunday morning from a resident. It was because he did that. He was awake to hear me take what would have been my final breath. I exhibited agonal breathing which kind of sounds like a snore or a snort. It is absolutely not a normal sound. He called my name and I didn't respond, and he called my name again I still didn't respond and he rolled me over and I was blue. 

04:39
It's terrifying, horrible, he has his own trauma from this event, and I have mine. He did exactly what you're supposed to do in that scenario, which was to call 911, and then he initiated CPR and that was very clearly the first step in saving my life. He performed CPR until he heard the sirens coming, at which point he said to my then four-year-old who was in the room go get your brother and open the door for the police. And, being a four-year-old who was in the room, go get your brother and open the door for the police. And, being a four-year-old boy, he continued dancing in the corner of the room and had no idea. Thank God for the obliviousness of youth. And so my husband had to stop doing CPR, run down three flights of steps, let them in, run back up. 

05:23
So all that time I went unsupported, with no oxygenated blood circulating to keep my organs alive and healthy. The medics came in. They shocked me, unsuccessfully. I didn't come back initially, I know when I was being put into the ambulance I still had no pulse, because the neighbors have told me that they remember Matt giving the children to them so that he could come to the hospital. He turned and yelled at the medic's pulse and they yelled back, no pulse, and they said they'd never seen somebody turn that color of gray. 

05:54
I ended up being airlifted to a different hospital which was better prepared to manage me, because I was at a small community hospital at the beach. And I got airlifted to Philadelphia, at which point they started a hypothermic therapy to preserve brain function, where they cool the body and but that's generally should be done. I believe it's within three hours, and this was about 12, 13 hours later. So I woke up the next day slurring and stuttering. I didn't know my husband, I didn't know my children you didn't know your husband or your kids for many days, many days. 

06:31
I told everyone I was bit by a shark I because I had a scratch on my arm and that's what I thought they were doing echocardiograms, which are ultrasounds of your heart and I told everyone I I was pregnant. I mean, I was not. I was not completely there and I think in hindsight, from what I'm told, it brought a little bit of levity to an otherwise incredibly stressful situation. My husband told my friends just go with it. I spent two weeks in the hospital. I got a defibrillator and pacemaker placed in my chest. We know I have cardiomyopathy but I also have a deadly arrhythmia, which we did not realize at the time. And then I began what I refer to as my new reality my new life. 

07:13
I was in recovery for about nine months where I slept 12 to 18 hours a day because I was in heart failure. It was like treading water. All I could do was keep myself afloat. I could not be the wife I was accustomed to being. I couldn't be the mother I was accustomed to being the friend. I couldn't manage the house, I could only manage me. So, as you can imagine that, is a big change for not only me, but for everyone that interacted with me. 

07:40 - Mark (Host)
Especially somebody who was so athletic and active. 

07:43 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yes. 

07:43 - Mark (Host)
How long were you without a pulse? Oh several minutes on your own, but yes, when you were being airlifted, you still weren't on your own, you were being I was being supported got it. 

07:54 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yes, yes, I, I did have a pulse at that point, but I was. I was in essentially like a coma. So yes, they were letting my body recover. 

08:05 - Mark (Host)
Boy, that's a lot to go through. 

08:07 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, I think we all know about CPR, but maybe I'm just being dense. What exactly does the CPR do? 

08:16 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Oh no, it's a fantastic question, Thank you, and I spoke to it last night when I was teaching people CPR. The blood in your body is oxygenated, it is carrying oxygen. So even if you are only to do compressions which is something that the American Heart Association is recommending now because it is much easier there's really only two steps to hands-only CPR. They are call 911 and press hard and fast in the center of the chest. That's it. That alone increases survival. 

08:48 - Stacey (Host)
Two to three times. 

08:48 - Mark (Host)
Yes, exactly, it's pretty much right along the nipple line on the sternum. Yes, move away from administer breaths, go back to cpr right back to compressions, administer breath. That when I was growing and when we were growing up, that's what we learned you should not take more than 10 seconds to do the breaths. 

09:06 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
I'm also a certified instructor in CPR and AED and first aid. It's just another complicated step and oftentimes people are hesitant to put their mouth on someone else's mouth. And especially since COVID, you can understand why that has become a greater issue. Understand why that has become a greater issue. Now, knowing that the blood carries the oxygen, by doing the compressions, the CPR in the center of the chest, what you are doing is squeezing the heart between the ribs and the spine and that is pushing out that oxygenated blood, and what that is doing is keeping the organs alive so that you can be maintained until professional help arrives, which is why 911 is the first step. 

09:46 - Mark (Host)
Yeah, but is that also flushing out? When you compress, are you also compressing the lungs and by nature of the vacuum, nature of the pushing, you're refilling their lungs with oxygenated blood, because how long could that go on if they're not breathing? 

09:59 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
That can go on indefinitely. You do that until help arrives. Breathing is really most critical with children, infants, drownings. It is still very much recommended in those instances yes, but still see, we're learning things. 

10:14 - Mark (Host)
That's great, yes, so an adult, you could just do compressions. A kid, you should breathe for them as well yeah, a hundred percent wow, a hundred percent. 

10:23 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
And the compressions are you're doing it to the beat of staying alive. Staying alive, but there's really you can go online. There are a million songs that you can look up, like the rocky theme our home so it's song. 

10:36 - Stacey (Host)
That's the same. Staying alive, so you want to stay. You don't go. 

10:40 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Staying alive, no no, no, you do have to have some musical background. 

10:44 - Stacey (Host)
I think I mean. I mean, they're like hopefully you can carry a tune. 

10:48 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yes, it is technically 100 to 120 beats per minute, but if you google um cpr songs that's funny, you can. 

10:57 - Mark (Host)
You can find the whole list. I only ever heard. But the rocky theme is funny. I think it's good to like. 

11:02 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Have some fun with this so that people aren't like this, is so great not, not in the moment, but I think, write your own song people are learning right like yes don't you think things will sink in faster if you can have some a little bit of fun there's a huge part of this that is uh feeling confident 

11:20
that you can do something and one of the biggest points I like to make to people is if someone needs CPR, they're dying. You cannot make someone more dead. You know people worry about. Well, what if I don't do it right? What if I break a rib? 

11:35 - Mark (Host)
Okay, bring it on. Break a rib. Break my ribs, yes. 

11:38 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Because, first of all, then you are most likely doing high quality CPR. You would rather press too hard than too soft, because you need to go in an adult two inches down. I will tell you, it's work. It is. It should be hard. 

11:50 - Mark (Host)
It should be hard. 

11:52 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
It should be hard. It is not an easy thing to do. The bigger the person, the more difficult it will be to do. You can order online. There are inflatable mannequins. I bring it out at the holidays for people to practice and it creates a muscle memory just by doing it. It's probably $25 or $30. It's not very expensive. It's certainly no big investment considering the payoff you get. The return on that investment is being empowered to save a life and more often than not, if you are called upon to do bystander CPR, overwhelmingly more often than not it will be on someone that you know, and I can think of nothing worse than watching someone you know. 

12:32
Yeah, suffer, sure, and thinking if I only knew right what to do right and and really what it is, and, and I also want to know, when you call 9-1-1, you can put it on speaker, right, they will talk you through it right, and then the medics will come and they will take over. I just recently, so I want to know when you call 911, you can put it on speaker. They will talk you through it Right, and then the medics will come and they will take over. 

12:48 - Stacey (Host)
I just recently heard with. Now I'm like working with the American Heart Association, which is great right now. If a man falls in the street, there's an 80% more chance that he will get CPR than if a woman falls in the street. Yes, now I've heard it could be because of boobs, it's because of the ta-tas. It's because of the ta-tas. 

13:07 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yes, it is. I'm so glad you brought up this point, because it is worth noting. 

13:12
People, it is it is, but it's terrifying and it's unfortunate on so many levels. People worry about being sued and you need to know there is a good Samaritan law in effect in every state. As long as you are acting in good faith, you cannot be sued. You know you are trying to save a life, you know, and that is the point, but people do get hesitant. You go right in between there. It is one hand over the other and you want to lock your elbows because otherwise you're using your arms. You want to use your back and you want to lock your elbows Because otherwise you're using your arms. You want to use your back. 

13:48
You want to use your back, you lock your elbows, you're putting this on the sternum and you're pushing down and you're using your back to push down Using your weight to push down 100%. 

13:58 - Mark (Host)
If I saw a 35-year-old woman fall down the street, the last thing I would, the last I wouldn't, not that I wouldn't think of it, but I would go through 70 scenarios before she's having a heart attack why? 

14:08 - Stacey (Host)
because you don't know that women, it's the number one killer. It's a 35 year old woman, like what? 

14:12 - Mark (Host)
that's not the first thing that comes to my mind. I see a guy keel over. I'm like maybe he's having a heart attack well, and that's how do you determine like what? 

14:18 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
what if someone needs cpr? Yeah, exactly what do you go up to the? You know, they're on the ground, you're taking their shoulders, you're shaking them. Are you okay? Are you okay If they do not respond and you can look and see if their chest is rising, you can put your hand over their mouth the nose to see if you feel anything. 

14:38
I will tell you. It is always better to do it than to not do it. If they can speak, well, presumably they'll say, get the heck off of me, but if they can speak they do not need CPR. But if they cannot speak, then you will call 911 and initiate CPR, as long as you're in a safe environment. 

14:57 - Mark (Host)
Can you cause problems if they're not having a heart attack? 

15:00 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
No, no, no. 

15:02 - Mark (Host)
You cannot Like if they just pass out or they have a stroke god forbid something that has nothing to do with their heart and you say, oh my gosh, let me perform cpr. 

15:10 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yeah, you'd rather do it than not do it a hundred percent. The other thing you can do and I will tell you it's I believe it's called a sternal rub. You take your two fingers, your knuckles, and you rub right in the middle of the chest. 

15:22 - Stacey (Host)
It hurts, that does hurt, yeah we call it smelly, I does hurt. Yeah, we call it a smelly. I do that with my kids. We call them smellies. 

15:29 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
I mean, even if you don't like, put a lot of effort into it even then, it hurts. Exactly so you do that pretty hard If they don't react you're doing CPR. 

15:40 - Mark (Host)
That's great. That's such good information. That's it. 

15:46 - Stacey (Host)
Do that and if there's no reaction, go right to 911 and then initiate CPR, 911 and then CPR, but you're asking them first, right? Are you okay? Are you okay? 

15:53 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
You're shaking them by the shoulders, are you okay? Are you okay? You can do the sternal rub, you can check for breathing. But if you're not getting anything from any of this, then you are calling 911, putting it on speaker. They can talk you through things and you're initiating CPR. And I also want to differentiate, just for your audience, for you guys. So what I had was a cardiac arrest and you were referencing a heart attack. Now, a heart attack can lead to a cardiac arrest, but they are not the same thing, because a heart attack is a plumbing problem that is like a blockage in the artery. More frequently than not, that is the cause for cardiac arrests. But my cardiac arrest, for example, was caused by an arrhythmia. A cardiac arrest is an electrical problem. So a heart attack is a plumbing, cardiac arrest is electrical Heart attack. You can be having a heart attack and talking to somebody. Cardiac arrest is 100% fatal without intervention. 

16:53 - Mark (Host)
Are there precursors? In other words, if I'm having a heart attack, a lot of times your arm goes numb. Is there anything like that for cardiac arrest, or is it just? It's pretty darn quick, it's on or off. 

17:02 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yeah, it's pretty darn darn quick. A cardiac arrest is what happened to demar hamlin okay so people kind of saw him get up and then just kind of fell right down and that it is that immediate, it is that sudden, you know cardiac arrest. 

17:16
Does your heart stop? Yeah it. It either stops or it is beating so fast that it doesn't have. You know, the heart has to compress and push the blood out. If it's going like this, there's no time for the heart to fill. So that would be like a fibrillation and then that leads to the cardiac arrest and then there is no electrical activity. 

17:40 - Stacey (Host)
Okay, so there's so much. I have so many questions right now, but you mentioned the symptoms that you think are for a heart attack, right? Men and women have two different types of symptoms for a heart attack. Heart disease is the number one killer of women, am I right? 

17:57 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
It is both the number one killer of women and the number one killer of people. And I will tell you, with women it kills more women than all cancers combined. So women do not know that. 

18:09 - Stacey (Host)
No one knows that. 

18:10 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Because you can't tell, you know. Like my husband and I created a campaign called the faces of heart to highlight that this is, these are the faces of heart disease, because I know with every passing year, I may look more and more like I have heart disease but at 35,. 

18:25
I certainly did not. There are more women than you would think that are in that scenario. It's not the old, overweight white man's disease anymore. Those images linger for people, and so people are less likely not only to react to someone else having symptoms or problems, but also to recognize them in oneself and to then be able to add and feel confident, advocating for oneself. Because I know many women who were in the throes of having either a stroke or a heart attack that didn't act because they didn't think that that could happen to them. Especially with stroke, every, every second counts, but it does as well with a heart attack. 

19:08 - Mark (Host)
So, because you lose heart muscle, I'm assuming cardiac arrest can happen to anybody at any time. Was yours congenital? 

19:14 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
We do have a family history which I did not know about at the time. 

19:17
But my grandmother's sister died suddenly in her 30s. Back then, you know, the research wasn't where it is today. So my mother was a child and she was told that she died of a broken heart. I found out in a really odd way, years later. I was out in pittsburgh so very far from here from philly and I was getting a massage at at a spa and I walked into a room and the woman said to me I see auras and colors and I can tell you have a guardian angel. And this is maybe a year and a half after my cardiac arrest and I thought, well, listen. 

19:52 - Mark (Host)
I survived. 

19:52 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
something that kills 90% of people I could get behind this idea. 

19:56
We do the massage. I don't say anything about my history, nothing. We get done the massage. She says to me hand to God. She says to me never in my life have I heard voices During your massage. All I could hear were the names Margaret, grace, margaret and Grace, margaret and Grace. They want you to know that they are here with you. I think they're your guardian angels. And she says do those names mean anything to you? I said, well, margaret was my grandmom's name. I have no idea who Grace is. And she said, well, now that I've told you, they've stopped and I think they're your angels. I said okay. So I called my brother to tell him the story. 

20:35 - Stacey (Host)
This episode is brought to you by Mainline Studios and the Podcast Factory, where great content feels right at home. Located in beautiful Wayne, pennsylvania, our creative rental space offers high end tech in a space that feels like your best friend's living room. Book your session or a free tour at mainlinevideostudiocom, and back to the show. 

20:56 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
And a couple hours later my mother called me and said oh my gosh, grace was your nanny sister. She died suddenly in her 30s. When I was a baby, all they ever told me was she died of a broken heart. Chills, yeah, she died suddenly in her 30s. 

21:08 - Stacey (Host)
when I was a baby, all they ever told me was she died of a broken heart. 

21:10 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
That's wild Chills, yeah, crazy. So I will tell you. Anytime anything happens and you have a near accident, or even if I find something I haven't been able to find for a while, I'm like thanks Nanny, thanks Aunt Grace, because I think they're with me. 

21:22 - Stacey (Host)
That story's incredible. I really want to go back to the symptoms and the difference between the symptoms in men and women. 

21:29 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yes. 

21:29 - Stacey (Host)
Because I want someone to see this or listen to this and say I know this is a heart attack. I know when I watch a movie, I know a heart attack. I see it's normally a man and they grab their chest and they fall to the ground. 

21:43 - Mark (Host)
Oh, he's having a heart attack. Right, superman's dad grabbed his arm. Yes, I do know that. 

21:48 - Stacey (Host)
And then women. I think there's jaw pain, arm pain. I've never known a woman to call 911 because she's having jaw pain, because most women are like. I'm good, I'm fine, everything's great. 

22:00 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Nausea, nausea. Back pain, jaw pain. 

22:04 - Stacey (Host)
How do we tell them? And the? 

22:05 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
chest thing still happens for women too, but I think one of the biggest takeaways for me if I was talking to women about this is trust your body. Like you know your body better than anyone else, you would rather act and find out that there's nothing wrong than not act. If you feel like something is wrong, you need to call 911 and get to a hospital. And knowing your family history, knowing your numbers by that blood pressure, cholesterol, bmi, if you have diabetes these are all risk factors. Women, if you've had preeclampsia when you were pregnant, that puts you at a higher risk for heart disease later at life and at an earlier age. 

22:52
And whereas I am an outlier to your point, heart disease in women is affecting more women at a younger age than ever before. Women were traditionally left out of the research at a younger age than ever before. Women were traditionally left out of the research. So the Go Red for Women movement, for which you are an ambassador, now Stacey with the American Heart Association yay, yay and thank you. They push for a lot more funding for women to be included, because there is a correlation between hormones. There are different symptoms for women versus men and we won't know them until we research them, but it is definitely more prevalent in women than it's ever been before and in younger women. 

23:34 - Stacey (Host)
What should we do if we don't have a brother and a husband who's a doctor, to get the care and advocacy that we need? You need to advocate for oneself. 

23:44 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
You really do need to advocate for yourself and for your family members, and if you're not being heard, you make yourself heard If you don't think your doctor is listening to you and you know something is wrong. I know women who were told they were to go see a psychiatrist, that it was anxiety and panic attack and what it was was she had a blockage in her heart. She ended up needing to be treated for that surgically. It is a real problem for women. 

24:11 - Mark (Host)
You had cardiac arrest. You were taken to the hospital. You had no pulse, even being put into the ambulance Correct and they didn't address it for 13 hours in the emergency room. 

24:22 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
I didn't see a critical care doctor for 13 hours. People look at us. They don't think that's what it is. 

24:27 - Mark (Host)
Got it. That's why it wasn't addressed properly. Yeah, yes. 

24:30 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yes, absolutely. Healthcare is not the same everywhere. 

24:35 - Stacey (Host)
Sure. 

24:40 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
And a lot of what you know. I'm a volunteer and an advocate for the american heart association and a lot of what we do is trying to create standardized guidelines in all hospitals so that there is not that discrepancy of care within hospital systems I just want to drive the point home. 

24:54 - Stacey (Host)
Yes, for any woman listening or watching or man um, because my sister is in her early 50s. She had two friends recently who had indigestion. They were both having heart attacks no way somehow got themselves to the hospital and are fine. But I just, is there a way that we can tell people, okay, when your indigestion is at an 11 or when your jaw pain radiates this way or like any kind? 

25:22 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
of indicators or markers that we can give people. I think I really do think it is an overall feeling of trust yourself, trust your gut. You know we there's, we have instincts. For a reason, we, we, we get these senses. I a lot of the women I know who have stories like your sister's friends um, we let our mind take over, like, well, let me just get the kids off to school, let me, let me, let me just clean this and then I'll do it. 

25:48
And I mean, I have a friend who had a uh, also at 35, one of her coronary arteries dissected and she, you know, had arm weakness and she felt weak and she just didn't feel right and her husband wanted to call 9-1-1 and she just wanted to get her kids off to school before they did it and and ultimately she allowed him to call 9-1-1. She walked onto the ambulance and then she went into cardiac arrest and had was shocked so many times that she has burn marks on her chest. She was given last rites at the hospital. You would meet her today, you would never look at her and know, but she had a sudden coronary artery dissection. It's called a SCAD event. But she wasn't listening to her, she wasn't trusting herself because she was thinking like a mom. Well, let me just do this. And that's part of the problem with women too and why we aren't managed in the same way, because we are so busy juggling our lives and our families and managing everybody else, we don't put ourselves first. 

26:52
You have to put on your mask first and then assist those that are with you. If we do not take care of our own bodies, if we don't listen to them and advocate for ourselves and keep ourselves healthy, we are not going to be here to help anybody else. So it's really important. It is not a selfish thing, it is a self-maintenance thing, and it needs to be done and we need to do a better job. 

27:16 - Stacey (Host)
Are there tests we should have beforehand to know if there's anything going on with our hearts that we're maybe not doing at a regular physician's appointment? 

27:25 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
I think it's very important to communicate with your physician about your family. Knowing your family history is clutch, making sure you're getting your cholesterol checked and your blood pressure, because there is a reason that blood pressure is called the silent killer, because there are no symptoms and uh of high blood pressure, but it is a huge risk factor for stroke and heart and heart attacks. So, um, that is another thing. There is also something called a calcium score that you can talk to your doctor about. It is a very easy, non-invasive test and I believe it is most often used if you are borderline for being treated for high cholesterol. 

28:06
This can be something that would either would put you or push you over the edge one way or the other, like you don't need meds or you do need meds, but you know these meds for cholesterol and blood pressure are very effective and very safe and very widely used, and so there's no reason to be afraid of it. Knowledge is power. A lot of people just like to ignore their symptoms or they are afraid of the doctor, they don't want to go. But knowledge is power and we can protect ourselves when we know, and so it's know better, do better. 

28:42 - Mark (Host)
Going to the doctor, it's very inconvenient it is, it is will go away. 

28:45 - Stacey (Host)
Do you go to the doctor? Do you get checkups? 

28:48 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
I mean yearly no, no, okay, yeah, no, this is a problem you need to. 

28:54 - Mark (Host)
I speak for the rest of america. Who does not go to their doctor on a? 

28:57 - Stacey (Host)
regular basis. Is your cholesterol good? Is your heart blood? 

29:00 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
pressure. Good, that's great I'm good. Have they been checked? Are you saying they're good because, as? Far as you know, but that's the point. This is the point. 

29:09 - Mark (Host)
This is the problem, America, You're the problem. Well, I went to a cardiologist because my father had heart issues and he said you're fine. 

29:15 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Good, when was that? It was a little while ago, yeah, okay, so things change, mark, but anyway, back to you, uh-huh, but for women too, because I think after menopause doesn't it like skyrocket. Yes, estrogen is cardioprotective, so once you hit menopause, your risk factors generally go up. Now again this is not going to be across the board for everybody but there's a reason heart disease is the number one killer in America, so it it does generally affect everybody. 

29:48 - Mark (Host)
You're trying to hit me and you hit yourself, so what is the physiological reason why you lost your memory and have trouble? 

29:53 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Oh, so um. My brain went without oxygen for a while. 

29:56 - Mark (Host)
It was that fundamental. Yes, I mean, my pupils were dilated and I was blue and so I went with. I went without oxygen for a while. 

29:59 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
it was that fundamental yes, I mean, my pupils were dilated when I was blue and so I went with. I went without oxygen for some time before cpr was initiated, but then remember, matt had to leave me go down, let everybody in. 

30:11
They had to come up the stairs again. So all that time I was unsupported got it. So I have completely lost three years the the year it happened and the bookend years, the year before the year it happened and the year after. And my short-term memory is no bueno, it is not so good. And on the upside, I can read the same book multiple times, watch the same movie multiple times, you can give me the same gift over and over and I will be very happy because there is a change in perspective that happens, I think, and at very least happened with me. I can speak to. There is a gratitude and an appreciation for life and a perspective of what really matters in life. And if you really think about that and and honest with yourself, what really matters in life, you can count on one hand, and that is where I'm going to put my energy. 

31:05
Emotionally it was harder than physically to be honest with you, and that's where I had to redefine my new normal and redefine how I valued myself, and what I wanted to do was to give back and to help others and help empower others, whether it be to save someone else's life with CPR or it is to advocate for themselves and save their own lives. 

31:33
And that's when I became an advocate and a volunteer with American Heart. Became a advocate and a volunteer with American Heart, and I've met so many amazing people, not only that work for the American Heart Association and survivors, but also community leaders that use their time and talent and resources to further that mission of helping others lead healthier lives. And so I have to say, as much as it's one of the worst things one could imagine experiencing, it's one of the best things that have ever happened to me, because I couldn't live the life I'm living now were it not for that. And the way I'm living my life now is so much healthier than I was living my life before, and that's a gift, and so for that I have to be grateful for the experience and all the people you're helping too on top. 

32:22 - Mark (Host)
Well, wonderful as well. 

32:23 - Stacey (Host)
Yeah, it's just it's just amazing and I totally resonate with that because I know, you know and I think I spoke to you about the fact that I almost died a couple years ago when I was in the hospital. I had a massive infection in my face that went septic. It was MRSA. They told me that they thought it was around. 

32:39 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yes. 

32:39 - Stacey (Host)
And the reason why I'm an advocate for the American Heart Association now is because I was lucky, thinking about the fact that I might have had a changed and challenged quality of life and that my heart would have been affected with endocarditis, which would have changed everything for me, and I can totally understand where you're coming from in terms of your perspective changes. Now it varies. Right After the event, I was so like what am I doing? Why am I running at all speeds? And as time goes by and I'm feeling good and everything's fine, then you kind of slide back. 

33:15 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
You got back on the rat wheel, didn't you? 

33:17 - Stacey (Host)
You got back on the rat wheel a little bit, and so this is why I'm here now, working with you and other people from the american heart association and go red for women, because I want to give back and I want maybe one person will watch this podcast or listen to this podcast one woman or man or whoever and we'll have something happen and they'll have jaw pain and call 9-1-1 and they wouldn't have before it. 

33:38 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
No, it it will happen, because I have done things like this before. I once did a radio program and that's how I got connected with a woman. She found me on social media. We connected. I have since gone to her church, taught people CPR, you know, help them advocate for themselves. I mean, it's, what you're doing is amazing, and I think we all need to use what resources and platforms we have to help others. I mean, there's a reason it takes a village as a saying, and it really does take a village. 

34:11
My whole recovery journey took a village. I needed a whole heck of a lot of support and I was lucky to have it. But also, you know, you have to appreciate that that is a journey right and to the point you were making. I would say it took me a good seven or eight years, I think, to get to where I am today, after the event, because you do old habits die hard and you get back on to what you think is normal. And then I had to. For me, some of the changes had to happen because I needed much more sleep post cardiac arrest than I ever did. I only slept about five hours a night prior to the cardiac arrest and I thought I was fine, like you would have asked me, and I was like I'm cool, like this is good. Well, I needed more after the cardiac arrest and now I know my body needs more so now, I am very cognizant of getting seven. 

35:08
To be to be fair, I should. I would rather be getting eight, but I'm getting somewhere between seven and eight, usually every night. That's wonderful, and and I am, and it's. But it's hard to do that. It's hard to make lifestyle changes, change. No one likes change. It's annoying but it's. But we, but we need to. If we want to stick around here, we need to make some changes. 

35:29 - Mark (Host)
So I have one final question about your memory. So you said you lost a year prior. 

35:34 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Yeah. 

35:34 - Mark (Host)
So you lost, for instance, your son's three to four years old? Yes, are there any? And if you look back at pictures, does it trigger anything? Are there cloudy images or anything like that, or is it just gone? 

35:46 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Every once in a while it's like a flash. So I will tell you the year of the cardiac arrest. A month before was my 10th wedding anniversary and Matt and I went to Hawaii and had this beautiful time, and now I don't remember really any of it. There is one picture in a waterfall that I vaguely remember. There was another couple there, but that's the end of the memory. 

36:09 - Stacey (Host)
I wish we had like another hour to talk to you. I can always come back. 

36:12 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
There's so many questions, you can come back and people can talk to you and ask you questions, right, anytime, anytime. 

36:20
So I'm on Instagram at S Austin Heart. I am on Facebook, stephanie Austin. Much of what I post is about heart health, so you can reach out to me that way. I work alongside the American Heart Association in Philadelphia. They always know where to find me and I'm an open book. All I want to do is, you know, make an impact and help other people lead healthier lives. So whatever I can do towards that end, happy to do. 

36:49
You are an angel, I am so glad I met you, thank you and that you came in today and I can't wait to get this episode out. 

36:55 - Stacey (Host)
We're going to rush it out during Heart Health Month. 

37:06 - Stephanie Austin (Guest)
Love it, episode out. We're going to rush it out during heart health month, so love it, love it and I guarantee you it's it will be at least one person. 

37:09 - Mark (Host)
It happens, it will happen, and that's all it takes. Yep, you save one life, that's it. You're a champion, my friend. That's right for sure. Thank you so much for having me. You got it, and thank you, guys for watching you're still here. 

37:21 - Stacey (Host)
You're still listening. Thanks for listening to the Gurus and Game Changers podcast While you're here. If you enjoyed it, please take a minute to rate this episode and leave us a quick review. We want to know what you thought of the show and what you took from it and how it might have helped you. We read and appreciate every comment. Thanks, See you next week.