DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - A woman is giving thanks to the South Florida medical team who saved her life after she found herself having a heart emergency.
7News cameras showed Jamie Nero as she surprised her caregivers at Broward Health North in Deerfield Beach with goodies, including a basket and T-shirts, earlier this week.
“I know that that is what they do for a living, but I just feel that it’s extra special, because I got my pacemaker done, and I’m just elated,” she said.
Nero said Thursday of last week started as any other weekday, but from one moment to the next, everything changed.
“All of a sudden, everything just felt so very bright. My whole body just went into a tailspin,” she said. “The room, my whole house was spinning round and round.”
Nero said her symptoms only got worse from that point.
“I started to vomit, and I was vomiting and vomiting, and it was about 10 minutes, I felt,” she said. “It could’ve been less, but it just seemed like it was forever.”
Nero was immediately rushed to Broward Health North.
“By the time we got her to the table, she was already starting to drop. Her heart rate went down to the teens and the 20s,” said Dr. Sameer Satija, a cardiologist at the hospital. “She was semi-conscious. She didn’t have a lot of time left.”
Doctors described Nero’s heart as if it were running on a backup emergency generator. Her heart was shutting down, so they had to move fast.
“She looked like she had a change in her [electrocardiogram] on the monitor, so that’s when we went in, assessed the patient, re-did the EKG,” said Olivia Castellano, a nurse, “and then we went back to the ER doctor and let him know, ‘OK, something is not right here, something has changed.””
Doctors were able to put in a temporary pacemaker.
The next day, when Nero was in more stable condition, a permanent one was put in.
Although Nero said they were just doing their job, it meant so much more to her.
“I just — I am grateful. I am grateful, and I’m blessed,” she said.
Doctors have a message for those wary of going to the hospital in the midst of COVID-19, especially heart patients: don’t risk leaving your heart disease untreated. They advise anyone experiencing symptoms like chest pains or shortness of breath to have them checked out.
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