Women: Don't Expect High-Quality Health Care - Even at the Mayo Clinic Health Systems

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Women: Don’t Expect High-Quality Health Care - Even at the Mayo Clinic Health Systems

I haven’t been feeling great lately, which led to quite a week. Last Wednesday night (March 5, 2025), I had a sudden feeling like something with talons was trying to tear my chest open. The pain went up to my jaw, over to my left shoulder, and down my left arm, and I was sweaty and vomiting. My blood pressure (BP) was about 200/140. Now, I know what you’re thinking, go to the damn Emergency Department (ED)! Well, last January (1/11/25), I had highly similar heart-related symptoms. I went to the ED at the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, where I was made to wait over two hours in the lobby only to be told I could go home without the doctor wanting to do as little as recheck my BP or pulse rate.

I made a fuss and said I wanted scans and tests, to which my ED doctor, Tri Quoc Pham, D.O., said, “Yeah, we can do scans and tests on you while there is someone here who’s actually having a heart attack, but okay.” The completely condescending Dr. Pham only added CT Scans of my neck and head to the metabolic panel and blood count they did over an hour after my arrival, after which I was still left to wait in the ED lobby. Yeah, I totally got really sick a couple of days later. After waiting over two more hours, Dr. Pham finally came in to see me, said nothing was wrong, and prescribed two weeks’ worth of a diuretic for my BP. He refused the whole time to give me fluids or manage my pain. I also learned later that Dr. Pham lied to me about the results of my CT Scans by saying there were no changes when there were actually significant changes. Over three hours after all this, the doctor he transferred me to, Brady Pennig, D.O., let me go home with chest pains and crying after not even bothering to see me.

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Now, last Wednesday (3/5), I was home alone with my daughter, who can’t drive (and has borderline low-functioning autism), during a blizzard. I figured it wasn’t worth the risk of driving only to be horribly treated, receive abhorrent health care, and have to pay another $8,000 to the Mayo Clinic for insulting me and making me cry, yet again (there’s been a pattern). Well, I ended up having a heart attack last Wednesday night (3/5, with troponin levels of 1007) and another the following Thursday night (3/6, with troponin levels of 1276) while in the hospital after I finally went to the ED at the Mayo Clinic Health System (in New Prague this time) and got transferred to Mayo Clinic Health System hospital in Mankato via ambulance. I can’t help but wonder if this could have all been prevented if Dr. Pham had actually done the bare-bones basics of his job just two months earlier.

I gotta tell you something. I was doing pretty good, but when the nurse said I had to go in for an emergency surgery, the nurse told me I might want to call my husband and my kids. I asked her if I was dying, and she just said, “I think you should make some calls quickly.” That fucking broke me. What happened was that my congenital fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) caused a spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD). The artery completely closed off twice, causing each heart attack, and is too twisted at this point to fix with a stent (because they didn’t believe me for over three years, including my last stint in the ER in January, but I digress). The emergency surgery ended up being a procedure with no intervention because while the artery is currently 60% blocked, it’s due to the extreme tortuosity (twisting), so nothing could be done.

FMD is a rare vascular disease I’ve had from birth but didn’t know about until I almost died from it in September of 2020 (and after a hysterectomy, near-total colectomy, cholecystectomy, miscarriages, and decades of various other surgeries). The FMD causes the muscles in my peripheral arteries (i.e., carotid, renal, mesenteric) to narrow, bulge, tear, and twist, which has resulted in randomly uncontrollably high blood pressure, a myriad of heart-related problems, two current aneurysms, almost daily migraines, and arteries closing off completely (which also happened in September of 2020 to my left vertebral artery–it took my dumb ass a week to go to the doctor because I only thought I was having the worst migraine of my life). I’ve had my renal artery plumped up three times, I have an intracranial aneurysm on my internal right carotid artery and one on my upper aortic artery, and the FMD is now twisting both internal carotid arteries. And now I’ve had two heart attacks due to a twisty coronary artery, to which I always get the same response: watch and wait. It’s all rather fascinating (if you ignore the whole, fearing you could die at any moment)!

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Anyway, I quit vomiting once or twice an hour late Friday night (3/7), which made me quite happy. And I could keep down a veggie omelet on Saturday (3/8) and woke up starving on Sunday (3/9), which was fantastic! They took me off of “strict bed rest” on Monday (3/10), which meant I could have visitors (even though I did a good job of convincing them to give me fewer restrictions right away, including getting to have visitors, shhh). They finally let me go home Tuesday night (3/11), for which I am so grateful, and they said absolutely no News or anything stressful. (Yeah, right, nothing stressful?!) As for now, it’s a watch-and-wait situation, per usual, the sub-par medical treatment afforded me by the Mayo Clinic. While I’ve had some good doctors and tons of great nurses, the ones who are higher on the totem pole and make the decisions have been, by and large, utterly horrible. I’m on a bunch of medications and am supposed to be scheduled to see a cardiologist and start cardio rehab within the next couple of weeks. I can’t help but be scared that the dissection could cause another heart attack at any time.

Today, Wednesday, March 12, 2025, I’m ecstatic to be home with my kids, lounge with my animals, walk around my house a little through the day, and sleep in my bed without constant beeping. They said numerous times in the hospital that they’d never had a case like mine and that I was lucky to be alive. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this during a hospital stay, making finding my joy this week pretty darn easy! At the same time, I can’t help but worry that I could die at any moment, in part due to the inferior medical care and a poverty of concern from the Mayo Clinic that has helped to put my family in debt and made a second mortgage necessary. How many more times will my pain and objective symptoms be dismissed? I mean, seriously, I’ve been complaining about my heart for over three years. At first, the doctors would say I was too young and healthy to have any serious health issues, and now, at 48, they say it’s because I’m old and overweight. Assholes. They didn’t even discover I’ve had genetic widespread osteoarthritis since adolescence until my late 30s when I complained enough about my chronic pain to a doctor that they finally took an X-ray to prove me wrong and found, among other things, that my spine had bent and twisted because of it.

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I guess that’s enough complaining for one day; I merely hope I get many more, that these aren’t my final, pathetic words. I’ve told my kids I’ll live to at least 120, and I intend to keep my word. For anyone reading this, always advocate for your health and the health of every woman in your life! Unfortunately, in the state of the healthcare system, even going to the Mayo Clinic doesn’t guarantee a damn thing. I would get into the fact that I’m part Native, so doctors have (erroneously) told me on numerous occasions that having this in my chart is vital, but that’s for another time, assuming I have some. On the bright side, now I get to tell my kids that a mere mortal could not have had two heart attacks and an emergency procedure with no effective SCAD intervention within 24 hours and lived. And whenever they get on my nerves, I can grab my chest and say, "Oh, my heart… "

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I am so sorry that you have been going through this. It sounds scary. The medical profession does not know enough about women’s vascular issues because they mostly only study men. I understand about poor medical care because being prescribed prednisone for several years permanently damaged my eyes and led to an eye stroke. I have also seen dozens of doctors before finding out that all of it was actually chronic Epstein Barr virus (the same as mononucleosis). I am now much more careful about taking any medication and question all medical professionals to the point that some become irritated.
Please rest and take care of yourself and read up on everything, including medical treatments, alternative treatments (holistic, diet, etc.). I no longer trust them without reading up on everything (PubMed is free). Only you should decide how your body should be treated.
Mary Ann

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Omg thats terrible.

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We can not loose her!

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Thank you for your kindness and advice; I’m definitely going to continue to read up on everything available! I’m so sorry you have been through so much (and I’m sure you continue to)–that’s devastating! Our Healthcare system is broken in so many ways, especially when it comes to caring for women. :heart:

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Yes, healthcare is broken. Because only recently, they have studied women, doctors do not seem to realize that our symptoms for heart attacks are different from men. Now, they can no longer conduct research on women only because the words, women and gender are prohibited from research proposals.

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Andrea , just so you know , I’ve had my problems with the healthcare system. There is a foundation that has been paying for 1 medication for years because it is so expensive they cover low income people. I inject once every 2 weeks and a single injection is over $1000. They kicked me out because of false information stating I make over 35k a year which is a joke. I had my taxes { federal ] done today and I don’t need to pay since my taxable income is a little over $1000. I’m trying to get back on the foundation and if I can’t pay I won’t use a medication that works and I can walk a mile or mile and a half because of said medication. I’m so pissed but I remember this is nothing to what you are Experiencing. Please get well. Jack

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Oh no, that’s terrible–I’m so sorry! Please don’t say it’s nothing in comparison. They better get you back on that program, or they’ll have to deal with me. :wink:

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I am sorry to hear of your ordeal. Especially when being so young and having dependent children, I cannot even imagine….
My thoughts are with you. Thank you for sharing this with us.

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Harpy , being an asthmatic all my life, I know that prednisone is for short term use only. There have been times [ not recently ] that I had to use it and the side effects were apparent [ weight gain and strange breathing ]. I hope all is better now and am praying that Andrea is recovering from her ordeal. Take care Jack

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It’s hard to imagine being in legitimate fear of losing your life and having the doctor-the person who took an oath to serve/save you-brush it off. It’s as if, not only if your suffering is unimportant, your very life is not worthy of concern. I’m so glad you made it, and I hope you exceed the promise you made to your kids by 20 years!

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This is yet another reason I have so much respect for women. You get ignored, disrespected, and treated like second class citizens on a daily basis. As annoying as it must be to have your mechanic, your boss, etc. treat you this way, having your health professionals do it must be maddening and terrifying at the same time!

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Andrea , I appreciate that but if your doctor and Harpy’s doctors don’t do their damn job professionally , I have no problem interceding and giving them a piece of my mind. Jack

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Thank you, me too! :heart:

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Thank you! :heart: