Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: This is the All1Nurse podcast where we are bridging the gap between the stethoscope and the soul and getting back to the human side of healthcare.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: Powered by Riverside.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: Did you know, according to the CDC, that black women are more than three times as likely as white women to die from cardiovascular related pregnancy complications?
Welcome back to another impactful episode of the All One Nurse Podcast where I'm your host, Nurse Chanel Tompkins. And today's episode is particularly special to me as it is dedicated to American Heart Month of February, which highlights the fact that heart disease is the leading cause of death among women too. And I'm excited to welcome my guest speaker, Tiffany Davis Cannon, who is also a registered nurse, whom I've known since our days dancing together in the Wynn High School talent show. Welcome, Tiff.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Glad to be here.
[00:01:19] Speaker A: Yes. Now, to tell you a little bit about Tiffany. Tiffany again is a registered nurse with 10 years of experience. And of course we, you know, we grow up, we get married and you know, sooner or later we're thinking about kids. Right. Well, during Tiffany's pregnancy, she faced heart failure that required her to receive like ecmo, which is extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support. And just to fast forward, for the past six years she has been living with an lvad, which is a left ventricular assist device, which is a device for the heart. And Tiffany also shares her incredible story, her journey and her insights in her book titled A Journey through the Supernatural Healing, which was published in 2023 and it's available on Amazon. I just feel like Tiffany's story, your story, is just a true testament to the power of faith, resilience and the human spirit. And I am just grateful to have you on this platform to share your experience, Tiffany.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: I'm grateful and honored to be here.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: Yes. Now, as always, I invite you, my listeners, to open your hearts as we discuss Tiffany's professional journey, her personal insights, patient perspective, as well as educational insights. And I hope this conversation leaves you with a renewed sense of hope and purpose while also raising awareness about heart failure and the increasing rates of maternal mortality, which is death due to cardiac related complications. And don't forget to stick around so that you can find out how you can connect with Tiffany and what some of her new ventures are, as well as connect with me, your host, Chanel. So, getting right into it, Tiffany, tell us about you. I kind of know about you, but tell our listeners, what's your origin story?
[00:03:13] Speaker B: Okay, so born and raised in Wynn, Arkansas, little small town. If you blink, you Miss it. Tell everybody that. But as a kid, I quickly realized that God had designed me different. Listening to different teachers and different preachers telling me that. But I enjoy school. I enjoy learning. I enjoy dancing. As Chanel said, we were on the dance team, which we always did really good, may I add. When I was about sixth grade, that's when I was diagnosed with tachycardia arrhythmia. And it was just from where my heart was beating fast for no reason. It was beating way too fast in the almost two hundreds, just randomly, after seeing multiple doctors, because it was one of those type of things that they didn't know what it was until it did it for them. I ended up having an ablation on my heart. Ms. Seventh grade. After that, no problems whatsoever. They told me I could live a normal life. I played sports, and I participated in mostly everything in school. My parents were the type that, if you want to do it, do it, and we're going to support you. So grew up and went to Euler for my prereqs because I decided after going, actually, I always wanted to be a lawyer. That was my, my first profession. I wanted to be a lawyer. And if you ask my brothers, they're like, yes, because you love to argue. But it was something particular when I had my ablation back in the summer of my seventh grade year. And just the way that the nurses took care of me, they. I mean, I'm young, I'm scared, I don't know what's going on. But they really took care of me at the children's hospital. That sparked my interest to be a nurse. And that's where my shift came to, from being a lawyer to wanting to be a nurse. So I decided for going to Euler because I thought a state was just too close to home and I need to get up out of there. So I went to Little Rock, started my prereqs at Euler, and then decided to go into nursing school. School, mind you, when I was in high school, I was the type. I'm. I'm be honest with you, I didn't have to study. If knowledge just became natural to me. So I can read over something before a test, the next day, pass it with an A, had really good grades. So I go into nursing school with that same mindset of, you know, I got it, I don't really need to do much. One day close to the semester ending, I got pulled into the office and I got told that I'm failing out and that we don't know for sure. If you're going to be able to even make it with the test. So it's some of the decisions that you need to make. So I'm like, okay, well, I'll think about it. You know, whatever. Then we were starting clinicals, which is a part of nursing school. When you start going into the hospitals and clinics and stuff and learning hands on. And after doing my little reports, I had a teacher, another instructor sit down with me, and she looked me dead in my face and said, you're not serious. You will never make it as a nurse doing this.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: So I'm like, okay. So there was something that I had to start reflecting upon myself. Of course, at that time, now, looking at hindsight, it was something I need to hear. But at that time, I was hurt, I was mad. I was thinking that they were. They. They didn't know me. They're just trying to hurry up and kick me out. And so I remember calling my mom when I knew I was found out of nursing school, and I'm. I'm balling. If anybody knows my mom. Chanel knows my mom. She's not too light on the. The crying and the cuddling. She's not that type of mom. So I'm calling her and I'm crying, just saying, like, maybe I made a mistake trying to do nursing. I don't. I don't know if I want to do nursing. And she told me first she said, I'm gonna hang up and you're gonna stop your crying and then you can call me back.
So I'm like, okay. In the midst of boohooing, snot, crying, tears, I'm like, okay. So I got myself together. I called her back, and I explained to her, like, you know, yeah, I'm feeling out. I don't know if nursing is for me. And she told me, Tiffany, she taught me two things. She said, number one, ron was never built in a day.
Number two, don't say that you can't do something because you decided to use your bad habits of studying into nursing school. And I'm going to ask you, did you really apply yourself?
When she told me that, I had to be honest with myself and say no. I had different things going on. I was immature, dealing with relationships and everything. I really wasn't putting my focus into nursing. So she said, so it's not the nursing program, it's you. And at the time, it was hard to hear. But like I said, looking at hindsight is something I needed to hear. Oh. I adjusted myself the rest of that semester the rest of that year, I ended up dropping myself from the, the program because at that time I just knew I was not ready. And so I gave myself the rest of that year to reflect on myself. This is something I really want to do. I feel like God called me to do this, so I need to change what's in myself. So started to push forth to get serious, study hard. And then I entered into the nursing program at Baptist Health. It was a technical school the time I went, now it's a college.
And I decided, well, let me just do lpn. So I went into the LPN program. Honestly, it was the, the reason behind it was it was a shorter program and your girl needed money. And I'm like, I, I, I'm trying to make it through. I'm a broke college student. I need money. So if I just do the LPN program now and then go, and I eventually go back to RN school. So did the LPN program, which was a year. And I promised myself when I, when I, the first day of school, I said, tiffany, if you're going to do this, you're going to apply yourself to the fullest extent. Let's see what you can actually do when you sit down and you actually study, you actually learn and see what all you can do. So I did that pass with flying colors.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: Took my NCLEX pass with flying colors. So I started my LPN journey working at a nursing home.
And I knew that's not where I was. It's easy to get comfortable. Now, I would say that it's easy to get comfortable. When I got my lpn, I'm working at the nurse home hours are good, but I always told myself, you're going to keep going until you finish what you're supposed to do. So I gave myself a year working as an LPN at a nursing home. And then I went back to rn, an RN program at Baptist.
And again, I made myself the same promise. You're going to do it. You're going to do what you're supposed to do. You're going to be intentional about your studying, attention about your learning. Sit in the front. Because I'm, I'm a talker. If I'm in a class, I'm going to talk to everybody around me and I'll be knowing what's going on. So I was like, I know my limits. I know what I can do. So I need to sit in the front. Teacher looking at, I'm looking at her and looking at, like, put my phone away because I know myself so did that. I passed RN's school.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: So here we go to taking the NCLEX.
Now, mind you, my LPN, NCLEX, I may have studied maybe a week. Took the NCLEX fine. So here I am being boastful and like, okay, I studied for a week or so. Let me go and take this RNA clex.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: No.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: And I bombed it. If anybody knows, especially for the nursing students that are out there now how the NCLEX works, that if you. You either doing really, really good and they cut you off early or you're kind of in between and they make you take all what it was a 200 questions. Or they cut you off early because you're doing really, really bad. Well, in my case, I guess I was in between because I take all 200 questions and I'm like, I never imagine. I think I cut off LPN. NCLEX was maybe 85 questions or something like that. This one, they made me take the whole thing. So I'm like, what in the world? So. But in my mind I'm like, I know I got it. It was a bri. I. I got this. I don't have to worry about it. It's going to be the same as lpn. And I bummed it. So when I looked at that email and it said failed, it went back to when I started nursing school. From the first time of like doubting did I. Did I really want to do this? And I'm just. But with that, I counteracted with Tiffany that you really apply yourself like you were supposed to.
So I'm like, okay, I knew I didn't. So I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try to try it again.
I waited about two months. I studied, which I thought at the time was an ample amount of studying. Took it again, failed it again.
So I'm like, oh my gosh. Yes. So I'm wondering. I had a job lined up already for my RN position. The place I was working at, the nurse home, they were ready to move me up in an RN position and they just waited and to have to go back and tell them I failed again.
It tore me. And I'm thinking, like, am I supposed to be doing this? Maybe I got it wrong. Maybe I'm supposed to just stay at lpn. But with that, I just knew like, no, Tiffany, there is some. There is to this. There's something more to you. So I ended up one of my brother's girlfriend, her mom is a nurse, and she reached out to me just by random. She. She Heard that I didn't pass again. And she said, I want to give you somebody that's going to tutor you. And at first I'm like, that means I'm gonna have to take time out. Now here comes the accountability because now I have to meet with this person. They're counting on me to come to them, meet with them, study. She's giving me homework and stuff. But I was doing fine studying by myself, which obviously I wasn't. So I met with the lady and we met once a week. She literally, she broke down the questions and broke down the systems and helped me to realize, like, okay, in these type of questions, this is what they're looking for. So it pushed me to be a more accountable to my studying because I'm having to go to this lady, she's taking up her time for free to help me. So I need to be there. I need to do my part by studying, by doing those 50 to 50 to 100 questions and realizing the rationale behind them all. And then it just one day we were. We've been studying for a little bit over a month. And I heard, which I feel like it was a spirit was like, go take your test. And I'm like, okay. So I signed up for it, and I didn't even let her know because in my head, I'm like, I'm gonna take it. But just in case I don't pass again, I'm not gonna let her know that I had already took it. So I signed up for it. I walked in that room, I took it, it stopped at maybe, I think, like 80 something questions again. And I'm anxious. And she's like, hey, we're meeting up. I'm like, yeah, we're gonna meet up. I'm acting like nothing happened. And then I got that email saying that I passed. And I just screenshot it, sent it to her. She was like, I did not know you was taking. I said, I know, I was not gonna tell you. I had to get the results first and see what I'm doing to tell you. Like. So she was just like, you're done. She's like, I knew you were already in it. You just need to build confidence when you don't pass or something. That's your confidence level going down. It's not that it's not in you. It's just now you don't have the confidence that you're questioning the questions and you're wondering, okay, well, is this right? Or she's like, all I did was just build your confidence. Up. So end up passing rn, started working in my new position as an RN at the facility. And then I moved on to working bedside at uams, working in the oncology department. I would say it was the biggest mistake. I, I was thinking my whole mindset with working with, and it wasn't the bedside itself, but it was just the, the area that I was working with. Um, my father in law had passed away not too long ago from multiple myeloma. And I thought maybe like, if I go into oncolo, I can kind of better understand it. I can help my husband in this situation of like, you know, why he's questioning his dad passing from the cancer and all that. And it was so sad and depressing. And I'm like, Tiffany, you are an empath. You leave with emotions half the time. This is not the area that you need to be in.
But I did enjoy the bedside. Oncology is more so because you see the same patient all the time. They may come, you know, every other month or depending on how their chemo is set up, depending on, you know, how they react to the chemo or the cancer, you're kind of seeing the same people over and over again. I enjoy, I enjoyed that, seeing the patients, but it was just something to me just seeing them, some of them perk up, do good, some of them were falling behind and it just, it just touched me. And then just walking through those doors every day and remembering my grand, my father in law and all that, it kind of did do a number on me. But our facility, we also took med surge patients because oncology, we had a. All beds wasn't filled with oncology patients. And it works with who's on chemo at the time and all that. So they use the rest of our remaining beds for med surg patients. And I remember being there and I ended up getting this med surg patient that had kidney failure. And she came in and I just remember her face was so bloated, she was young. And I'm like, oh my gosh, you could barely breathe. And they kept telling me, yeah, she just need her dialysis, she needs a dialysis treatment stat because she's just, she's filling up with fluid. And so I would just remember seeing her and I'm getting her intake then and all that. And then I seen the dialysis unit come get her, take her to their unit. She was down there for maybe four or five hours. She came back. She's communicating with me, she's talking to me. Her face was still a little puffy. But she was. She was breathing better, she was looking better. So I'm like, I don't know what they did to you down there, but I. I love to see the change. And so that kind of sparked my interest a little bit in Dallas is just the fact that you went down there, they did something down there. I don't know what, but you came back breathing better, looking better, actually able to communicate with me. And as the time came and she was in there for maybe three or four days, and they were doing Dallas's every day, and every day she'll come back better and better. Better to the point where the fluid was down, she was walking, she was eating, she was doing all. So I'm like, this is great now. But I kind of pushed that to the side. Continue to work. And then I ended up getting in touch with dialysis through my cousin. She started working in dialysis, and she just tell me, like, hey, why don't you come try? She's like, I love it. I. I actually love it if you want to come try it. And I was like, I. And it just went back to when I had the dialysis patient. I was like, maybe that was God just kind of showing me a highlight of just like, hey, this is. This is the next place I'm calling you. So I was like, okay, I'll try. You know, I can always. If I don't like it. One thing about nursing is the freedom to be able to move around to different areas and work in different areas. So much stuff you can do in nurses. So I ended up trying it. I worked acutes at a hospital where we did emergent dialysis. We did ICU dialysis, and I was really enjoying that. And then that's when I became pregnant. I got pregnant while working, and I worked all the way up until like, a week before I was due. It got to the point where everybody. Exactly. I'm like, hey, look, before I want to be able to enjoy my whole maternity leave with my baby here. So I'm working. It got to the point my manager was telling me, like, tiffany, this is your last day. You're going home, and you're not coming back until after you have your baby. So I'm like, okay. So they kind of kicked me out. I always thought maybe have my baby six, eight weeks out, coming back to work. But as you already mentioned before, I was diagnosed with heart failure giving birth to my daughter. Pregnancy wise, it was fine. Like I said, I worked all the way up until I was due. Everybody was like, hey, you're gonna have your same position and everything. We just wait for you to get back out. But, yeah, when I went into the hospital, they put all the monitors on me, and they were checking my baby, and they realized that my heart rate was beating way too fast for me to just be sitting there and thank God. I actually had a nurse that was in training, but the nurse that was training her had been a vet nurse for years. And the moment she looked at my numbers and looked at the baby numbers, she instantly said, something's wrong.
And I'm like, I'm fine. And at that time, I'm literally sitting in the bed with everything hooked up, and I'm like, I feel fine. Like, I mean, my heart is being fast, but I'm thinking it's just something with the baby, and I'm nervous, I'm anxious and all that. So that's when, before I knew it, I had about 10, 11 doctors in my room looking at different things, and they were telling me, you got to have emergency C section. They came in, told them to cut off everything, cut off the oxytocin, do all that, because it's making her heart worse. We need to have emergency C section. Had emergency C section. And I woke up, and I see him.
[00:19:48] Speaker A: Wow. Tiff, man, man. And so with your visits, your prenatal. Well, I guess not prenatal, but with your visits, um, there was no indication with your ob, doctor.
[00:20:07] Speaker B: Nothing. So. And this just another story for another day. Of course, when I found out I was pregnant, I'm being a responsible, responsible person that I am. I went to my cardiologist because seeing that I had a cardiac surgery, I was prompted to have a cardiac visit every year. So that's something I. I was doing since I was younger, going to a cardiologist once a year. So when I found out I was pregnant, I immediately booked an appointment with my cardiologist at the time. And I asked him, like, hey, you know, do I need to.
Do I. Do I need to go to a certain OB gyn? You know, do I need extra coverage and all that? And he was like, no, your heart is fine. You're good. Don't worry about it. So I got a regular obgyn. So as far as, like, my labs, vitals, and all that, everything was good. And I even told her kind of my history or whatever, and on paper and everything, everything was good. I didn't have any shortness of breath. I didn't swell up with fluid or anything, so it was nothing that warranted her. Now, towards the end My heart rate was starting to increase. Um, my blood pressure started to increase a little bit. But when you're pregnant, it's like, is this pregnancy or is this something, you know? And so as far as my OB goes, she just knew I was pregnant, and this is something kind of common to what she see in all her pregnant patients. So it was nothing that really warranted, like, okay, there might be an issue.
[00:21:35] Speaker A: Yeah. And in preparing for this episode, and just my background in cardiovascular, not particularly heart failure, but some of the same signs and symptoms are for both pregnancy and heart failure. The shortness of breath, the swelling in the legs and feet, you know, fatigue, especially when you're nearing the end of pregnancy. Right. And you're ready to deliver. So it's like, how would one know that it's heart failure versus just pregnancy?
You know, what's expected in pregnancy? So, man, thank you for sharing that with waking up in the icu. I know even in your book, and which is just an. I mean, it is what it is because it is something that you have actually experienced. Tell us more about your. Your patient experience as well as we'll dive into. How did that change your approach as a nurse, if any.
[00:22:31] Speaker B: For sure. For sure. That was a good question. So, you know, I've already been, what, a nurse for five years? Five, six years before this happened. Pro. Pre heart failure. And pre. Being a patient, I've always looked at my patients in a way of like a family member. That's just something I always had in my mind, like, going into nursing. I remember in my microbiology class, my teacher stood up, and we was in, like, this big town hall type of room classroom, and it was a bunch of us were taking a test, and he stood up and he was like, so just to let you guys know, I will not be walking around seeing if y'all are cheating on your test or anything like that. He said, all I'm tell you is that if you want. If you want to cheat, and most of y'all are here for nursing school or being in the medical field. If you want to cheat, just remember, whatever you do, somebody will do it to your family member. Do you want your family member to have a nurse, a doctor, or anything medical going into the hospital that they cheated on a test? And that's why I'm going to leave it. And so we're all just like, okay, like, no, we're gonna study. We're gonna make sure we do this right. So looking back on that, I've always approached my patients as my mom My dad, my cousin, my aunt, and.
But I can't say pre. Pre heart failure. And being a patient, when I thought I was giving my all, I knew now afterwards that I could. I could give more. I realized sometimes we can be in a hustle and bustle of getting our medications out and make sure we're doing our charting. You know, they give us this whole list of things we gotta do, and we gotta do it before our time is up and before the next person comes in. And we get so caught up in that that sometimes we miss that conversation that the patient really needs to have. We miss that opportunity where we could educate our patients really more. And I feel like, although during the time before I became a patient, I look at them as my mom or dad or aunt, but I made sure they got all their medications on time. I made sure that they did not hit that floor that was not doing no extra charging things of that nature. And I felt like, hey, they did not die tonight.
I did what I had to do to keep them going. And it's sad, but bedside, sometimes, it's like I kept them alive.
And then moving to being a patient, when I. When I first. When I first. When I first came in there, the nurse, she knew there's something wrong. She called people that I needed to call. I remember because Baptist is one of those teaching hospitals, and I'm always the type, like, I know I had to be taught. They had patients, had to trust me to come in as a student, to work and everything. And I was in such a critical state. I remember just a funny story, my anesthesiologist, he came in and was like, yeah, we're going to put an epidural in you, and I'm going to have my student put it in for you. And at the time, I'm kind of like, I was blown away with all the stuff that's going on. And I. I didn't. I was really zoned out. And I remember my nurse was like, we're not doing that today.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: She is already in a critical state. You're going to put the epidural in. I didn't have to say anything. And I'm just like, okay. She's like, we're not doing it. She's like, I understand. And she looked at the student, she's like, I understand. You need to get your education, but this is not the one. So this is my patient. We're not doing it. And it just brought up to me the fact that that was showing a true patient advocate. Yeah, that I didn't have to say nothing, but she knew, no, you're gonna need to get the best care right now. We need all eyes on hands and eyes on deck. And I know that people need to get training, but this is just not the case right now. And so the anesthesiologist, he didn't have a problem. He was like, I got you, okay? So he. The one did my epidural, which the epidural didn't even work. They had to put me to sleep because my body was in such a shock that the epidural was not taken in my body. So I still felt everything. But afterwards, the thing about is, the anesthesiologist, before he put me to sleep, he literally rubbed my face and said that, you are a strong woman and you're gonna get through this. And I'm like, okay. And so, again, that compassion to know that I'm a patient.
I don't know what's going on. I'm scared. And he took that little bit of time before putting me to sleep to ensure me that, you're gonna be okay. You're gonna be okay.
And so things like that. And then the highlights of, you know, everything wasn't bright rainbows and everything. Like, it wasn't that. When I end up going into the icu, I remember times where I'm trying to get the nurses attention, and they ignored me. I tell everybody when people are in comas, they can still hear. They can still hear. I heard so much. Some good things, also some bad things. And it's not to put down the hospital or whatever, because we have some rotten apples everywhere.
And one thing I told them after writing my book. Cause I went to the hospital and let them know. It's like. It's not that I put things in here to, like, point fingers and y'all did that. But it is a learning thing. It's a learning. I say I learned from it, but if I'm needing. Needing this or that, the way you're coming into the room and approaching somebody that's been in this hospital fighting for their life, they don't need to hear your bad baggage and the things that you're going through. And I know I've done that before, or the fact that I'm an open book. So if it gets too explicit, just let me know. But, like, you know, I ended up getting C Diff. Getting C. Diff in the hospital. And if anybody knows that that's an infection in your gut. And, baby, when I say you go, you go. At that time, I was confined in a bed. I could not move when I actually was out of the coma. I'm just there, and it's going. So I'm having to constantly ask people, like, come clean me up and everything, because that. That's something, to me, is inhumane if. If you're allowing a patient to sit there in that. And they're not usually. You know, that that's not usually their function. And so I had some come in there quickly get you, like, don't worry, Ms. Cannon. I got you clean me up. But there is some that's just like, okay, like. And I'm hearing them like, no, I'm not doing it this time. I did the last time.
That, again, was something that. That got deposited into me. Not so necessarily that I'm mad at them, but it's just, like, I'm looking at them and I'm seeing me. How many times have I stopped and decided, I'm not answering this call again? Oh, they keep getting on that call. They keep asking, like, no, like, they. I want to be treated like a human. I need to make sure that my patients are treated like a human. It's already bad enough to be in the hospital, let alone things that they need to be done taking to help take care of them. I'm just tired of answering the call and coming in there. So it's just different things, like the good and the bad that I took of being a patient that I see that. Okay, that's something I really need to do better at or love the way that they. They handle that situation. I need to make sure that I'm doing that. That I'm being a patient advocate and I'm talking and. And even, like, the way that they communicated with my family, some of them gave my. My parents, my family, bare minimum. I mean, it was one lady that came to my family and basically taught them, she's dying, and we're trying all we can, so we don't need y'all coming in here disrupting us. Stop. On the other side. Yeah, on the other side, we have people that came up and gave my parents and my family a room to sleep in and stay in while I'm there and. And giving them reports and letting them know, like, hey, whenever we can, we're gonna let y'all come in and see her. And whenever we're. We're trying to do this and. And gave them information and. And that's something that I didn't know is just something that was told to me. A Just different situation. I'm just like, okay, I need to be mindful when I'm dealing with patients and their family because they're just, if they're more impactful in it. But at the time I'm in a coma, I'm chilled. I didn't know what was going on. Who was facing those emotions and turmoil and things and don't know what's going on was my family. They need the comfort. At the time I'm just sitting in the bed. They like you looking comfortable and we just all over the place, we don't know what's going on. So considering that when I'm just talking to a patient, making sure that their family member that's sitting on the side with them, they know what's going on and see how they're feeling, if it's more information that they need to know. So it was definitely a switch with me being a patient from how I was a nurse beforehand to how I am a nurse now and definitely with nephrology that I'm working in currently still with dialysis. And I noticed that my patients, they listen to me more when they come in. And of course patients have, if, you know, dialysis. Most of the patients are non compliant. That's how they ended up on dialysis. But they come in and they blame everybody else, the whole wide world but themselves. And they talk about, you know, how they have to be in Dallas for three days a week and, and they, they don't have a life and this and this and that. And then the moment I start telling them about me, you know, I walk around with an LVAD all day, you know, I have to go see my doctors every other week now, every three, three months. But I had to go get labs done every week. And you know, a lot of things have changed. I can't submerge in water because of the, the LVAD that's coming. And then they're like, okay, now I can listen to you now because you do understand where I'm coming from. So now I will listen to what you're saying. So it actually opened up a door for me to be able to educate my patients, for them to really trust me and the things that I tell them. Because it's like, I know, I know what you're going through. Maybe not as far as the kidneys and the nephrology and your kidneys feeling. I know what you're going through though, as a patient, and I know how you're feeling then knowing that, you know, sometimes the patient just need to be they just want to talk. They want to let out their emotions. It was so many times I was in the hospital, and I just need to let out. I need. I just need to talk. And I didn't need people. You know how sometimes we do when they. They don't. When we don't know they have a medical background. We kind of just talked to me, everything. When they found out, oh, she's a nurse, too, so maybe she understands what we're talking about. So I'm telling them, you know, I'm. I'm talking to them about different things. I'm asking them questions. Don't be vague with me. Tell me I want to talk. And because I felt that way, I know now when I approach my patients, I'm not going to sugarcoat or be vague with them. I'm going to give them the information that they need to know to help them to further their life, and they appreciate that. So it definitely changed my mindset tremendously, being a patient and just thinking about where I come from and where I like, even when I remember just a quick story, because I was intubated and everything, had all the machines, all the works in my room. And when I first started back working, I thought I was fine. I was like. My husband kept asking, like, are you sure you want to go back? And I'm like, at one point, it's like, I have to, like, God didn't put me here and made me go through all this experience, this stuff, as a patient, to not go back and help his other people. Like, he. He didn't. He didn't do me just to sit at the house. So, like, I have to go back.
But I thought I was just. I was ready. I'm. I'm good. And the first patient I had got assigned to was on a. Was intubated. And I walked in that room and, well, let me go back. I had a patient that was intubated once before working analysis, before I became a patient. And when I say she was moving and moving things and trying to snatch it, and I'm telling her, don't snatch it out. Like, stop. I know it's uncomfortable. And she just, like, pointed to it like, it was just rough on her. But it was like, at that time, I thought I was educating her well, but now looking at it, it's like, no, I was literally ignoring how she felt. I was literally ignoring her discomfort by just telling her, this is what you have to have. Stop messing with it, because this is what you need to breathe with, you know, and being That I was intubated and I felt that uncomfortable situation. It felt how it felt to have a little tube down your throat and you trying to reposition, you're trying to get into the right spot, but every spot just doesn't fit in, doesn't work right. And you want the, the, the. The nurse to take the pain away. They can't necessarily, but maybe get you in a comfortable position. Because I got a machine on this leg, a machine on that leg. I can't hardly move tube down my throat. So I looked at that and I realized going back like that woman was. So I see where she. I feel where she was coming from, and I could have been a better support for her. So when I go back afterwards, I get another intubated patient. And first I was blown away when I walked in, I had to walk out and I cried because just seeing it for the first time again, like, wow, like, I went through that. I know the uncomfortableness of that. I know how that patient is feeling. So I had to take myself, give myself a moment, reflect back over what I did before, what I went through and now what I'm going into. And I made sure before just hooking them up to dialysis, and I'm hooking up the machine and just going. I'm asking her, like, are you okay? Do you need to be repositioned? This machine is going to be going for three hours. Do I need to put a pillow somewhere? Like. And it was so crazy, like, looking at the patient family member, and they were just like, you know, nobody really does that. And I'm like. So then I go to my story like, I've had it before. I know how uncomfortable it is. I was like, we knew it's something like for you to be asking all these questions, like, you know, being very intentional on. And I'm like, yeah. I say I want to make sure she's in the. I said, it's not going to take all the pain away. It's not going to make it just so comfortable. But if I can reposition her a little bit to where it's just kind of ease it up just a little, that's what I'm going to do. And I realized that just from being a patient and what I try to take everything, you know, God said to take every. He'll take every little thing. Yes, every little thing and make something. So it's just sometimes it's just the smallest of details that we have to realize. And God is going to use that for his glory.
[00:35:44] Speaker A: So, yes. Come on now start preaching out here, Tiffany. Don't you start. But you are so correct. And I, for me, I always try to teach new nurses or just nurses in general, especially given the facility or the private organization I work for and being Christian based and really just honestly honoring that vision, vision of what would Jesus do? And in a way of just really letting God's love be shown or felt through us. And one thing I've had a manager say, and she made a good point of it's even when you take care of patients in the icu, you could be doing all these things.
You could be giving them all the meds they need, the right treatment, all those things. But how does that patient feel?
Like we have to be mindful of how they feel. And a lot of times it's the basic care, the basic hygiene that's really essential to feeling better, you know? And so I thought that was like, mind blowing.
[00:36:50] Speaker B: Like, yeah, nobody, nobody understood. And it's one of those, like when you, you can't do it. You took, you take it for granted when you're able to do it all the time, but when it's taken away from you, you realize, like, man, I took it for granted. Like when I finally was able to move down to a regular room out of ICU the first time I was able just to brush my teeth. Yeah, but help me brush my teeth, it was like, oh my God, like, I took this for granted. All these years I've been able to brush my teeth. I'm just doing it, not even thinking, like, that's something. I'm like, thank you, God, that I'm able to brush my teeth. It's just those little things that everything else, like, yes, you, you're giving me my mess and everything, but the fact you took that little time to help me brush my teeth.
[00:37:31] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:37:32] Speaker B: It meant so much.
[00:37:33] Speaker A: Yes, yes. Thank you, thank you. Now, getting into heart failure and just talking about the LVAD in general, of course, I always got to bring some statistics and some information for my listeners. And so just talking about heart failure here I have, according to the CDC, that nearly 6.7 million adults in the US have heart failure. And heart failure is when the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to support other organs in the body. It is a serious condition, but it doesn't mean that the heart has stopped beating. And it's recognized in different stages, stage one to stage four, depending on the signs and symptoms. And some of the. Speaking of symptoms, some of the common symptoms include shortness of breath, trouble breathing when lying down weight gain with swelling in the feet, legs, ankles or stomach and general fatigue. So again, some, most of those sound like the same symptoms that women in pregnancy experience. As far as risk factors for heart failure could be conditions like coronary artery disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity that can increase the risk for heart failure. And for treatment. Early diagnosis and treatment can improve quality and length of life. Treatment usually treatment usually involves medications reducing sodium in the diet, drinking less liquid, and using devices that remove excess salt and water from the and sometimes a heart transplant or other surgeries. And some diagnostic tests that may be done to diagnose heart failure could be an echocardiogram, which is an ultrasound of the heart ECG that can identify any irregular heart rhythms or abnormalities. A chest X ray blood test. And the blood test specific to heart failure is a pro BNP or bnp, um, and then there's a stress test or a heart cath where they, they are actually able to go in and look at the coronaries, which is the blood vessels of the heart. Especially when we're talking about coronary artery disease. Um, and according to references like Uptodate and the CDC and American Heart association, heart failure during pregnancy could be challenging due to the increased demands on the cardiovascular system and the increased risk with pregnancy due to 30 to 50% increase in both the cardiac output and blood volume. Because your body now has to meet this demand of not only carrying a baby, but helping that baby develop. Right? So your heart has to do more work, your body produces more blood in order to get the job done, which can lead to decompensation in patients with pre existing heart failure or other cardiovascular disorders.
And so with that you have heart failure in the form of peripartum cardiomyopathy, where the heart failure it happens toward the end of pregnancy or in the months following delivery. And it's characterized by the heart chambers or just the heart muscle in general, where it kind of weakens and it leads to decreased blood flow. And of course it has some of the same signs and symptoms of heart failure in general, which is the shortness of breath, fatigue, holding on to fluid so you have that swelling.
A patient may even experience chest pain and palpitations, which is like irregular heartbeats. And with management, managing heart failure during pregnancy I have here involves adjusting medications in addition to avoiding toxicity to the fetus or to the baby. Close monitoring, sometimes specialized care for high risk groups. But like you said, you didn't have any signs leading up to which in some cases women do not. So I think that's just awesome that you're here to even talk about your own experience. Do you have anything to add to that?
[00:41:46] Speaker B: I would just say with those. The key thing is, actually, I feel like this was a determination on my end of it, even leading up to the heartbeat. Now, granted, just on the spiritual side, I feel like what I went through, God had allowed it. He selected this to happen to me for various reasons. But when I went to my checkup with my cardiologist, I did not get an echo. I only got an ekg. And so I always stress to a lot of people, like, now, especially after what I went through. And people know when they tell me, like, hey, I'm pregnant. I'm like, okay, I need you to go get an ekg, echo stress test. I need you to get all those done. And I was like, not to freak you out, but I just need you to make sure you get that done, because the EKG will, like, yeah, it'll show you the rhythm of your heart, but if your heart is being fine and your rhythm is. It does not show the strengthening of your heart. So I try to. I try to stress the people that don't just get an EKG ask for that echo as well. And, like, it's so crazy. Like, a year or so after I got out the hospital, I was talking to the nurse, the. The one that was training, because I'm like, oh, my gosh, she's probably done with nursing after getting with me. And just like, I was not expecting all this. And she joked about. She was like. She said, honey, everybody comes now. I get them echo and ekg. When they come in, it's like, okay, you're having a baby, but we're just gonna go on and run these labs real quick. She said. She was like, what I went through made her realize if it wasn't for the trainer being there with her, she's like. She said, you look fine. So I was going to let you go in, push out this baby, and your heart will probably stop from you trying the efforts of trying to get this baby out. She's like, she was not there to stop it and say, no, something is wrong. She said, I would have never thought. So now when people come in, I'm like, okay, you look good. Well, let's just go and run these extra tests. And I said, sometimes it's just the one little extra test that you can run that can make a whole lot of difference. So that's one thing I do stress to people. Not even just for pregnancy, just for. If you Feel your body's gonna tell you that something is wrong. Listen to that. And I was like, don't just stop with the ekg and like, okay, well, my rhythm is good. Like, no, let's go further and actually get more testing with your heart to make sure. There's so many people that go undiagnosed with cardiomyopathy because they don't take that extra step to see the strengthening of your heart. That's why we have people that are falling out at games, basketball games, football games. These kids are falling out and passing away or having to have CPR because they have misdiagnosed cardiomyopathy because of that extra test that just was not performed. Echo can make a blow to difference in determining what the function of your heart is.
[00:44:22] Speaker A: Yes. Yes, you are right. And speaking of that, when we think about echo and ultrasound of the heart, you think about is able to.
When we talk about heart failure, we're talking about how much the left ventricle or how much the heart is able to pump out to the rest of the body. Patients may hear, or you may. As a listener, you may hear the term the EF fraction or ejection fraction. And that ejection fraction, the normal, is greater than 60%. And so the heart is able to pump out greater than 60% of the blood that's sitting in that left left ventricle at that time out to the rest of the body with each pump, with each beat. But with heart failure, that ejection fraction starts to decrease. And so I want to make sure we explain that as well. Thank you.
[00:45:10] Speaker B: And at the time of my pregnancy, I was 5 to 7% ejection fraction.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: What around the. Now was this when you delivered, when you got ready.
[00:45:20] Speaker B: When I delivered. When I got ready to deliver, they said my ejection fraction was 5 to 7. When they did an echo on my heart, it was 5 to 7%. The doctor actually said he don't know how I was able to go. I went a week late on delivery and be able to walk in that clinic, in that hospital and actually have my baby. He was like, the way your heart looked, you should have been passed out somewhere dead.
[00:45:46] Speaker A: But, Tiffany.
Oh, Tiffany, you talking about from greater than 60% that you're not even in the. The lowest, I may have heard is maybe 20%.
So to be in the single digit and undergo a C section.
[00:46:16] Speaker B: And then ECMO.
[00:46:22] Speaker A: And be. And then your body's trying to heal from pregnancy itself, like you're in the postpartum phase, you know, you Think about the risk of infection.
[00:46:34] Speaker B: Trust me, when I was in the icu, I was in CVICU and the nurse was like, I never worked with a pregnant lady. I don't even know how to. You know how he checked the fundus and massage the funds. She was like, I can call down there. But the. They ended up. Which was another. Just a key thing of remembrance is the postpartum department had people come to the CVICU to do my regular postpartum assessments and make sure the fund, they was checking the fund is not there. While the cardiac was looking at my cardiology. So they will bring my baby down there and they all will crowd up in my room. They was like, we never had babies down here, so we just want to look at your baby while she's down here with you. But yeah, it was like, that was like, this is just a weird situation that we have to have postpartum come down here with you. But we are also with the cardiac, we doing. So they all work together, which was really, really good.
[00:47:23] Speaker A: Now I must say, how, how long did this.
From the time you had your beautiful baby girl to, to when you actually got ready to go back to work? Like, how. What was that time frame like for you?
[00:47:40] Speaker B: So I tell everybody originally, like I said this, this whole journey and why, why my book is called A Journey through Supernatural Healing because it was all supernatural. Just the way it got to the point where my doctors, they all will tell you, like it was nobody but God. Like the way the reason that you're here, like it was so many times that we was like, we don't know what's going to happen to this girl. Like, you were the sickest patient in the hospital. I, I was in the hospital for almost a month. I actually, after the three days of my daughter being at the hospital, they were like, we can keep her here or we can send her home. Me being a nurse and knowing how the money work, I'm like, uh, she can go home. If she's good, she can go home. She don't need to stay in the hospital. That adds up. So she ended up going to my mother in law's house. And so my husband was going back and forth, being at the hospital, going to his mom's house, just kind of want to make sure he's seeing both of us and everything. And then my mother, she stayed at the hospital with me.
But as I started to kind of improve, I wasn't in so much of a, in a coma anymore. They started to wake me up and everything it was a lot of conversations I had with God.
And one conversation he gave me was, which is more detailed in my book, but the fact that he was healing my heart, that, don't worry, I'm healing your heart. And I figured when he told me that after I made it to the step down unit, like, okay, I know I got this l bad in me, but it's gonna get taken out before I go out. Go, go home. So I'm like, you can ask my family. The whole time in the hospital, I was calm. Um, you didn't see me like crying or stressed out, like after I had my baby. That was a stressful time I was in having my baby. But all the way up until I discharged, I was calm. My cousin even talked to me about when they came to see me the night of after I had had Jace and she said, I. You just looked at me and it was like, yeah. They said I got heart failure. Um, so they're trying to figure out what they're going to do. Uh, my heart is not looking good. And she said, just the way you were just calm about it. And I'm looking like you got heart failure. Like, you just, you just said that all casual. And I was like, yeah, but I would have calm to me do it every time the doctors would come in with something else and say, you know, the impeller that's not working ecmo, you got three days to be on that. And then we have to make a decision. I still was in a calm, a calm space. And I think it was just the comfort of the Lord already preparing me for this day, which again, I go more in detail in the book. But he set me up for this day. But I always thought like, before I left the hospital it would be gone. Well, he's saying he's gonna heal my heart. You know how we do sometimes we kind of put a timeline, okay, this gotta be done before I left. So I was calm, I was good. Encouraged. While I was in the hospital, the moment I was getting discharged and the social worker and the coordinator, all them started coming in telling me like, life with the lvad, going home with the nail vad, it started to sink into me, like, so I'm actually going home with this lvad. So it's like, okay, so them coming in, I have to do all this education and learning how to clean.
My mom and my husband, they had to get training on cleaning my site and everything. I told them, I'm a nurse, I can do it. I don't need training. I Know how to clean the site using aseptic technique. Just one of my things is just like since I'm have to go home with this, like I got it. You can teach them whatever. I won't have it on long anyway. But Lord, it started to sink in that I was actually going home with it. Still had that. It was that must deceive faith of it's getting removed, guys healing my heart. But I got to go home with it. Oh Lord, like I got to go home with this. So the first couple of months, I would tell you it was rough. I don't think I would have made it without my mom and my husband. She stayed with us for like three months after. Just kind of helped me take care of her because I was just too weak to even do anything. My husband just started a new job and I got into a really, really dark place.
I was depressed. I got anxiety because of the fact that I had this new machine. Now my life, I felt like was going to be different. It's going to be all over. I got to change so much stuff that I used to do and how I did things I can't take. I take a shower. I got to take it a certain way and can't get this wet and can't do that. So I did get into a depressive state.
I became very mean to the people around me, my loved ones that are around me that were just trying to help me. Because I felt like at that point I just blamed everybody, just everybody about this. Like, why did I have to come home with this? I think that's another reason why also God was like, okay, it's time for you to go back to work. Because just sitting in the house, I wanted to be like a prisoner. And that was one. I think one of my titles in one of the chapters in my book is Just Becoming a Prisoner in my House to where I didn't want to go places because I don't want people to see me with this hellband machine. They looking at me and I thought everybody was looking at me. Everybody was looking at Tiffany and everybody was laughing at Tiffany and everybody was questioning what's going on with her coming back from a little girl that didn't want people to know that something was wrong. I did that surgery in seventh grade. A lot of people, some of my close people don't even know that I had the surgery because I just kept everything in. Like, I just, I. I didn't talk about it. I'm like, hey, I want to focus on everybody else. Don't focus on me and what I got going on. I'm. I'm okay. So. So going from that, and now it's exposed. I'm going on Facebook, and my whole business is exposed. I always joke with my family. I'm like, God knew to put me in a coma because he knew if I would have seen y'all talking about we putting you on Facebook and we're going to gofundme, I would've been like, no, you're not. You're not gonna put. Just tell everybody I'm doing fine. Just keep me in their prayers. Like, that would have been me. So he knew, like, I'm gonna put you to sleep because I need them to do what they needed to do. And so I'm like, God works in mysterious way. He got it all set up. He knows his child. So. So to go into that where I'm exposed now and people know my story before I even got to tell it, it just kind of made me just where I just. I just wanted to stay at home. I didn't want to go to therapy. I could barely walk. I had to learn how to walk again. And it got to the point where my mom and them had to basically just get tough love on me. It was like, you're going to therapy. I'm gonna take you, and you're going to therapy because you're not gonna be in. Oh, no. I was walking with a walker. And she's like, you're too young to be walking with a walker. You're going to therapy. So after the tough love, they're. They're telling me to push myself and everything. And so then that's when I got into this mode of just like, God, you did this for a reason.
Show me you're saying you're going to heal my heart. I thought you was going to do it before I got this hospital. Now I'm here. What do. I don't even know what to do next. And then that's why I said, it's a journey, because it was so much he had to reel me that I need healing from not just a physical heart healing, but a spiritual heart healing, mental heart healing, physical in every way. It was so much that I needed to be healed from that. He just kind of walked me through that to the point where I got that motivation to, like, it's time for me to go back to work. It's time I took care of my child. Because my biggest fear was because I wasn't around my child for almost a month when I had her, like, she's not gonna know me. She said. And my mom was like, she's going to know. She heard your voice for nine months. So just the embrace that she gave me, knowing, like, this is my mommy. Like, this. This is my mommy. Okay, so things like that. And I knew seeing her, I got. I made a pledge to myself that I have to fight for her, even if I didn't have to fight it myself. I'll be honest with you. I didn't have to fight for myself to do things for myself. But the people around me, my baby, my husband, my mom, my family, I had to fight for them. I had to just use them to push myself until I had to fight for. No, Tiffany, you want to live because you want to live. So that what helped motivate me to get up, go to therapy, learn how to walk again, get my appetite back, go socialize again, live your life like you're supposed to and be an example that heart failure does not mean death. A death.
[00:55:29] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:55:29] Speaker B: And that's one thing I stress over with it being February and Heart Awareness Month is that a lot of people look at heart disease, cardiac. Cardiac disease and cardiomyopathy and just like, oh, this is just. Count my days. How much longer I got. No, it's not a death sentence.
[00:55:45] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:55:45] Speaker B: It's just knowing what you have and working through that, doing what you have to do, getting the testing done, do if you're on medication, take your medications, every aspect of that. And it's just. It took me stopping and stop thinking about when you go to heal my heart, when it's just like, no, no, no, walk me through this journey. What is. What is it that you're trying to show me? What is it that I did? He was like, before I heal your heart physically, there's so much other stuff that I need to heal you from first. Because what's the point of having a. A new, renewed heart in a old body? What do you say? He don't want to put new wine and old wine skins.
[00:56:15] Speaker A: Come on.
[00:56:16] Speaker B: So I had to get healing for so many different areas of my life that I didn't even know was broken that needed to be healed for me to just stop and allow him to walk me through this journey. And after that, it's just. That's what motivated me to just. I'm. I'm. I'm better, I'm renewed. God is with me. So I go back to work, and I can't share my story, and I can't share what God has done. For me, sitting in my house.
[00:56:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:56:40] Speaker B: Just sitting here and not being in contact people. He wants me to go out and people question me. Now my patient, they all know. You know, it always starts out with the awkward, like, what does she got on? Why she keep holding this bag on her? No, I got different things that people thinking, like, you don't trust people. You want to hold your purse all day, or why you got this bag on you like you. And it would invite them to ask me. I'm like, I don't mind sharing. Now I go place and people, I don't mind sharing. Hey, ask me what's going on. I'll tell you what happened. Because I need to do that. That's what God wants me to do. To see me and see that everything I went through, from the literally whole foot in the grave to getting healed, still healing and thriving, a lot of people need to see that.
[00:57:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:23] Speaker B: And I just think it's just. I think it was God designed for me to take me from a mindset of being a lawyer to intentionally becoming a nurse.
[00:57:31] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:57:32] Speaker B: With an lvad. And people are seeing that.
[00:57:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:35] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:57:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:36] Speaker B: So I just feel like everything is for a reason.
[00:57:39] Speaker A: Yes. I touch and agree. At the time that I saw you and just in the time that we got to spend around each other, it was like, even on my worst day, when I look at you and just how your presence and how you responded to just the situations around us, it was just like, tiffany, people need to hear your story. You need to share your story. Like, you are just the epitome of light. Like God's light shining through what seemed like a gloomy and a dark situation. Just being honest. And. And then you tell me that you had a book, and I'm like, really? You got a book? Like, everybody need to know. Everybody need to know. And I'm telling. And my sister, I'm like, you wouldn't even know. Tip was on an L. Bad. Cause I was telling about my upcoming episode with you, and I'm like, you won't even know. You carry yourself in such a way. People need to hear your story so that they will see that you're the proof. You're the proof that God can do the impossible. What doesn't seem possible is possible with God.
And it's like, stop questioning him.
Surrender to him, and let God have his way and see what he can do.
Yes. See what God can do.
[00:59:03] Speaker B: And it took. It took out. I'm not going to sit here and act like I just Walked up, woke up, and just, yes, positivity. And God got this. It was definitely a journey, and it's something I need to be healed for. Because at first I had to fake it. That saying, fake it till you make it. I had to fake it. I faked a smile and I faked happiness and everything just for my family so they won't feel bad because I'm. I'm mad. And so I faked the smile and. And I remember asking God, like, I want genuine peace and joy from you.
Now, do I have my days where I'm just like, huh, I'm getting tired of that, Or I'm getting tired of this, but the peace and joy is still in me. And so I get that all the time when I. When I. I'm talking. I could be talking to people for. For months. And I'm like, yeah, you know, I got a lvad. And it's like, where? Like, yeah, it's like, oh, we just thought you just. That was your purse. You just. I'm like, no. I was like, yeah, and you're going to work and you're smiling there. It's like, because I have the joy and peace of the Lord. I have my days. But I asked him, I prayed. I want your joy for me to go through this journey. I need your joy and your peace, not my own, because it's going to fail every time. I need your joy and your peace to help me through this.
[01:00:11] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. And I love that you are now in a position to where you're like, okay, God, how do I help others?
How do I help others? And so just speaking on, just having the LVAD and the LVAD is what I do know is that there's two different types by that they're both made by Abbott. If I'm not mistaken. You have the HeartMate 3 and the HeartMate 2. Don't ask me to distinguish anything from anything.
But with that, you know, we talked about you being willing to talk to others, other patients who may be considering or who may be needing an LVAD or maybe newly receiving an lvad. So tell me more about that. Like, what do you want that person, if they were listening right now, what would you want them to.
[01:01:05] Speaker B: So with. With this journey and everything, I'm actually a Abbott ambassador now. I go and talk to people that are potentially getting the LVAD and try to make a decision on whether they want an lvad. And the biggest thing I tell people, because it is. It's scary to think, like, okay, I'm gonna have to get a machine inside of me. It's gonna be there, probably gonna get in the way. Like my life is gonna be different. It's gonna be over. So I try to express to people when I come in, I like to see them face to face because they first look at me like, okay, why are you here? And I'm like, I got an lvad. And they're like, you do? And I was like, yeah, I do. And I was like, I want you to be able to see me with this LVAD and see what your potential can be. Not saying I'm the goal setter, but just to get, put you in perspective of where you can get to and go further. That yeah, it may be some adjustments that you have to make in your life, but it doesn't mean that your life has changed forever.
That there's things like of course with the lvad because it's a line that goes from your heart out of your body. So you have to really watch infection control, making sure that when you're cleaning your site, that you're being aseptic, that you're making sure you're not getting any bacterial organisms and all that on there. You're getting your labs like you're supposed to, you're going to your checkups like you're supposed to, doing those little things to kind of help make this experience the best it can be. I mean, yes, I'm be honest with you, it sucks. Nobody who I'm not just, I wasn't in line saying, hey guys, give me, give me a bag right here, give me one, I want it wasn't standing in line, but it's like, this is my portion that God has given me. I'm going to make the best of it.
I always tell myself I can either sit and wallow in my self pity or I can move forward. And I had to decide it before. So I tell everybody that's going to make that decision, like, just decide right now that you're going to move forward. Like you. I'm not, I'm not here to tell you now. I always tell people, I don't try to convince them to do anything. I always ask them like, hey, if you, if you believe in God, pray, pray on what your next steps were. That was my, initially I was, I said no. When they came in my room the day, it was the night of after giving birth, the doctors came in, the heart failure team came in, was like, hey, your daughter's in heart failure. Told my mom and mom was like, no, my daughter just had a baby. You got the wrong room. Like, we didn't come here for no heart failure. I was like, no, we got the right person. She's in heart failure. And the moment they mentioned l bad to me, I said, no, I'm not getting that.
[01:03:31] Speaker A: Mm.
[01:03:32] Speaker B: I'm okay. Everything is temporary. I'm fine. And it wasn't until after I'm in the hospital impella ecmo in a coma. I'm intubated because I'm just filling up with fluid. And I'm talking to God, and he said, get the heartmate. That was the way I made my decision now. And I let them know that I made my decision. God made my made my decision for me. I got it. And the thing about it, and it's so crazy, everybody thinks, like, in the nursing world that you know every and all things. Like, when you're nursing, you're the one that all your family call about your toe, and it's like, I don't know nothing about orthopedics. I don't know. You got to go to your doctor. I can't tell you.
[01:04:10] Speaker A: Right?
[01:04:11] Speaker B: But, like, oh, well, it was easy for you. One thing I always get asked, the question when I talk to potential people that's getting LVAD is like, it was easy for you because you was a nurse. I'm like, y'all. I said, you would think with the history of my family that had cardiac issues, that I would have went into that area of cardiac. I said, but no. I went from oncology, med, surg, and now nephrology. When you not working in that area, you look, I done did enough studying in school. I'm not. I'm working, focusing on my area. I said, so I did not know. I did not say you would think. I said, but I didn't know. Not know about cardiology. I didn't know about a lvad and. And all this stuff. And cardiomyopathy. I knew the basis. Okay, Cardiomyopathy, okay, I got. The heart is enlarged. It's functioning really, really slow or. Or weak and all that. I knew that. I knew the terms of what they were saying that was going on with me. But as far as, like, everything going on, like, I didn't know what it was going to look like with me with an L bag. And I didn't know the damage I was possibly causing by holding off on getting l bad if I knew. I'm like, okay, I should get to there. But I really had to get my Answer from God on what to do next. And research. I had to do my own research about the lvad. Like, what is it called? What is, what are the risks? What are the potentials? What are, what's. What may happen? Or if I, if, if my numbers drop, what does that mean for each? Because this is a number for each little thing. And it tells you, like, what is from. If you're dehydrated or anything like that. So I had to do my own research about that. They helped me, but they didn't come to me because I was a nurse. That's something I had to do on my own. But I had to figure out what I can, cannot do. How can I, you know, maneuver around. Like I said, they gave me some little ugly bags. I decided, hey, can I put this in a purse to make it just more fitting for me to kind of decorate it up a little bit. So I, I made the best of the situation I was given. I. I try to express that so much to them. And then I always tell them, like, at least you got a choice. At least you got a time to sit and think about it. Mine was either, girl, you finna die, or you need to get this l Bag. What you finna do at this point, like, be encouraged that, you know, you have a little time to kind of self reflect and think about it. But you, you. I'm here as a, As a. That you can get it and you can still live. I work full time. I have a child that goes full time. Energy. She does not stop. And I have to push forward for her. Even on days that I can't push for myself, I have to push for her. So I always tell them to think about people that you can't leave on this earth right now and do it for them. Push. Sometimes you have to push for other people before you can even push for yourself.
[01:06:39] Speaker A: Sometimes you have to push for other people before you can even push for yourself.
Thank you, Tiffany. That alone is a word.
Yes, yes. Now, as we wrap up, I gotta throw out some fun facts here, because when we talk about the spiritual aspect of it, you know, when I was reading your book and called you out the blue one day, and I was like, did you know that your daughter names me Healer, like, healing? And I thought that was just like, like, ooh. Like, did you even know that?
[01:07:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So what happened was, as a typical woman, we already have our names picked out of what we want to have our kids. Like, I already had names. Like, once I started having kids, these are gonna be My names. And Jace was nowhere in it. I never, never thought about the name Jace. Um, so when we found out we was having a girl, we did a gender reveal. We found out we was having a girl, already had the name that I wanted. It was actually Tylin. That was the. My name for my girl. And after we found out we had a girl, we were sitting on the couch that night, and something hit me with the name Jace. And I'm like, xavier, I think I want to name her Jace. What do you feel about that? And he was like, I like that. I want that. So not knowing the origin, not knowing nothing about it, it's just like something hit me that's named her Jace. So when I went through everything I went through, the one thing the doctor said was when he told me that I shouldn't have been here. I should have been on the ground dead. And they would have had to call the ambulance and come pick me up, try to do cpr. Probably wouldn't have made it. Probably wouldn't have been here. And then my daughter would have passed away because my blood flow would have stopped and she would have died. And he said, but I'm going to tell you this. Your daughter is what saved you. Your daughter, what healed you, for you to have to come to have your baby. That's the only way we was going to find out what was going on with your heart. So I'm telling that. And then one day, randomly, a guy from my church, he texted me, he was like, hey, I see you named your daughter Jace. Did you know why you named her that? And I'm like, it just kind of hit me. I have nothing. I don't have nothing spiritual to give you. It was something that just hit me. And he was like, you know, it means God's healer. And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. He said, look it up in the Hebrew. And I'm like, you gotta be kidding me. Like, I can't make this up. I can't. I looked at him, I'm like, wow. So I'm sharing it with my husband and sharing my. He's like, that's the reason why I came. He just randomly came to me to the mouth. Never knew the origin, never knew nothing about that. But he ended up telling me, it's like, look it up. In the Hebrew, it definitely means God's healer. And I was like, okay, okay, God, use everything. Just use everything. Use it all.
[01:09:08] Speaker A: Just all of it.
[01:09:11] Speaker B: Yes.
[01:09:12] Speaker A: Yes. Thank you so much, Tiffany, for just even getting on this platform. And just Sharing your experience, celebrating Heart Month or just bringing awareness to Heart Month. I do want to point out that the first Friday of February is National Rare Red Day, which is part of the American Heart Association's Go Red for Red for Women initiative. And the campaign aims to raise awareness about heart disease in women, which is again, the leading cause of death among women. And so I did want to make sure I shared that before we wrap up this episode.
[01:09:49] Speaker B: And my family does really good with that of they know every February to where they're at and they always send me pictures like supporting you and everything. So even if you don't, if you're not facing anything with heart failure, think about those family members who are. And that's just a representation that you're standing beside them. Because it is a journey.
[01:10:06] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:10:07] Speaker B: In itself, but it does not mean a death sentence.
[01:10:11] Speaker A: Yes. Yes. Thank you. And to look up other events, definitely you can always google Heart Health Month and see what initiatives or what events that the American Heart association is also doing around this time as well. So, Tiffany, as we wrap up today's episode, what would you want listeners to take away from this episode and how can they connect with you?
[01:10:35] Speaker B: So for my nurses out there or potential nurses, I would love for you to take away that everybody's path is not the same and that just because you hit a roadblock, that doesn't mean that you stop, you keep going, you give, ask God to give you strength to go over and you make it through. For the general listeners, I would just say that with it being the hard month is to do a review over your body, get the necessary testing that you need just to make sure it's always good to I always tell people it's best to go and they say are you okay then to not go? And there's something that happens and just to always in every situation take the even the smallest of things and figure out how to turn into good.
And then just how you can follow me. I have Instagram is Tiffany Cannon90. Also on Facebook is Tiffany Davis Cannon. You can hit me up on there. And then also as Chanel has shared, I do have my book on Amazon. It's called A Journey through Supernatural Healing and it's authored Tiffany Cannon. You can get that on Amazon today.
[01:11:38] Speaker A: Yes, yes. And with that also during Heart month, since you mentioned to the listeners, to get get themselves checked out, ask your doctor about calcium scan. It's something that's least invasive and it's not as serious as having a heart cath done. Just to get an idea on what condition your heart may be in. So thank you, Tiffany, so much. Now to connect with me, your host, nurse, Chanel. Of course you can find me @all1nurse on Facebook @all1nurse underscore Chanel on Instagram and all1nurse on TikTok. And don't forget, if you're listening to this podcast, subscribe and rate the podcast five stars. Of course, nothing but the best. And share it. Please share this podcast with others so that you can support this podcast and my awesome guest speakers like Tiffany Cannon. Thank you so much again, Tiffany, for being here.
[01:12:34] Speaker B: My pleasure, my pleasure. It was fun.
[01:12:37] Speaker A: Yes, I learned a lot and I and I was raised with you at the same time. Thank you so much. And for my listeners, until next time, let your light shine. Bye.
