TAMPA, Fla. — For Scott Paulsen, life-saving advice came in the form of a pamphlet.
In the fall, he attended an AED training session at work at the Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce.
“Before she left, she gave us these pamphlets about chest pains, what to do if you’re experiencing whatever, so I read it of course,” said Paulsen.
Ten days later, Paulsen laid down and felt something strange in his chest.
“So I got up and thought, okay, let me try coughing a few times, let me try to walk it off,” said Paulsen. “I took a couple aspirins thinking that would help it go away, but it didn't go away, and I remembered from that pamphlet it said if you're experiencing discomfort in your chest for a certain amount of time, then seek medical attention."
Later at the hospital, a CT scan showed he had an aortic dissection. Paulsen was transferred to the AdventHealth Pepin Heart Institute in Tampa for open-heart surgery.
Dr. Richard Morrison was his surgeon.
“There’s a lot of people who never even make it to the hospital,” said Dr. Morrison. “There’s a third of people will pass away within 24 hours without getting emergency surgery.”
Paulsen credits that simple pamphlet he got to helping save his life.
“The pain being so mild or the symptoms being so mild, I could’ve easily gone to bed and wrote it off, and what I understand, I wouldn’t have woken up that night,” said Paulsen.
He calls his recovery a journey, and now, he’s feeling great, even doing a 5k five months after his surgery.
And if you feel something off with your health, his advice is this:
“Get it checked out because you don’t know what it could be,” said Paulsen. “You’re better off going to the hospital or a doctor’s office and it not being something serious than having something serious and not getting it checked out.”
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