My EKG Story

I am a 79 year old woman who has an Apple Watch because my children thought I should have one.  I’ve had an Apple Watch since 2017 and this is my story.

I currently have an Apple Watch 6.  I live alone and my children thought it would be a good idea in case there was an emergency. I have consistently checked my heart rate and EKG. Not because I really understood what I was doing, but because I thought it was cool to see my heart rhythm. 

This week I was feeling bad and my grandson came over after school. While he was here my watch started beeping and said I was in A-fib.  My son walked in and said I looked pale.  I told him that my watch had gone off.  He took me to the emergency room.  My heart rate was elevated and my heart was out of rhythm.   I was thankful for the Watch alerting me, but there is more to the story.

I was admitted into the hospital.  The cardiologist said he wanted to shock my heart back into rhythm.  My son told him the watch alerted me and the history was on my iPhone.  The doctor looked at my phone to see that my heart had been going in and out of rhythm since October 2020.  Once discovering this was not the first time I had been in A-fib, he took another course of action.  He said if he had shocked my heart and there was a blood clot it could have caused a stroke. 

Because he saw the history on my iPhone, he took necessary precautions.  My heart is back in rhythm and I’m doing great.  I wanted to share my story because using the watch to regularly check my heart may have saved my life.

I love my Apple Watch and look forward to upgrading as new features are added.