A Heart That Was Broken: Janice’s Story of Survival

Janice Remmetter, 75 years old of Mamou, LA, never expected a trip to the nail salon would save her life. At 73 years old, just twelve weeks after losing her husband in August of 2023, she found herself in the midst of a life-threatening heart attack—one that nearly went undetected.

Janice and her husband were married for 55 years. His passing left a deep void in her life, and as she navigated her grief, she focused on maintaining her health. She had always been proactive about her heart health by getting annual checkups with retired Cardiovascular Institute of the South (CIS) interventional cardiologist, Dr. Deepak Thekkoott in Zachary. When he retired, she sought care from Dr. Shashitha Gavini at CIS in Baton Rouge after reading about her in a local magazine. The article inspired her, because Dr. Gavini expressed a passion for working with female patients.

One Saturday, out of the blue, Janice started feeling unwell. She experienced nausea—something she assumed was just a stomach bug picked up from her grandkids. With no chest pain, no jaw discomfort, and no symptoms resembling a typical heart attack, she didn’t think much of it.

Wanting to get out of the house on the following Tuesday, Janice decided to go to the nail salon to get a manicure and pedicure. She just finished her pedicure when she suddenly began to feel worse. Before she could finish her manicure, she vomited and passed out. When she regained consciousness, paramedics were standing over her asking which hospital she wanted to go to and they gave her the chilling news–she was having a heart attack.

Janice was rushed to Baton Rouge General and when she arrived, she was immediately surrounded by a medical team. “Nobody was telling me anything,” she recalled. “They were just moving really fast.” Everything was a blur as they rushed her into a procedure room.

Dr. Amit Patel, the on-call interventional cardiologist at CIS Baton Rouge, performed the emergency procedure. Janice had experienced a plaque rupture in her coronary artery, leading to a dangerous blockage that caused an arrhythmia and, subsequently, a heart attack. Dr. Patel placed two stents in her right coronary artery to open the blockage, a procedure known as percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or angioplasty with stenting. When her children arrived at the hospital, they were in tears. The timing of it was overwhelming; just twelve weeks earlier, they had lost their father. Now, their mother had narrowly escaped a life-threatening event.

The next day, Dr. Gavini visited Janice in the hospital. Still in shock, Janice recalled that her tests had all appeared normal just days before. Dr. Gavini reminded her, “You don’t know when a piece of plaque will break off.” Heart attacks can be unpredictable, even in patients who seem healthy.

Since the procedure, Janice has returned to her normal life grateful for the care she received. At one of her regular checkups, Dr. Gavini even joked, “Your EKG is now boring compared to the one you had when you were having a heart attack.” Dr. Gavini’s lighthearted comment highlights the success of the procedure—what was once a serious, life-threatening issue is now stable, which is exactly what you want in a healthy heart.

Reflecting on her experience, Janice praises CIS and the physicians who saved her. “CIS in general, they just seem to care about you. They make you feel special. So, to go from one CIS clinic to another has been wonderful. I thank God, I thank CIS for being there for me and still being there for me.” She encourages others to seek care from CIS saying, “If you need a cardiologist, I’ve got a good one. She’s [Dr. Gavini] very caring, very sweet, and has a good rapport with each patient.”

Janice now shares her story to help other women recognize the signs of a heart attack. “We don’t have the same symptoms as men,” Janice explains. “They’re much more subtle. I thought I just had a bug, and I had just been checked out days before. But it just so happened that a piece of plaque caused it.”

Looking back, Janice believes there was more than just physical health at play. “I think it was a heart that was broken,” Janice said. But thanks to Dr. Patel, Dr. Gavini, and the team at CIS, her heart continues to beat strong, allowing her to share her story and encourage others to listen to their bodies—because sometimes, the smallest symptoms can be the most dangerous. “Because of Dr. Gavini and Dr. Patel, I’m still here today,” she said. Click here to learn more about women-specific symptoms.