Mum of four saved by her smartwatch
<p dir="ltr">Ricki-Lee Wynne was gifted a smartwatch from her husband for her 40th birthday and she believes that without it, she wouldn’t be alive today.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"There's no doubt that my smartwatch saved my life," she told 9news.com.au.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Months prior to receiving the watch, Wynne had been experiencing strange health problems. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I was getting a pain over my shoulder blades and it hurt each time I breathed in," she said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Doctors were confused and Wynne was in and out of hospital having several X-rays, scans and blood tests in an attempt to find the underlying issue.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Wynne also had an echocardiogram to test the functioning of her heart, all of which appeared normal. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"The doctors were not sure what it was. They thought it could be a low-grade blood cancer," she said. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The pain subsided for a little while but soon enough Wynne’s breathing problems returned. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I woke up one day and I couldn't breathe properly. I was just walking into work and I was thinking, 'Gosh, I can't get enough air into my lungs,'" she said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I couldn't walk from one side of the room to the other without being short of breath.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I went to my GP and had an x-ray done, but nothing showed up.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">That’s when Wynne noticed her smartwatch was acting up. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"I'd been struggling with my watch for days to try and get the heart rate to show up," she said. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The heart rate function of her smartwatch had never been an issue before, but now it was struggling to pick it up. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"It was saying you need to change the position to measure a pulse," she said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"My chest was also feeling kind of wobbly for a couple of nights when I went to bed.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Despite her X-ray showing coming up clear, Wynne said she went back to see her GP and told him she was worried something was really wrong.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I just said to him, 'Even my heart rate isn't right, look at my watch,' and I showed it to him.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Wynne’s GP sent her off for an ECG which showed her heart rate had dropped to just 29 beats per minute, a major cause for concern. </p>
<p dir="ltr">"As soon as I had the ECG, I had the doctor call me back and say you need to go straight to Box Hill Hospital," she said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I was told at the hospital that if I hadn't come in I would have just died in my sleep.</p>
<p dir="ltr">"I would not have woken up and my heart would have stopped.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Wynne was then fitted with an emergency pacemaker and eventually diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disorder called sarcoidosis, a condition that causes inflammation in different parts of the body, most commonly the lungs. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Doctors believe Wynne's sarcoidosis moved from her lungs to her heart, causing her to become extremely ill. </p>
<p dir="ltr">She still has the pacemaker in and combined with medication, her health has improved significantly. </p>
<p dir="ltr">It’s safe to say Wynne won’t be taking off her smartwatch any time soon.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p>
