​​​​​​​​​​​​​When you are the owner of your own successful consulting firm, co-founder of a 501c3 that has brought people together to grant more than $160,000 for causes benefitting Greater Cincinnati, a wife, and a mother of three, chances are people want to listen to you.

But when Neena Volk visited an emergency department with chest pains and numbness in her arm, she left feeling like she wasn’t heard. And she left with the wrong diagnosis and continued illness. After another visit to the same hospital, further confusion over what was wrong, and a referral to a third provider with the same practice, she turned elsewhere for help.

A supporter of the charity she co-founded with her husband is a surgeon with The Christ Hospital Health Network who convinced her to get a second opinion from the Women’s Heart Center at The Christ Hospital. After receiving an accurate diagnosis and a new plan for care from Odayme Quesada, MD, the Medical Director at The Women’s Heart Center, and Julie Gallatin, CNP​, a board-certified nurse practitioner who provides specialty care for women at the center, she began to immediately feel better.

Hear more about Neena’s experience with The Women’s Heart Center, and why she encourages others to always be their own advocate when it comes to their health.

Neena’s story in her own words:

For the last four months, everyone has made me feel crazy. No one has been able to tell me what is wrong with me. I felt like I was being dramatic.

End of January 2024, I started having pretty intense chest pains. I went to another local hospital. I explained that I had numbness in my left arm, and I still was told to wait in the waiting room. Finally, I walked up to the front desk and explained to them this is very serious and said, “I think I'm having a heart attack in this moment.”

And so, at that point they did rush me back for an EKG which came bac​k irregular. They came in and told my husband she looks great, there's no blockages, we're not concerned. We think she's fine to go home.

I told him, “I still don't feel OK, I think something's really wrong with me.” But we trusted the cardiologist and what he was saying, and I walked out and went home with my husband.

Within 10 days, something's still not right. And silly me, I went back again to the same hospital.

I had a different cardiologist and some remarks he said to me in the room were just very odd to me - things like “we probably shouldn't have let you go that evening you did have a heart attack.”

So, I had one cardiologist telling me I didn't have a heart attack. I had one telling me I did have a heart attack. So, the next four months was a series of appointments with cardiologist who could not really give me any answers. I was barely making it through the day because I was on all these medications that were making me extremely tired.

They referred me to another cardiologist within that same practice. I think that was just the straw that broke the camel's back. At that point, I was already getting very frustrated. I felt like I had been ignored by three other cardiologists.

Thankfully, Thankfully, my husband and I run a nonprofit on the side and one of our members is a surgeon here at Christ and he mentioned Dr. Quesada and said she is amazing, you need to get to Christ.

So, I called.

I met with Julie at first. I think Julie must have seen the defeat on my face and said, “all right, no more of this. I'm going to tell you right now, you did have a heart attack. You actually had two.”

That was the first time we actually heard that I had had two heart attacks. Dr. Quesada came in and we talked through all of that as well together. She very quickly said, “you are what I think is a pretty obvious case of these spasms.”

We were able to confirm that was, in fact, what was happening. And walking out of the appointment with Quesada I was, I'm pissed. I was so frustrated with the care I had received at the previous place.

So while I was feeling this intense amount of relief, it was coupled with this intense amount of anger because she came in with such ease and so many clear answers and such care.

And she listened to me.

Within five days, I was on the right treatment plan. I was taken off medications that increases spasms happening. And so that was one of the reasons I had been feeling so bad. I definitely have more energy so I can keep up more with my three crazy kids and my husband.

You know, I really tried to just continue to spread the word about the great doctors that are here at The Christ Hospital, especially Dr. Quesada and being an advocate for yourself because you know, you're your biggest champio​​​n and making sure that you get the right health care.