Amanda Goff is grateful to be in hospital right now.
The Sydney-based journalist, author and former high-profile escort — then known as 'Samantha X' — is counting her lucky stars, because she knows things could have been far worse.
Goff first noticed her health wasn't quite right a few months ago.
"I was walking a lot, like walking to the dog park or walking to and from the gym. And I started having these really faint spells where I'd have to sit down and stop because of the heart palpitations. I almost felt like I was going to black out, and it just kept happening," she told Mamamia.
"I've just turned 50 recently and other than these symptoms I am the fittest I have ever felt. I've been sober from alcohol for six years, I move my body — I put the fainting down to perimenopause or hormones. I think that's something a lot of women my age tend to do."
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This wasn't the first time that fainting spells had impacted Goff. Two years ago on a flight back to Australia from Bali, she collapsed. At the time she put it down to dehydration. Now she wonders if it was something connected to her recent fainting.
Last week, Goff went to see her GP for a health checkup.
"I was going to Canada for a trip and I felt a bit anxious about my health, given the previous collapse I had on the Bali flight. So I thought it couldn't hurt to see my GP and get things checked out," she explained.
Goff's GP wrote her a cardiology referral letter, and she went off to have an appointment. She never expected what happened next.
"I wound up there at St Vincent Hospital's Cardiology ward in Sydney, and I did a stress test and heart monitor over the weekend. They gave me the monitor, I went back home and lived life as normal. I then went back on Friday with the monitor and was told the results. Then the diagnosis came."
Goff was told she has a serious heart condition — specifically non-sustained ventricular tachycardia and supraventricular tachycardia, which is often shortened to NSVT / SVT. It is essentially an 'abnormal heart rhythm disorder that causes a very fast or erratic heartbeat'. It can be the cause of sudden death and cardiac arrests.
Goff felt overwhelmed.
"I was just in complete shock. I've changed my life to be far healthier. I'm no longer working as an escort, I'm sober, I'm probably the fittest and happiest I've ever been. I've also been loving working as a Pilates instructor. I thought I was finally in a really good place," she told Mamamia.
"So to hear these results, it was extremely concerning. Those articles you read about people getting told this kind of news, you always think, 'That happens to other people, it will hopefully never happen to me.' It's happening to me now."
Once the emotional shock had washed over her, Goff was told that further tests would offer more answers — namely, how she developed the condition, and two, what treatment would look like for her.
Unsurprisingly, Goff wasn't cleared to fly for her Canada trip. On Monday this week, the day she was supposed to depart, she was instead wheeled into surgery for an ablation, a treatment for irregular heartbeats. It all went successfully.
"I can live a completely normal life with this, after treatment. The worst-case scenario is that I'll need a defibrillator, and the best-case scenario is that medication will be all I need," Goff said.
She credited the doctors and specialists at NSW Cardiology and St Vincent's Clinic for saving her life.
"I'm so grateful to be here still, and I'm very grateful I didn't get on that plane," she said. "And I'm also very grateful that the healthcare system in this country is excellent."
"We rarely discuss heart issues in women, and so often we put our symptoms down to hormones, perimenopause or periods," she added. "I just think it's important for women to listen to their bodies and speak to their doctor if they have any concerns. A second opinion never hurts too."
Feature Image: Instagram @amandagoffofficial.