4mylife

Gosh, I started out so motivated when I found this website.  I had so much hope that I could find inspiration and inspire others here.  Then life got in the way. My 15 year old had to have major foot surgery in late October and just got off of crutches.  That was the reason for my disappearing act.  Now I am back with much more to add to my story.

I guess I’ll give some of the basics of my battle with heart disease since it is a journey I continue.  In June, 2005 I started experiencing symptoms I thought were related to being overweight.  I was around 212 lbs. at the time.  Living in SE Texas in the summer, you would think getting out of breath and breaking into a sweat easily would be an assumption of being over weight in the south.  My symptoms continued to progress to include chest pain, nausea, left arm pain.  I knew something was terribly wrong, but ignored it all because I was too busy taking care of everyone else. 

In mid-August, I finally could not take what I was experiencing anymore.  I went to my family doctor.  EKG was normal.  Told to exercise and lose weight.  Told to go the ER if it got too bad - I think they did this to cover themselves for not doing more testing.  Went to the ER one weekend.  I could no longer walk across my living room with throwing up from crushing pain.  As long as I sat in a chair I was fine.  EKG, blood work all normal.  Cardiologist called in because my father died at 54 of a heart attack.  Kept overnight and had a stress test.  Normal.  Told to go home and exercise and lose weight.  Went home and cut grass in 100+ temps.  Took my teenage daughters back to school shopping at the mall.  All this time I could only do things for 5 minutes or so without classic heart attack symptoms.  Would rest for 10 minutes and start again.

I felt deep down inside something was horribly, horribly wrong.  Back to the ER.  Met with a nurse practitioner from cardiologists’ office.  Told her I was not leaving without being 100% certain there was nothing wrong with my heart.  She ordered a heart cath. “just to set your mind at ease”.  Got into the cath. lab.  Different doctor from same group.  Told me at 39 and female he did not expect to find anything and I should relax and not worry.  Room got quiet mid-procedure.  People started moving very fast and whispering.  Doctor asked if I was experiencing any pain?   I was - I felt like my chest was going to explode.  He had found a 95% blockage of my LAD - main arterty going down the front of my heart.  He was stenting it as he spoke saying things like “I’ll be darned!  You are one lucky lady.  Good thing we found this.”  Afterwards, I asked him how serious it had been and told him what all I had been doing.  He said I was a walking miracle and should have been dead if I had pushed a lawn mower what that blockage.  I was so angry.  Why did I have to fight so hard?  Why did they blow off my symptoms?  It was because I was young, female and overweight. 

Lesson learned - always listen to your inner voice.  If you know something is wrong, pursue it until you are satisfied.  That’s not the end of my story.  It is just the beginning.

Thanks for taking time to read my story. 

Dianna

Hello all, I am new here. I am joining this community in the hopes that I can save my life.  I am hoping to learn from you and be inspired as I share my story and hopefully inspire others.

I guess instead of starting at the beginning of my story, it might work better to go from where I am now so that others can learn from the dire circumstances I am in now.  I am 41 years old, married and the mother of 2 - grandmother of 1.  I was diagnosed with heart disease at the age of 39 when I received my first stent.  I received my 2nd at age 40 and am fairly certain I have a new blockage at this time.  My experience with the medical community dealing with my heart disease at such a young age should have motivated me to take charge of my life.  Instead, they led to frustration, aggravation and a depression that has caused more emotional eating.  I am not making excuses.  Just telling the truth.  I didn’t wake up and change my lifestyle to save my life as most sane people would have.  I went the other route - why me?  How come everyone else can eat fun food and not risk their lives?”  Now I realize it should not be ”why me” but “this is me - I have heart disease and I am killing myself eating the wrong kinds of food and not exercising”.

In the days to come I will go into details of my story more.  I want all the women in this community to know that heart disease can happen to you. I want you all to know that if you are fairly young, you may not recognize the symptoms or dismiss them.  The doctors may not listen to you either.  I almost lost my life and I now desperately want to change my lifestyle before it is too late.  

My story is a complicated one and I am a ”talker”. If you choose to follow my blog, be prepared for long posts.  I hope that they will be worth the read. 

Thanks for being a part of this journey.

Dianna