A Change of Heart: Quick Symposium Notes

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Quick Symposium Notes

Tired, but here are some quick Symposium thoughts:

My brain is full. Crammed full of knowledge--medical, scientific, networking skills, so much to remember.

My heart is full. Full of love and appreciation of my new-found heart sisters from around the country.

Here are a few quick photos on my Flickr page from various events throughout the five days at Mayo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/womenheartsymposium2009/

From our tour of the Mayo Clinic: the cardiac cath lab--good to see while standing up instead of lying down, let me tell you. Two pictures from the day we spent out at Assisi Heights: the statue of St. Francis is from the inside, and the courtyard shows the snow that greeted us that morning.

Jyl is a belly dancer and a WomenHeart Champion. Jan, beside her, is local to me and a WomenHeart Champion. I am a WomenHeart Champion. Stephanie, in the picture with me, is a WomenHeart Champion. The pictures of us are from our dressy dinner/reception on Tuesday night.

I will upload more pictures soon but I'm also hopeful that other Symposium attendees will share some of theirs; a lot of mine ended up being blurry, alas.

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Why am I doing this?

In March of 2009 I had a heart attack. It was as much a surprise to me as it was to the doctors; I don't have any risk factors--no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no clogged arteries, no family history; plus I'm a young (in cardiac terms) female who exercises. Definitely NOT the usual suspect for a heart attack.

But tell that to my body--I had one anyway. Turns out that I experienced a rare thing called a Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection. Don't google the term unless you're prepared to be depressed by mortality rates and statistics, and the fact that doctors really have no clue about what causes some people to have them.

The bright side is that my toast landed butter side up, and I'm still here. In 2009 I put together a one-shot fanzine called A Change of Heart; you can get a PDF copy of it from efanzines.com here. This blog is an extension of that fanzine and an effort to reach more people, both in and out of of the fannish science fiction community.

If you want to read my story from the beginning, I suggest starting with this link to my wonderful husband Paul's journal:

Laura Had A Heart Attack Monday Morning.

He kept up a pretty good running commentary of what was happening while I was still in the hospital, and it starts there. The "Next" and "Previous" links move to later and earlier entries, detailing our experiences.

In October, 2010, I competed in and finished the Chapel Hill Ramblin' Rose Triathlon. These are pictures Paul took of me riding my bike and running (he couldn't get into the pool).