A Change of Heart: Spontaneous Dissection Study in Wall Street Journal

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Spontaneous Dissection Study in Wall Street Journal

Another friend referred to this as "my" 15 minutes of fame. No. I'm too introverted; I don't want fame for myself, I want it for SCADs.

Here's today's story on Mayo's new SCAD research and how it happened, from the Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903352704576538754057145360.html

Many thanks to my heart-sister Katherine for encouraging Dr. Hayes to take on this study, and to Dr. Hayes for agreeing to it. This all happened at Katherine's instigation and she gets 100% full credit for talking to Dr. Hayes.

Here's hoping we'll someday have some answers.

And see, this is what I mean when I say that women's heart disease research is so crucial. We're doing our part to add to the medical knowledge about women's heart issues, and I'd encourage other women to participate as well.

Edit: Sorry some people are having trouble with the Wall Street Journal link. Here's an alternate from Forbes.com:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidshaywitz/2011/08/30/as-therapeutics-become-personal-patient-social-networks-may-become-essential/

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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).