I did it!

I was 40 years old and training for a super-sprint triathlon when I had my SCAD (spontaneous coronary artery dissection) and heart attack in March of '09.

I don't smoke, I'm not diabetic, I don't have clogged arteries, don't have high blood pressure, and don't have sleep apnea. In August of '08 I'd started a diet and exercise plan and had dropped around 20 pounds, then in January of '09 I started training for my first triathlon.

So I don't know who was more surprised by my heart attack, the doctors or me. They fixed me up with six stents in my right coronary artery and after a week in the hospital sent me on my way. I did 12 weeks of cardiac rehab then got clearance to start training.

There have been several challenges and obstacles this year, mainly my mother-in-law's diagnosis of lung cancer, her declining health following alleged successful tumor removal surgery, and then her death in April this year.

Two of our three cats also developed health problems earlier this year, and we had to put them to sleep last week.

With all of that, it's been difficult at times to muster the mental and emotional energy to get to the gym, to get on the bike, to wake up early on Saturdays and go to the pool.

BUT I DID IT!

Yesterday I competed in and finished the Ramblin' Rose Triathlon in Chapel Hill.

Nineteen months after my heart attack, I am now a triathlete. Some people in my family doubted that this day would come, but it has. :)

My awesome husband cheered me on and took pictures, some of which you can see here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulcory/sets/72157625136381120/with/5069723190/

So if you're just out of the hospital, if you've just been diagnosed, if you're still at the scared and confused stage, this is me telling you that you CAN persevere, you CAN still follow your dreams.

Yes, I have heart disease. I also now have a triathlon finisher's medal. :)

Getting some press for women's heart disease

I'm in the February issue of Carolina Woman magazine:

http://www.carolinawoman.com/body02-10.php

In mid-January I sent out a press release to the various local media outlets, asking them to please do something for National Wear Red Day and American Heart Month, and included a bit of my own story.

This time I got two nibbles. Fingers crossed, there's going to be a story soon in the local daily paper with another young heart attack survivor and and me, and then a couple weeks ago Carolina Woman magazine called and said they wanted to run my press release as kind of a "letter to the editor." So of course I said great, and now there it is. :)

Of course if I'd known they were going to run it as-is with no chance to alter it, I would've put more in it about the three local WomenHeart support groups, but at least the website is in there.

In other heart-healthy news, I've just registered for the women-only Ramblin' Rose Triathlon.

Heart Walk Success

The Heart Walk went well yesterday. Thanks to generous friends and family, I raised over $250 for the American Heart Association! Thank you all so much for all your help and support.

Here's a link to my pictures on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47904085@N00/tags/2009heartwalk/

We had a warm, sunny day for the walk; I understand that last year was unseasonably cool. There were over 200 people on the team from UNC, and it was great to catch up with the rehab staff and some of the people who were going through rehab at the same time as me.

There were a lot of dogs at the walk, everything from huge friendly golden retrievers down to mini-poodles that people were carrying.

I'm looking forward to walking again next year.

Triangle Heart Walk, Sept. 27th

OK, last place I'm posting this. I'm only posting it once, but I'm posting it to 2 different FB accounts and 3 different blogs, so my apologies to those of you who see it multiple times. After today, I'm not going to mention it again, because I don't like asking for $.

This year, I'm participating in the Triangle Heart Walk, which is a fundraiser for the American Heart Association. If you're wondering why I'm doing this, see here (though most of you know the story).

I'm uncomfortable asking for money, so this is the only time I'm going to post the link:

My page for HeartWalk donations is here.

Annoyingly, the online form only seems to let people give in $25 increments; if you'd like to give a different amount, you'll need to print out the donation pdf and mail it--sorry about that. :/

Meanwhile, here are some heart disease stats from WomenHeart:

* Heart disease is the leading cause of death of American women, killing more than a quarter of them.

* Over 213,000 women die each year from heart attacks--five times as many women as breast cancer.

* More women than men die of heart disease each year.

* Women are less likely than men to receive appropriate treatment after a heart attack.

* Women account for only 27% of participants in all heart-related research studies.

* 23% of women and 18% of men will die within one year of a first recognized heart attack; 22-32% of female and 16-24% of male heart attack survivors will have another heart attack within five years.

* 12-25% of female and 7-22% of male heart attack survivors will be diagnosed with heart failure within five years.

* 34.9% of deaths in American women over the age of 20, or more than 450,000, are caused by cardiovascular disease each year.

* Over 166,000 women die each year of congestive heart failure, accounting for 56.8% of all heart failure deaths.

I'm done with rehab!!

Or as my co-worker Hank said when I got to work this morning and showed off my stylin' new red shirt, "I survived cardiac rehab and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." [Let the Star Trek red shirt jokes commence ;)]

Actually, it's a pretty cool shirt, and rehab has been, for the most part, a really good experience for me. There were a couple of bumps in the road, but when I look back at where I was 12 weeks ago, more psychologically than physically even, it's been a tremendous benefit, and it's a tragedy--a health emergency I'd almost say--that a lot of women never have cardiac rehab mentioned to them.

Last thing I read said that just over half, 56 percent, of patients who need cardiac rehab actually get referred, and women get referred at a much lower rate than men.

That's been borne out by my experience--for most of my time in rehab I've been the only woman in my class. For part of the time there was an older woman, then she left and I was alone again. Then a couple of weeks ago another woman, maybe in her mid-50s, joined. But we're still far outnumbered by the men. Heart disease is the #1 killer of women in the US, but cardiac rehab is still very much a man's game.

When I started rehab, my total cholesterol was 225: HDL of 54 and LDL of 149, triglycerides at 109. Now my total cholesterol is 172: HDL 57, LDL 94, and triglycerides at 105. I've been on Zocor (well, the generic) since my heart attack, so I can't claim all the credit.

Blood pressure has stayed about the same, in the 110/70 range, though when they checked it right after I'd come off the beta blocker, it was 102/64.

When I first started, I was so scared and anxious that I stopped my initial treadmill stress test after only 5 minutes, so the upper end of my target heart rate range was 87. Plus also beta blocker. Now, with no beta blocker, my THRR is 126 for the upper end. :)

I did 8 biceps curls in 30 seconds at the start of rehab; now I can do 15.

But more than anything else, I know that I can go swim for a half hour and not collapse. I can run on the treadmill with no fear. I can go for a bike ride just a like a normal person. There are a lot of things I can do like a normal person now, and that's the point of getting up at five-freakin-thirty in the morning three days a week for twelve weeks.

Don't think because I won't be at rehab anymore that I'm going to turn into a slacker, though. I've signed up for the Triangle Heart Walk on Sept. 27th, and I'm looking over the super-sprint triathlon options.

Can I get a hallelujah? :)

Rehab and blood draws and follow-ups, oh my

I'm coming up on the end of my time in cardiac rehab. It will be good to switch from Meadowmont back to my old gym, Duke Health & Fitness. Meadowmont is a good facility, but I miss my water aerobics classes, and being able to lift weights--I'm not really a fan of the giant rubber band school of resistance strength training.

Tomorrow I have medical stuff all day. Blood draws in the morning for cholesterol and liver checks, and cardiologist follow-up appt. in the afternoon. So no food for me after 8pm tonight.

I hate hate hate having my blood drawn. It got to where near the end of my hospitalization, I would cry when I saw the phlebotomists coming in--because after nearly a week of three blood draws/day, they'd just about run out of places to stick me and had resorted to poking the backs of my hands. The only reason it wasn't worse was because for a couple of days, I had an arterial line in and they were able to take blood straight from that for awhile, until the line got kinked and they took it out (I was terribly sad to see it go).

I know I sound like a wimp--they stuck my femoral artery twice and threaded a catheter up to my heart, for cryin' out loud--but for that, they had me on a morphine/valium drip, so I didn't give a crap.

Now is a good time to practice my deep breathing and relaxation. Now is NOT a good time for the loud, boisterous child to be in the office, when I'm already anxious...

Must remember to write out list of questions tonight for the doctor. #1, how long will I have to be on the beta blocker.

Progress: I can bike and swim again!

My cardiologist has given me permission to ride my bike and start swimming again, yay! I don't know if I can fully articulate how happy this makes me--please just take it as given. :)