I'm LATE, I'm LATE for a VERY IMPORTANT DATE!!!

Gee ... I'm on a ROLL of being LATE here this past week!!! I am SO sorry to anyone who traveled over here to read my story on HEART DISEASE and found NOTHING!!! I was SO engrossed in completing my layout for the, FUNK IT UP, contest and I was BEYOND tired by the time I crawled into bed last night. I know y'all can RELATE to that at one time or another!

Anyway, yesterday was the day to wear RED to help bring attention to the fact that HEART DISEASE has been established as the NUMBER ONE killer of women today.

It was rather odd for me a little over a year ago now, when I had been seeing a lot of advertising of HEART DISEASE on television and I even sat down to watch a few MEDICAL specials. Of course, I was listening in for the educational part of it, never thinking that this could be ME because I have NO family history of HEART DISEASE!!! WRONG!!!

Within a month of all of the research I had been doing, as I try to stay abreast of all the new medical findings, I was in the hospital going through an ANGIOPLASTY and STENT implant!!! How did this happen you ask? Well ... none of us are REALLY sure what brought this on at the TENDER age of 50!!! Yes, today, 50 is YOUNG!!!

I have been dealing with FIBROMYALGIA on and off for several years now. I would find myself feeling VERY weak and lethargic, which was VERY difficult for me to accept having been ACTIVE all of my life! However, after doing a lot of reading and research, I accepted it, but with the THOUGHT that "I WILL beat this"!!! Robert (my beloved) and I began WALKING and although I have ALWAYS enjoyed POWER WALKING, I was finding that my CHEST was hurting. I turned to Robert and said, "Boy, I'm REALLY out of shape"!!! I hadn't EVER in my LIFETIME felt SO winded, but this time with ALMOST a PRESSURE. I didn't understand it enough to think much of it other than the FACT that I was MOST definitely OUT OF SHAPE!!!

Within the next few weeks I spent an ENTIRE day being stopped DEAD IN MY TRACKS with a HORRIFIC PRESSURE in my chest that would have me inhaling and exhaling slowly as I would try to work my way through whatever this was that was happening to me! Mind you, I have been HEALTHY as a horse ALL of my life. I've given birth to six children with NO problems!!! What in the WORLD could EVER be happening to me NOW??? By DAY NUMBER TWO, the simplest exertions were bringing this PRESSURE on. I was reading a HUMOROUS e-mail to Robert and was walking back and forth from the computer room into the living room to share with him. I was enjoying a VERY hearty (no pun intended!) laugh when, ALL OF A SUDDEN, I was stopped DEAD IN MY TRACKS, once again, with that HORRIFIC PRESSURE in my chest. Robert kept telling me that I'd better go to the doctor.

Well ... I just happen to have a BIT of a stubborn streak in me!!! And, YES, I was also a BIT scared. You know, that "I don't want to go because I don't want to be told that something is WRONG with ME"!!! I put a couple of 5 gallon water bottles in the car to take to our local supermarket to refill at the water machine outside. Both of my oldest sons work there. As I was walking down our THREE steps to get into the car, again, I was taken aback by this INTENSE pressure in my chest. I sat down in the driver's seat and INHALED deeply and slowly exhaled, working my way through this, by now, SCARY event.

I arrived at the supermarket, walked into the store, with TEARS welled up in my eyes, spoke with #2 son to PLEASE call #1 son to come out and help me with the water bottles. Matt and I walked out to the water machine and in the process of filling bottle number one, I started crying. Matt asked, "Mom, what's wrong"? I replied, "Matt, I'm scared, something is wrong with me." He, with GREAT concern, told me that I'd better get myself over to the clinic, which just happened to be across the parking lot of our LITTLE shopping center!!!

Matt put the water bottles in the car for me and I drove myself over to the clinic. I had to sit and wait to be seen for about ten minutes (NOT bad, eh???) and they immediately took me to a room to perform an EKG. I have ALWAYS had EXCELLENT blood pressure, which would normally read anywhere from 107-110 over 70-72. My blood pressure was now 170/100, but then, of course, I AM SCARED!!!

My EKG was normal, but I was still experiencing the PRESSURE in my chest that would come and go just like contractions when in labor!!! My doctor was NOT going to let me go home and the next thing I knew I had four or five young men from the fire department standing over me explaining that an ambulance was coming for me. Mind you, living in a SMALL community, I knew MOST of these young men. We were ALL laughing and I think I laughed myself right onto the gurney and out the door into the ambulance!!! None of us could BELIEVE that I was there - "your're TOO young" everyone would say!

I won't bore you with all of the details of my ambulance ride to the hospital, although I did have a GOOD time with EVERYONE involved ... just the GREATEST bunch of human beings, who take their jobs seriously and have a HEART!!! Once in the ER, I was monitored, given oxygen and so on and so forth, not to mention several more EKG's!!! Oh ... I just remembered, I was given a NITRO pill prior to leaving the clinic to see if it would help the pressure. Not sure how long I was in the ER. Robert and my oldest son, Matt drove up to be with me. I was probably there for a couple of hours and they were going to let me go home after having me walk around for a bit, not finding any irregularities in my EKG readings and my blood pressure being normal.

As I proceeded to leave and passed the desk where the doctor was standing, I began to feel the pressure in my chest again. I immediately turned around, looked at the doctor and said to him, "something is NOT right, I am still getting the pressure in my chest". Well, the darling that he was, he returned me to the room I had occupied, had me hooked back up to the EKG machine, oxygen, etc. for another look. Still, nothing showed up that was out of the NORM, so he got on the phone and scheduled me for a TREADMILL with a HEART specialist VERY early the following morning.

The next morning I arrived at the hospital for my TREADMILL (WOO HOO ... so much FUN!!!) and after being rigged, I stepped up onto the TREADMILL and was BEGGING FOR MERCY come the final round!!! The faster I had to take strides, the MORE intense the pressure in my chest became!!! After the doctor looked at the results, he said there was enough of an irregularity that warranted a CLOSER look and, especially, since I was a woman.

I was then admitted into the hospital for an ANGIOGRAM, which is where they go in through the groin with a CUTE little camera and take pictures!!! I declined any sedatives and only had my groin area anesthetized and found it to be a pain free procedure! I do have a HIGH tolerance to pain and I also have learned to RELAX and think POSITIVE during any kind of procedure, which is a REAL blessing in itself!!! I spent the ENTIRE time in the CATH LAB cracking jokes with the nurses. I am SO glad that I have a WONDERFUL sense of humor, you just NEVER know when it will come in handy and it TRULY is the BEST medicine to be found!!!

I was later wheeled to a recovery area, where the doctor approached me with a look of BEWILDERMENT on his face as he informed me that I had a 95% OCCLUSION in my LAD artery, which is one of the MAJOR ones, of course!!! He just couldn't figure what would have given me such a huge amount of blockage in my artery with no family history, good blood pressure, normal cholesterol readings, etc. I was, TRULY, a HEART ATTACK waiting to happen!!!

The following morning, I was taken, once again by ambulance, to another hospital facilitated for angioplasties and, if necessary, a bypass. I have to say that it was with GREAT FAITH that I signed authorization for the bypass if needed. I had such WONDERFUL care by all of the staff and they were SO positive and uplifting. LOL!!! While I was being prepared to go into surgery, my surgeon came in to introduce himself and asked, "What's a young lady like yourself doing here?" That is when it REALLY began to sink in that I was, indeed, SO very young for this type of procedure. So PLEASE, understand one thing if nothing else, this is a DISEASE that can SNEAK right up on you. I, personally, believe for me that it is a result of a LIFETIME of accumulated stress. Even though I am able to let go of things and am a JOYFUL person, the things that have happened to me over the years have taken a toll on me PHYSICALLY. I am VERY happy to report though, that I have NO damage to my HEART itself. I would imagine the MAJOR reason for that is that I NEVER experienced a HEART ATTACK. I consider myself BLESSED for being given such an AWESOME warning beforehand and a COUPLE of VERY special men in my life that kept on me to seek medical attention!!!

I am still BOUND and DETERMINED to BEAT THIS!!! I have a TRUE love of my fellow man/woman and wish to share my story so that others may learn atleast ONE new little tidbit about HEART DISEASE, the NUMBER ONE KILLER of women today. Yes, ladies, the doctors are NOW taking us SERIOUSLY when we go in and complain of chest pain. It is NO longer being passed off as merely INDIGESTION!!!

If you have any questions, please DO NOT hesitate to ask. I've tried to put this together the BEST I could, but may have left something out!!! Gee ... GO FIGURE!!! Anyway, I just wish to pass on a message of GREAT HOPE and that if anything at all changes for you, PLEASE get it checked out.

HEART DISEASE will ALSO cause pain in your back, arms, neck, ears and such. I did NOT experience any back or neck pain, but I did experience my ears hurting, my throat feeling full AND I had TWO fingers on my left hand that had been NUMB for over a year. When checked for the numbness in my fingers, it was being related to the degenerating discs in my neck ... LOL!!! Well ... while recovering at home after the ANGIOPLASTY, I realized on DAY NUMBER TWO that the numbness in those TWO fingers was GONE!!! WOW!!! It is REALLY amazing what a BLOCKED artery can cause ... POOR blood flow is an OBVIOUS one!!!

Thanks for listening and PLEASE, PLEASE, if you don't smoke, don't start and if you DO, please consider quitting. SMOKING is the NUMBER ONE cause of HEART DISEASE and then there is, naturally, being overweight and lack of exercise. I am guilty of the lack of exercise and extra weight over the past couple of years due to the FIBROMYALGIA, but I am forcing myself to get out and walk again. I will eventually walk the pain right out of me, not to mention getting rid of the excess weight!!! I will soon be adding a few links in my LINKS section to some good websites on HEART DISEASE. So, if you are interested, come on back periodically and check them out. I REALLY care about y'all and wish to do ALL that I humanly can to get the message out about this BRUTAL killer that can be PREVENTED!!!

Have a GLORIOUS day everyone!!! LOVE yourself, be in the KNOW, be HEART smart!

BIG HUGS ...