February – Heart Health Month

February is Heart Health Month. This is so important to me, especially since the events of 2004. At that time, we’d just celebrated the birth of our first grandchild in northern Virginia.

It was mid-February. The cold was brutal, and the ground was covered in a blanket of snow. This is significant because we lived in the Tampa area at the time. My body doesn’t like the cold at all.

Popping Rolaids had become such a habit, I didn’t think anything about going through two or more of the Vanilla-flavored soft-chew packages daily. Chalk it up to excitement. Heart issues never crossed my mind.

WELCOME BABY GIRL!

Once we arrived, we went to the hospital where our baby girl would be born. To get inside, we had to go up a very small ramp with a slight incline, nothing that should have been a challenge. But I was struggling to breathe. I thought it was likely from the cold.

We celebrated the birth of our sweet little miss and soon headed back to Florida. My ankles swelled up much more than normal. Again, I thought nothing of it. It was a long car trip.

Once home, we settled back into our routine. Three of our sons were still in the area, our youngest was still at home since he was only thirteen. My life centered around taking care of him and keeping things afloat at home.

February - Heart Health Month @DDuPreeWilliams #HeartHealthMonth #HeartDisease #KnowThe Symptoms Share on X

THINGS WERE GOOD—UNTIL THEY WEREN’T

Routine chores began to present some issues. I could barely walk from Daniel’s room on one side of our home, back to our room on the other side. I couldn’t breathe and I was having a few chest pains which I once again thought was indigestion. Out came the Rolaids.

When doing laundry one day, I bent to remove the clothes from the dryer, and I had pains that lasted a longer time than when walking. Man! I must be getting old.

Since I knew Daddy had had heart issues including a heart attack and quintuple bypass surgery, common sense told me to see my doctor. They sent me for my very first visit to a cardiologist who did a short treadmill stress test.

I was terrified of the pains I felt. Pain in my chest that ran down my left arm and my back.  Yet, in my fear, I told them I was fine. I’m sure they knew I was lying.

Fast forward to many conversations with friends in our church who told me to go to Lakeland as the best cardiologists were there. I made an appointment for late March.

THAT FATEFUL SUNDAY

Before the end of March, I spent a Sunday afternoon barely able to breathe. I still didn’t want Hubby to call 911. Big mistake. For about two hours I lay there struggling to just breathe. I finally agreed to go to Lakeland Regional. I intuitively knew that if I didn’t I was going to die. LRMC was a forty-five minute drive from our home. Hubby told me my lips were blue.

Once there, they took me right in, hooked me up to an IV and gave me a Plavix (blood thinner) and four baby aspirins. They monitored me the rest of the night and scheduled me for a heart cath the next day.

I was past terrified. All my life I’ve been needle phobic. My mother had a heart cath and had issues with bleeding way too much afterwards. This only added to my anxiety. Would I be like Mama?

They wheeled me into the surgical room and I asked them to keep me knocked out. Even thought I’d awakened during a hysterectomy years earlier, I didn’t know at the time that I have the redhead gene and I awoke to the doctor screaming at them to get the size stent he needed. “I don’t want to have to take her to the OR!” Fun times, huh?

STILL HERE

Twenty-two years later I’m still here because of the grace of God. My stubbornness almost took my life. When I got to the hospital, the LAD (left anterior descending, the Widow Maker) was 99.9% blocked.

The good news is, I didn’t have a heart attack, although I think I probably did. The procedure wasn’t nearly as awful as I’d envisioned it to be. Recovery wasn’t bad, either. And life has been good since that time. I have regular checks every six months now.

All this to tell you, heart issues in women are very different than in men. Google this. It will give you a list of things to look for should you even think you may be having heart issues.

A THANKFUL HEART

I’m thankful that I finally had sense enough to say I needed to go. I don’t wait anymore. If I truly think something could be wrong, we head to the ER.

I’m so, so thankful to God for creating a tiny little vessel that bypassed the blockage. It’s visible in the before and after x-rays.

I’m thankful for the twenty-two years I’ve been given to enjoy my family. I’ve gotten to see the birth of a second granddaughter. That first one turns twenty-two this month. I’ve gotten to see my baby boy who was only thirteen when all this happened, turn into a wonderful man of thirty-five. Hubby and I will celebrate fifty-three years of marriage this summer.

BOTTOM LINE

Educate yourself, especially if you, like me, have a family history of heart disease. Don’t wait until the last minute. Anything you have to go through is far less scary than the thought of your family having to adjust to life without you.

Blessings, y’all!

I love praise songs set to the Scriptures. This is so good. Nice voice. One of my favorite Psalms. Be blessed, my friends. How may I pray for you today? How is your heart? Is it right with God?Creat in