Broken Hearts

April 2, 2007, Annie experienced a heart attack. No joke. A literal Myocardial Infarction.

We've often wondered if multiple emotional heartbreaks can eventually lead to such a physical manifestation. Anyway, Annie's on the mend and thanks those who spent many hours praying and surrounding her soul with love and light. Modern medicine has much room for improvement, but it more than likely assisted in saving this old heart from severe damage. Annie figures it was a wake-up call to slow down a bit, take stock of what's important, and to be certain God is, indeed, #1 in our lives.

It worked.

Here is our month of April Public Service Announcement. Ladies - especially those of us at, near, or over 50. Our symptoms of cardiac disease are often different than those involving men. We are different, after all - in physiology, in thinking, in emotional response. It's just the facts, Jack ... don't bonk old Annie. I love how the docs refer to heart attacks now. "Cardiac Event." As if those coronary arteries should be dressing in tails, tux, and sequined gown.

Yes, EggSalad Annie. You've had a cardiac event. We're going to insert a long catheter into that big artery in your groin, snake it up into your heart, and deploy a mesh scaffold to keep that 99% occluded (by clot) artery wide open. So, they did. Annie is now officially BIONIC! wee.

Here is a picture of the handy-dandy device:

The Taxus Drug-Eluting Stent by Boston Scientific.


We pray that the device is not found to be faulty in the future, as cardiac stents have been notoriously temperamental. lol (but only a little.) It looks a little creepy - as if some "alien" probe or tracker is now inside this body. Heart attacks do some weird things to one's thinking, to one's soul, to one's attitude.


http://www.faqs.org/health/Sick-V2/Heart-Attack.html

Heart attack is the leading cause of death in the United States. More than 1.5 million Americans suffer a heart attack each year. About one-third of them die from the heart attack.
The symptoms of acute heart attack are slightly different in women.

This seems to pan out in our case. Over the last year, Annie experienced multiple episodes of what she thought was severe epigastric distress. Rest and antacids relieved the pain, so she never investigated further. Yoiks.

Women are more likely to have neck and shoulder pain, abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and shortness of breath in addition to chest pain.

Silent heart attacks are more common in women.

Often, because of these atypical symptoms, women seek medical care later than do men.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10918


We'll need to create a low cholesterol Egg Salad!

Psalm 73

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart