GONE RED

Go Red for Women special section in Minnesota Monthly. August 2012.

Last February was my first heart month and it surprised me by being a big deal. One of the things I did, quietly, was go to the Go Red for Women Casting Call at the Mall of America. Each year several women are chosen as Go Red spokeswomen, and I knew that if I didn't at least try, I'd be mad at myself. But I didn't tell anyone about it, except Scott and even him not til the day before.

I went alone and got in line with my form and clipboard. There was a Go Red media backdrop, a chair, lots of lights, a camera, and an interviewer. She was very nice and clearly a professional. She knew how to get me to talk comfortably (public speaking is not a problem for me; cameras, that's another story). By the end I was crying and so was she. It was over quickly and I was happy with what I said. I looked around a little at the other Go Red events, and went home.

I guess some others liked what I had to say because I was selected as the winner for Minnesota, and so now you can see yours truly in Minnesota Monthly this August and on bus shelters (!) and billboards (!!) next February.

The photo shoot for the magazine was fun. There were four of us -- Angie, Andrea, Jennifer, and me -- and we posed for approximately 600 snaps of the shutter, maybe more, in a really cool commercial studio. We had photos together and individual "red dress" iconic shots. During the downtime we talked about heart disease and why we were there.

It was really humbling and inspiring to hear their stories. My age or younger, the other survivors are just as surprising heart disease "victims" as I am. And they are just as committed to sharing what they've learned, raising money and awareness, and living life to the fullest.

I hadn't expected to enjoy the experience so much and now I want to do more. The Casting Call will open up new opportunities for me to learn and grow and spread the word.

Even if I do have to look at my head 14 feet tall.

PAY ATTENTION NOW

I think the most important message I can send is that heart disease can happen to anyone. It is not a disease of old age; it is not a men's disease; you can be healthy and active and still be affected. So naturally I want to share this American Heart Association infographic on myths vs. realities.

Pay attention to your body and your risk factors. Heart disease is the #1 killer of women, more than all forms of cancer combined. Pay attention, and spread the word.

Click image to enlarge.

MYTH BUSTING

My new Road ID for running. In case I'm miles from home, alone,
it would be good for EMTs to know I've had a heart attack.

This post is inspired by a helpful American Heart Association article "Top 10 Myths About Cardiovascular Disease," which warns of the dangers of making false assumptions about your risk for heart disease.

I'm not the only one who made false assumptions about my heart; it took ER doctors and even cardiologists hours to believe I was really having a heart attack. But now I know the real truth and I want you to do the same.

Here are some of the myths the article describes and my own take on busting them. Read up, take your heart seriously, and pass it on.

I'm too young for heart disease.
Ha. I think we know how false this one is. I was 37 when I had my heart attack, and over the course of my eight weeks in rehab I saw at least two survivors much younger than me. In fact, 62% of people living with heart disease are under age 65.

I'll know I'm having a heart attack because I'll have chest pain.
Again, ha. No chest pain whatsoever. Sharp, stabbing back pain, yes. Arms, hands, and even palms aching to the point of tears, yes. Cold sweat, yes. Chest pain, not a bit. Especially for women, the symptoms of a heart attack can be as subtle as nausea. If something doesn't feel right, get checked. Don't assume it's heartburn, headache, muscle strain, or any of the zillions of excuses women make for their symptoms.

Genetics are destiny. Since heart disease runs in my family, there's nothing I can do about it anyway.
I fell victim to this one a little bit. I knew I had high cholesterol but so did most people in my family and they hadn't had heart attacks. I was off-and-on medication but it didn't really improve that much. I was off-and-on my low-fat diet, figuring all the exercise I was getting balanced that out.

Well, it didn't. With family history of high cholesterol my only risk factor, I had a heart attack anyway.

But here's the thing. After my heart attack, aggressive medication, diet management, rehab, and continuous exercise have brought my cholesterol way down, from a "bad" level of 180 to 58, and total from 230 to 106.

There is something you can do about it. So do it.

I don't need to start worrying about heart health until middle age.
Again, do I need to remind you that I was 37? (I guess that might be middle age - yikes!) Maybe it is, but if I'd been paying attention before that (I knew about my cholesterol levels in my early 20s), I might have avoided my trips to the cath lab and cardiac rehab.

The American Heart Association recommends you start getting your cholesterol checked at age 20 and to start even earlier if your family has a history of heart disease. Children with a family history can have high cholesterol levels, putting them at increased risk for developing heart disease as adults. My brother tested in the 300s when he was 13; I had my older son checked at age 10. So far, so good.

I should avoid exercise after having a heart attack.
Really? Someone actually thinks this? It might be hard. It might be scary. But if you want to live, get out there. I loved cardiac rehab and I recommend a formal, supervised re-entry into exercise. I felt so much safer, stronger, and more confident, and the structure it provided kept me accountable. Make sure your doctor approves and then get moving. I'm running a marathon this fall, but really, I'm running for my life.

The American Heart Association recommends at least two and a half hours of moderate intensity physical activity each week. There are 168 hours in a week; can you spare 22 minutes a day?

These are just half of the top 10 myths. Check out the AHA article for more!

MY FIRST HEART MONTH

I was surprised at how much American Heart Month meant to me. Maybe because having a disease is, at its core, a very lonely thing. No matter how much others care, no one really knows what it feels like -- or how it makes you feel -- to just be.

So I set out to connect as much as possible. To not be lonely, or sad, or scared, or depressed. But to be active, engaged, positive, and happy instead. It worked, and I was.

I shared my story a few places, like guest blogging for friends and colleagues, writing an article for the Minnesota Women's Press, and speaking at the United Hospital Foundation's annual "Celebrating the Hearts of Women" event. I went to the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women Casting Call (an on-camera interview that they use to choose annual spokeswomen; I will find out if I made the cut in May) and my yoga instructor and I set up a Go Red class session where I shared my story and information on women and heart disease. Today, on the last day of the month, I volunteered with the AHA-Minnesota at Whole Foods, which is donating 5 percent of that day's sales to the fight against heart disease.

This blog featured guest posts by my friend/best-running-coach-ever Breanne about how to get moving, and my husband shared his story. I'm thinking of turning over my blog to him; his post has the second-highest views of all time! 

Last weekend, I had a red wine-themed party and celebrated life, fun, and wine (though some also celebrated beer). But my favorite part of the month was receiving all the photos of friends and family and readers wearing red on February 3; never have I felt less lonely while being all alone. 

So, yeah, Heart Month is a big deal to me. Thank you for all you did to make it great!

NOW YOU KNOW

Heart disease is the number one killer of women in this country. Number. One. It kills more women than the next four diseases combined, including all forms of cancer.

But it didn’t kill me. At age 37 and in training for a marathon, I had a heart attack. With no risk factors save a family history of high cholesterol, I thought I knew enough to stay safe. I didn’t, but you should.

February is American Heart Month and I really want you to take it seriously. Not for me, because I survived and I’m healthy and thriving. But for the 500,000 other mothers, daughters, sisters, nieces, wives, lovers, and friends who will have a heart attack this year, and the 300,000 who will die from it.

Did you know that:

• 8 million American women are living with heart disease; 35,000 are under 65.
• The biggest risk factors are high cholesterol, high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, smoking, and family history.
• Women’s hearts respond better than men’s to healthy lifestyle changes.
• 80 percent of cardiac events could have been prevented through healthier choices.

And if you knew the dangers and knew your risks, would you make the changes necessary to protect your heart? Would you:

• Talk to your doctor and get a lipid profile to check your cholesterol levels.
• Know your Body Mass Index and lose weight if you need to.
• Know if your blood pressure is high and take steps to improve it.
• Stop smoking.
• Make sure your doctor knows if you have a family history of heart disease or high cholesterol.

I knew that I had a family history of heart disease. I knew I had high cholesterol. I knew that women often explain away their symptoms: "I must have lifted something funny, hurt myself in yoga, maybe its heartburn," all excuses I used for days as the pain steadily grew worse for two days beforeI went to the hospital. And I knew that women's heart attacks present differently than men’s and seem somehow, inexplicably, hard for doctors to spot. I knew all that and I still never imagined this could happen to me.

But it can, it could, and it did, and it could happen to you or someone you love. And now you know.

FIND OUT MORE

The Heart Truth is the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s women’s awareness campaign, and the original Red Dress campaign. Check it out for videos, prevention tips, warning signs, and information about how you can participate in and promote national Wear Red Day in February. www.hearttruth.gov.

Check out Go Red for Women, a program of the American Heart Association, for its great nutritional center, free risk assessment tool, and a social tool “Tell 5 to Save Lives.” Go Red for Women also produced the Elizabeth Banks short video “Just a Little Heart Attack.” www.goredforwomen.org

Sources: American Heart Association, National Institutes of Health, Women’s Heart Foundation.

ARE YOU GOING RED?

My family and I, wearing red!

I'm very excited about my "very first" National Wear Red Day on Friday, February 3 - first post heart attack, that is. It's a simple way to show women that raising awareness about women's risk is important.

But, having left my job last year to stay at home with my boys, I'm without a natural group to Go Red with. I will wear red that day - but I'll mostly be at home, dropping kids off at school, or at the gym. My boys will wear red, and maybe my husband will finally wear that tie I bought him with the red dress symbol on it. (I promise, it's not girly.) But I won't have a group photo to post or submit to the American Heart Association just for the fun of it.

So I wonder if you will help me. Will you wear red on Friday, February 3, and get your family, colleagues, or classmates to join you? Snap a photo on your phone and email it to me? (jen (at) mylifeinred (dot) net). I'll put the photos I get on this blog and we'll have a virtual Go Red community.

I am working on some extra posts and features to commemorate American Heart Month in February, and I look forward to sharing what I've learned. Heart disease is number one killer of American women, taking more mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, and friends than all forms of cancer, combined.

Find out more about the Go Red For Women campaign and plan to wear red February 3!

AMAZING RACE

This weekend was Twin Cities Marathon weekend - the race I was training for this summer and was planning to run with my brother, Mike.

Life, as we know, intervened. So a few weeks ago I asked my rehab physiologist (aka boss-of-me) if she thought I could run the TC5K instead. I got permission from her, and my cardiologist, with a few provisios: I was not to let my heart rate exceed 150. I could run 10 consecutive minutes, if broken up by two-minute walk breaks. I was not to race it or try for time, and I could sprint for only the last 30 seconds. And be sure to cool down completely. Other than that, no problem! Sure! That's a great idea!



So I registered for the 5K and my sweet husband rallied friends and family to dress in red and cheer me on. My boys were bright, bright red and even wearing their Red Dress pins without fuss. Aunts and uncles, parents, cousins, siblings, and friends traveled to see me. My cousin ran the 10K that morning, my boys and nieces and nephew ran in the kids' races, and we all hung out in the beautiful sun all day. I was genuinely and honestly completely happy and I'm more proud of that 5K than any race of any distance I've ever done. (My time was not too shabby either - 31.12 with four minutes of mandatory walking!)

My brother and I started running in 2008. Our first race was a 5K and I remember how hard it was (it also remains, to this day, my best 5K time). A few 5Ks and 10Ks later we ran the Twin Cities Marathon in 2009. A couple more 10Ks and half-marathons later (and a full marathon for Mike, so now's he's got three medals and I only have one), we decided we wanted to run the Twin Cities again this year.

We went to packet pickup on Friday and among all the chaos of registering children and picking up about 6 packets, bibs, and t-shirts, I noticed Mike also had a 5K shirt. My sweet brother had surprised me by registering for the 5K, reasoning that while I couldn't run with him, he could run with me. It was just the perfect thing to do, and yes, I started crying. I had way more fun running with him than I would have alone. Thanks Mikey. I love you!

We kept the fun going with a pasta party at our house Saturday (featuring tasty, heart-healthy sauces, find the recipes here), watching my brother run the marathon, and Sunday night celebrating. I volunteered at the finish line, which turned out to be a great way to be there for the marathon but simultaneously and completely distract myself. The whole weekend was fun and positive. My doctor had said I should be doing things that "feed my soul." This weekend I was very well-fed. 

My cardiologist says I have to wait three months post heart attack to train or race any harder, so I can't quite make the Monster Dash, but racing is as fun as it ever was and I'll be back at the start line just as soon as I can. But I'll have to step up my game -- I can't ever get a worse time than what I got just six weeks after a heart attack!

Thank you to my husband, Scott, for all you did to make the weekend meaningful and easy for me, and to my boys for being sweet good sports. Thank you Mike and Beth and your wonderful kids Oliver, Natalie, Jenna, and Lauren for all the fun you bring. Thanks to my dad, stepmom Sherry, brother Dylan, my cousin Janna, Uncle Scott and Aunt Laurie, Aunt Deb, parents-in-law Jim and Carolyn, and friends Christine (and her girls Maddie and Nora) and Kelly for coming to see me run. You all made the race an amazing experience!

Love,
Jen(ny)

A TOTALLY NORMAL DAY

I hope everyone has seen this funny and really, far too realistic video, produced by Go Red for Women, the American Heart Association's women's heart health campaign.

The day of my heart attack started as a totally normal day, and I expected normalcy to resume at any moment (hmm, still waiting). I called Scott from the ER to make sure Owen's rain gear was packed for camp. I called again from the ICU to give instructions on what to pack for Noah's trip to my brother's house while I was in the hospital. I emailed work colleagues after surgery. At the time it didn't seem real. My head seemed to be the last thing to catch on.

Please watch and share this video, then check out the warning signs of a heart attack. It's not always what you think.