Know Your Body

Know your body. Take care of your body. Know your family history. Be your best advocate!

Many of us have heard the aforementioned statements before. These statements are apart of my testimony.

Know Your Body

As a marathoner, I know my body. I know that I can run for hours so if I’m getting pain two minutes into a run in my chest and having a problem continuing the run, that is a concern.

My family history

My grandfather died from heart disease at a young age. He was only 45 years old.

My aunt passed away at 66 years old from a heart attack.

Knowing my family history was helpful for me to share with my cardiologist and it helps me to understand how important it is for me to live a healthy life.

Three days ago I had a life-saving procedure thanks to the doctors and nurses at Temple Health, Temple University Hospital.

My discharge paperwork indicated

Your primary diagnosis was – Chest pain due to insufficient blood supply to the heart.

You were admitted to Temple University Hospital because your exercise tolerance was down and you had an abnormal stress test. You had a left heart catheterization which showed that you had a 99% blockage in your LAD (left anterior descending) artery. You had a stent placed to open this up.

I knew something wasn’t right with my body since August after getting chest pain after a short run the day after I organized the annual NABJ 5K Run/Walk at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention and Career Fair.

Ironically, I originally scheduled an appointment with a cardiologist for a Stress Test in July as a way of practicing preventive care and the fact that I was more tired than normal going up steps at my trainer’s gym.  Also, I figured since I was approaching my 50th Birthday I would make various doctor appointments and practice more self-care.

In addition to the Stress Test, I did other tests to rule out a heart issue. My original cardiologist was referred by my primary doctor. The cardiologist, a fellow runner in Delaware said I was fine and his words — “Get out of here, nothing is wrong with you.” Even after telling the cardiologist about my chest pain he insisted that I see another type of doctor.

I am my Best Advocate

Thank God I didn’t give up. Based on my diagnosis, I could have had a heart attack.

Leading up to Friday’s procedure, I still worked out 6 days a week on the elliptical and I did strength training at the gym. I decided to stop running due to chest pain. My goal was to get answers by my 50th Birthday in November or before January 2020.  Goal Accomplished! I’m happy to share that I’ll be back to running this time next month.

Along my medical journey, I got a second opinion by an awesome service, Grand Rounds, a healthcare company that connects patients with local and remote specialty care. During the process of getting expert opinions from two different specialists from Grand Rounds who encouraged me not to give up and they told me that the doctors in Delaware did not do enough. In addition, I consulted with my business partner and sorority sister, Kendra Todd Dixon who had a similar experience in Delaware. She received excellent care from Temple Health for her heart surgery five years ago. Kendra highly recommended Temple Health and I knew that I was in good hands after speaking to Kendra’s husband, Duwayne Dixon, a nurse at Temple and my new cardiologist, Dr. Sabrina Islam.

My advice

Keeping seeking medical advice even if the doctors say, “You are healthy.” “You are too young,” “There’s nothing wrong,” “It’s all in your head,” etc.

Take Care of Your Body

Eat Clean, Choose real food, not junk food. I changed my diet five years ago and it’s the best decision I have made for my life. I know that I have added more years to my life and I know that it made a difference in my health and recovery.

Move more, Get Active – The fact that I’m a runner helped save my life. If I wasn’t a runner, I don’t think I would have known about my heart condition.

It is so much that I could say. This experience has been life-changing.  I know that I am Blessed. I want to make sure that we all get healthy and stay healthy. I’m available if you have direct questions. I can be reached via email. ~ Healthy. Wealthy. Wise.