And now, a Blog with Heart

NOTE: I'm reposting this one from another blog of mine, in view of what happened to Michael Jackson yesterday- 50 is too darn young to die.


I just got a ‘phone call: my 39 year old female cousin is in hospital after having a heart attack.

Not good news at the best of times.

Rotten news if you also happen to be a 39 year old female!

I know there’s a history of heart problems in the family- my grandfather arrived home from work one day, walked in the front door, and dropped dead. Just like that.

And there are other cousins who have had bypass surgery- single, double, even triple. But they were much older males.

Seriously, who has a heart attack at 39?

Well, apparently, a lot.

Heart disease (which also includes stroke and blood vessel issues) affects 1 in 5 Australians, and every 10 minutes another Aussie dies from it.

In fact, in 2007, 47% of those who died were women!

It shouldn’t surprise me, I know. After all, one of my school friends was Fiona Coote. So I know that heart conditions can strike anyone at any age. You just don’t think it’s going to strike so close to home.

So I visit the Heart Foundation website and run through the risk factors:

• Smoking (no way)
• High Blood cholesterol (no)
• Physical Inactivity (yeah)
• Diabetes (no)
• High Blood pressure (no)
• Being overweight (ok, yes)
• Depression (yes, unfortunately)

Plus being a little too close for comfort to the 40-65 year age group, with a family history of heart disease, well that ups the ante- and not in my favour.

After giving me the news about my cousin (resting comfortably, and with luck will come good) my mother and I revisit her own experience with heart troubles.

And let this be a little lesson to all of how not to go about it.

One Sunday a few months back, mum was sitting up in church when she started to feel ‘a little off’. She described the feeling as a bit woozy and a bit sick in the tummy. So what did mum do? She said a prayer, of course! Good Catholic that she is (good grief).

A few days later, at a scheduled checkup with her doctor, she happened to mention this incident, only just as an afterthought, mind you. Naturally, the doctor took the whole thing a little more seriously than my mother, and scheduled some tests….which showed that mum had in fact suffered a small heart attack!!

In giving the results to mum the doctor said, “You really should’ve done something about it.” Mum said: “I did, I said a prayer.” The doctor said, “That’s not going to do you any good.” To which mum replied “It worked, didn’t it?!"

As you can imagine, mother dearest got a stern talking to- first from the doctor, then from 3 very worried daughters (albeit whilst choking back the laughter).

So I guess I should thank my cousin for having a heart attack. It’s a timely reminder that we are indeed mortal creatures, and really should look after ourselves a lot better than we do at times. (Hands up other parents who put their own health last?)

It’s excellent timing really, because June is when the Heart Foundation have their “Go Red for Women” Day, raising funds and awareness for the Heart Foundation's campaign for ladies.

While red is not my usual colour of choice, I’m making sure I choose at least a little something in that particular shade as I go about my business this month, because it’s a lot better colour than deathly white…don’t you think?

Jx
©8 June 2009