Cedars-Sinai Newsletter

So the day finally came. Cedars-Sinai sent out the newsletter they did on me. I am a little self-concious about the photo but they did a very nice job with the story. I have actually already had a few women contact me on facebook sharing their stories with me. Since the day the incident happened all I wanted was to have my story heard and to hear about others that had undergone a similar situation. Cedars gave me that opportunity!
I also had the opportunity to present on Women's Heart Health at a Ward enrichment meeting. We got a lot of great feedback and all of the women appreciated learning about heart health warning signs and important numbers to know. We actually had a few women in the group that had experieneced cardiovasculart events that had the opportunity to share. Here is the rest of the article...please take a read and share with anyone of interest! I have added it on a page to the side.

Adoption & Heart Health

Well I guess I should mention that Cedars-Sinai's Women Heart Center (the amazing group that has gifted me the confidence and excitement to live my life my way) have asked me to be the cover story for their upcoming newsletter. I believe they are published 2x annually and I will be the front cover feature for the February edition. I am pretty excited about the opporunity to share my story! I have my photo shoot tomorrow so I will post the newsletter in February.
Also on behalf of Cedars-Sinai my story will be featured around Southern California apart of a Gelson's promotion. For those that aren't familiar with Gelson's, they are a local high end supermarket in So Cal ranging from Santa Barbara to San Diego. In this particular newsletter only my first name will be used.
All of these opportunities will be great. When everything happened all I wanted to do was hear or read a story that sounded like mine, I wanted to share my experience and be able to support others. I feel like this will be a great opportunity to share my story.
On the adoption front I want to direct you to our new website: toddanddanielleadopt.com Please feel free to stop by and pass this web address on to anyone you might know that would be interested in adopting! We are very excited moving forward and it seems as if we will be approved mid January, so hopefully the perfect birth mother will come along shortly there after:) Have a wonderful holiday!!

Updates!

Well it has been awhile and there have been a few updates. As I mentioned I had an appointment to meet with Dr. Elkayam. After a few phone conversations with him I can honestly say that I was nervous to meet him. I had such a wonderful experience with amazing doctors at Cedars that are very warm; Uri came across as rather cross and cold, but the appointment went well. He is a cardiologist and an OB that has focused on high risk pregnancies and their outcomes.
During our meeting he responded as most have in the past, he had a lot of questions and was very intrigued by my Angio cd. As a mater of fact as I was leaving I tried to get it back and he begged me to leave it with him until he could copy it and send it back to, which reminds me that I still haven't gotten that back-I need to get on that. After a nice conversation he said that he too had never seen anything like me (he has done 1 world wide and 1 nation wide study on women with heart attacks and pregnancy). He stated that he as a researcher always has a desire to learn more and watch women assume risk to see an outcome, but that my risks were undeterminable and unpredicatable. He told me that there are many wonderful options out there, but if I decided to go through with another pregnancy that he would follow me. During the conversation I told him that it was the comment of one of my doctors, she said that of course I could get pregnant, to which he responded that it was completely false. So after the appointment I cannot really say that I felt strongly one way or another...just that another doctor was erring on the side of caution.
It wasn't for a couple of weeks and a trip to the temple that the answer came, so I am excited to say that we are moving forward with the adoption process. We are excited to have another little one to join our family! We have still have a few more things to do until we are approved, but hopefully we will be approved by the end of the year!
Thank you for all the love and support and I can happily say that I feel as if most of symptoms are under control. I just have to be careful when my competitive self takes over. I am limiting the races I sign up for to discourage myself from overdoing it. Otherwise things are really good:)

More Kids?

One of the biggest blessings in my life is my beautiful son. I realize each and every day what a gift he is to us. One question the doctor asked me during our first appointment after the heart attack was whether or not we wanted to have more children, to which we promptly responded, YES. I don't think we really had any idea that it was going to be a question of whether or not we could have kids, just when. We were told that we would need to wait a full year after the heart attack until we could even discuss the risks and potential. Well that year has come.
My last appointment I met with a newer associate of Dr. Merz, her name is Dr. Puja Mehta. My husband came along to the appointment, I must admit that he is just as anxious to know if more children are in our future. Well Dr. Mehta seemed rather optimistic, stating that I had a strong ejection fraction and that other women have successfully given birth to children with less cardiac function. I must admit that I am still wavering in my own mind whether or not I am ready to take on the risk. I know that a lot of thought and prayer will go into this decision despite the doctor's opinions. Todd was ecstatic to receive the news. I left without really any strong feelings either way. It was all but 7 days later that I got a call from Dr. Mehta. She said that after reviewing my case multiple times with Dr. Merz, they are advising me to get a second opinion. In their professional opinion, even though I have adequate heart function, my condition is so rare that they really cannot even give me any idea of my estimated risk. So I am being referred to a Dr. Uri Elkayam at USC Medical School. He specializes and does a lot of research on heart disease patients and pregnancy. So this seems to be the next logical step.
Typically I tend to have some feeling one way or another about large decisions, such as this, but currently I feel very agnostic. As we move forward I intend to put a lot of faith in the Lord and pray for a more definitive feeling. Either way I know that I am blessed to have had my son when I did. So I will give an update after talking to Dr. Elkayam.

1 Year Anniversary

February 21-22nd was my official 1 year anniversary of my heart attack. I was discharged on the 24th...it is amazing to see how much life has changed in a year. 1 year ago, I was unable to pick up Jackson and didn't have enough strength/energy to dry my own hair, not to mention the struggle a shower was. Every pain in my chest sent my adrenaline through the roof, oh how glad I am to be past that stage. I still have a lot of questions and haven't quite figured out certain pains and why they are still so consistent, but I know that they aren't the sign of another heart attack.
My wonderful doctors at Cedars-Sinai have helped to manage my issue with blood thinning medication, which should make it nearly impossible for me to form another clot, which is great! In March I will get the order to have my 1 year post MI cardiac MRI! This should help us to see how much my heart has resolved its issues; I am very anxious to get the results of this exam. As a result of the MI my heart has a scar, it is the craziest thing to look at. Hopefully all checks out.
Since I didn't have a typical clot my only real tell-tale sign of my oncoming heart attack was my extreme fatigue, I was requiring quite a bit of sleep, which sadly has not resolved itself. In conversations with my mom about my new found need for sleep, lack of a sharp brain/memory and increased muscle aches and pains, she replies "wow you are explaining the new joys of my life as I approach 50!" Not exactly the comforting reality I was looking forward too, but hopefully these things will continue to improve. Now I experience more of the tell-tale signs of an oncoming heart attack but that has a lot to do with the damage my heart has incurred and its inability to perfuse my blood to all of my heart. Which means that I get a lot of chest pain throughout the day, when I exercise, etc. I am really hoping that I can find a way to be able to run again!! I can run about 10-15 minutes before I really feel like something is wrong; I was running longer and further earlier this last year, even after the heart attack, so hopefully I can overcome this little hurdle.
Anyway being a full year away I can appreciate more of the roller coaster ride that this year has been. I am grateful to be looking at T nearing graduation and us looking more toward the future! After one year I can honestly say that this now feels a bit more like a stumbling block versus a huge change in my life. I am learning to better facilitate my body's capabilities within the world of fitness and not allowing my body to hinder my chance to participate.

Almost There

Well I need to keep logging these feelings or they will forever be lost. First I have yet to have any really serious episodes of any kind these past couple of weeks, which I am extremely grateful for.
As of December, my beta-blocker dosage was cut and half and has since caused about twice the chest pain I was previously experiencing. I was told it would help with the fatigue, hair loss and need for tons of sleep, but thus far I don't know that much of these things has changed. I have been trying to up my exercise efforts.
I have started walking about 3 miles a day. I don't tend to have any chest pain as a result, but I don't really know that it is helping my cardiovascular fitness either. Running and lifting are a slightly different story. It is actually the running that is really hard. I can push through pain I just think its a bad kind of pain to push through. I think it is the result of the duration I spend at an elevated heart rate. On Monday I ran for 3 miles and I was feeling the aftermath all night long. A lot of burning in my chest and pain. The chest pain had kicked in from the onset of my warm-up and all the way throught the run. The following day my legs and rest of my body really felt like they had been hit by a baseball bat. I need to see if this has any correlation with a potential lack of blood flow to these muscles.
Otherwise all is well. I am getting much closer to my 1 year mark. This will be a celebrated day for years to come:)

A New Year

Happy New Year!

Ever since Feb. 21, 2009 I have been anxiously awaiting 2010. It seemed like a date that was out of reach. I must admit that 2009 really did stretch and came with a lot of ups and downs, but the world keeps turning and time will go on. In a way big health obstacles are like the death of a family member. The day becomes a memory to you, recovery feels a lot like the grieving process, but time helps to heal some of the wounds. I recognize that these 2 events also have a lot of differences, but as I near the 1 year anniversary I feel a sense of relief that the strong memory of pain and struggle seems a little faint. I have some nice new drugs and lifestyle changes to thank for some of that, but nearing the end stages of recovery is a lot better than the start.
2010 has become my new solace. I recognize that this New Year doesn't mean that more disappointments are not to come my way, but I feel a little stronger and a little more willing to accept that there are harder things in life than struggling through school, full time work and family issues. Life can and will be hard but there is always hope of a brighter day. Life feels a bit brighter, but I also feel a little more prepared for the darkness next time around.
Since the heart attack:

• I require 10 hours of sleep (an increase of about 2-3 hrs/day)
• Decreased exercise capacity (cap out at 4 miles)
• Decreased Heart Rate (I am almost always ice cold or flush...typ. cold)
• Decreased Energy (medication mostly)
• Hair Loss (Medication side effect; will return)
• Blood Loss (Medication risk; but being monitored and hopefully controlled now)

Improvements:

• Increased insight and ability to help cardiovascular patients
• Stronger mental and spiritual understanding and determination
• Decreased high impact training (probably for the better interest of my joints and body long term)
• Loosened up on my strict money saving (enjoying life a little more!)
• Appreciating every second with family and friends
• Live by a heart rate monitor (taking better care of my heart...staying within ideal HR training zones...unless I am running with a partner, I am still too competitive)
• Grateful for Life and Health

All in all I think this year has been a huge challenge and a huge blessing. I want to make sure that I have learned somethings and I think I have, yet I still have so much more to learn. This challenge in my life has made me a better person and I am grateful for that! Happy 2010!