Marilyn is 55. She works out every day and eats a healthy diet. Marilyn drinks alcohol in moderation, has never smoked, and is very active.
Marilyn is a preschool teacher for children with special needs.
She’s also my sister and my best friend.

Marilyn recently had a physical and learned her cholesterol was 244. Her doctor recommended putting her on a statin. She didn’t want to take a statin, so her doctor insisted she have a CT scan to measure the amount of calcium/plaque in her arteries.

On a scale of 0-1000, you want a 0.

My sister scored a 903.

She then had a heart catheterization and it was discovered that she has 100% blockage in her LAD (Left Anterior Descending Artery). The LAD is also known as, The Widow Maker. Isn’t that lovely?

My sister has 100% blockage in her Widow Maker.

Receiving this news was very surprising, very depressing, and not totally shocking.

My father had heart disease.

Rich had his first heart attack at 34, another one about a decade later, quadruple bypass, stints, balloons, pacemaker, Lipitor, Coumadin, Zetia, the whole nine yards.

He was active, fit, mowed the lawn, played tennis, golfed, gardened, and except for the occasional Southern Comfort over crushed ice, hardly drank.

Like father, like daughter.

Nobody knows when Marilyn’s LAD closed off. It could have happened 15 years ago. “It might have been a moment when she felt dizzy, or sick, or like she had the flu,” said one surgeon. All they know with 100% certainty is the LAD is blocked 100%. They also know she has major blockage in other arteries.

Good news: the 100% block means that artery won’t have a heart attack.

The artery is closed.

No shoes, no shirt, no service.

Bad news: The lower part of her heart has suffered. And, the blockage in her other arteries is, “very concerning.”

CRAZY, WILD NEWS

Marilyn is like the Bionic Woman because her body produced several collateral vessels which have brought blood to the heart. This “natural bypass” has kept her alive. Interestingly, the same thing happened with my father.

The many doctors and surgeons she spoke with agree with 100% certainty that…

HER EXERCISE REGIME KEPT HER ALIVE.

She will have open-heart surgery in a few weeks.

Keep her in your prayers, y’all.

Ah, genetics…

I decide to find out more about calcium testing and learn that while insurance does not cover it, the total cost of the CT scan is somewhere between $125 and $225. I’ll find the cash.

Why not get a calcium test, simply to have a baseline number which I know will be zero? I mean, I live in Jackson Hole. I bike, hike, or ski mountains every day. I watch my diet and while I do love to have a glass of red wine, I moderate. My blood pressure runs about 98/52 and my pulse is around 54. My doc says I’m a picture of great health. I ask her to call the test in anyway.

“Given the circumstances, I’ll call it in, but you are going to be FINE! You are SO healthy. With your exercise and diet, you don’t have anything to worry about. Your blood pressure is low, cholesterol looks good, and you’re not even 50 yet,” she states confidently.

Five days later

I pull into the parking lot at 6:53 a.m., walk inside, and have my temperature taken while I am promptly checked in. The efficiency makes me grateful to live in a small town. When the remote that the woman who took my credit card gave me starts vibrating and beeping uncontrollably, I head toward the oncology department. A kind, masked person in scrubs who I named, Kind Technician, takes the ‘Vibreeper’ and guides me to the CT scanning room. I slip into the bathroom and change clothing. I walk out in my not so stylish, yet soft hospital smock (ties in the back) and am escorted to the machine. I lie down on the ‘bed’ part of it. Kind Technician presses six sticky squares with metal on my body and I begin to visualize a slow heartbeat.

Kind Technician talks me through the process and then walks to the control room. Exactly as described, the bed slides through this donut shape, stops, and a very calm, feminine sounding voice resonates through a speaker in the machine. She says something like, “Take a breath and hold it.” A few seconds pass and then she says, “You may breathe.” This happens like four or five times and then, it is over. Easy- peasy! The whole process took about 10 minutes. I got dressed, bid adieu to Kind Technician, and drove home.

A few hours later, I check the online patient portal.

I HAVE MILD OR MINIMAL CORONARY NARROWINGS LIKELY, aka—some heart disease.

My doctor was genuinely surprised by my score and referred me to a cardiologist. I had an appointment last week and while my number is significantly lower than my sister’s, given my family history, they have decided to do more testing.

So far, I’ve had an EKG that looked very boring and uneventful. I also had more blood drawn.

I have a stress test in a few weeks that I AM DETERMINED TO CRUSH. Then, I will probably be placed on a low-dose statin. I am slowly getting my head wrapped around the idea of this drug taking residence in my body. I guess if the possibility of taking a statin increases both my and my sister’s chance of living a longer life, IT’S A NO BRAINER.

Marilyn (right) and me on a ridiculously hot and humid day in Washington DC. I was wearing a boot from a torn calf and we walked about a thousand miles. It was honestly one of the best days of my life. Love that girl.

I am so happy I took this test. Knowledge truly is power. I’m even happier my sister got tested.

$100-$200 for a calcium test is worth it when we are talking about the rest of your life, folks.

Talk with your doctor about getting a calcium score. I mean, why not?

Take care of YOU.

I want y’all around a long, LONG time!

With so much gratitude,

Nicole

Facts from the CDC:

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for women in the United States, killing 299,578 women in 2017—or about 1 in every 5 female deaths.2
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for African American and white women in the United States. Among American Indian and Alaska Native women, heart disease and cancer cause roughly the same number of deaths each year. For Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander women, heart disease is second only to cancer as a cause of death.3
About 1 in 16 women age 20 and older (6.2%) have coronary heart disease, the most common type of heart disease:4
- About 1 in 16 white women (6.1%), black women (6.5%), and Hispanic women (6%)
- About 1 in 30 Asian women (3.2%)
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men in the United States, killing 357,761 men in 2019—that’s about 1 in every 4 male deaths.1
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men of most racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including African Americans, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Hispanics, and whites. For Asian American or Pacific Islander men, heart disease is second only to cancer.2
About 1 in 13 (7.7%) white men and 1 in 14 (7.1%) black men have coronary heart disease. About 1 in 17 (5.9%) Hispanic men have coronary heart disease.3
Half of the men who die suddenly of coronary heart disease had no previous symptoms.4 Even if you have no symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease.

For more information go to: https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/

THE HEART OF THE MATTER