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- I have lived here in this house for about 40 years.
My family history is that
when I was little, I had
my mom's grandmother, my mom's mom
and so, it would be my grandmother and
I remember never seeing her being able to stand on her own,
that she was always in a wheelchair or she was
always sitting in her chair in the living room.
She must have had a major stroke and the whole left side
of her body was paralyzed.
She never got any better, any worse.
My mom had diabetes and
with diabetes, she lost the nerve ending around her heart,
so she couldn't feel her heart
and she passed away from a massive coronary due to
her diabetic nerve loss.
Then, in the same family, I had
a cousin, first cousin that went in to have surgery,
just a minor surgery and
he had a massive coronary on the operating table and died.
Even on the operating table, they couldn't save him,
it was that quick.
And then the worst part is, in that same family,
when my cousins daughter
was just getting done with
cheerleading practice and as she was
walking across the gym floor,
she had a massive coronary and died.
I gotta say, the whole family was just devastated.
It took them a long time to recover.
Probably about a year and a half ago, I walked in
to my regular doctor and
getting my regular physical, annual physical and I said,
"Ya know, it's kinda funky, I have this little
"heart palpitations, it feels like, every now and then."
She goes, "Well let's get it checked out."
So she sent me to a heart specialist.
I got on a treadmill, I failed the treadmill test.
I failed everything and the next thing I know,
I'm being set up to have stints.
So, I ended up with two fully blocked arteries
and one major artery that was
half blocked.
I have an older sister that works at the hospital,
the university and she, once a year,
during heart month, she will send out a list of things
that women should look for
for heart attacks.
So, I have to give her credit for
me stepping up to the plate and checking,
having somebody check and because of that
and I got lucky and only had to have a stint.
If I hadn't done this, really,
I would've missed basketball games for my grandkids.
I would have missed
baseball games for my grandkids.
I would have missed so many things.
It's seeing them grow up, seeing them become,
ya know, you see your kids grow up and you see your
kids become adults and it's just a huge game changer
for ya but, to turn around and see your grandkids
doing the same thing or maybe I get lucky
and it's great grandkids, wow.
And to see that they care about
the same things that
we all care about, that would be perfect.
That's what I want.
I will say, go red for women,
it's every November.
Actually, it could be every month
as far as I'm concerned.
But it pushes it out there that there are
things that you should look for for yourself,
for your health, that men don't have.
There are certain items they put out there
every month, every year and what you should do
if you have a friend, send it to 'em.
Make sure that you let them know that this is the stuff
that women need to look for.
The American Heart Association, it does research every year.
They are continuing every year to do research
on what they can and can't do to make a person like me's
life better.