What a relief! I FINALLY have some answers on what exactly is going on with my heart. Now the news may sound a little grim but knowledge is power. If you know your "enemy" you can attack it back. So here it is in black and white. Please keep in mind that I have a really good attitude while I write this... I'm not going anywhere!
I have "bad genes." What this means is that I have all the genetic markers for early heart disease. It isn't from one parent or the other. It's from both. The two combined have all the building blocks that I inherited. Add in smoking, and you have a perfect storm for heart disease. I was a walking time bomb. If I didn't smoke I still would have developed heart disease. Smoking just brought the problem to light sooner. In a way I'm lucky it did! I'm in the best shape of my life. Having a heart attack now means that I was strong enough to survive it. In a decade or two who knows what could have happened?
I have something called Atherosclerosis. Sounds scary huh? Well it is, but like I said before, if you know who's attacking you you can fight back. What does that big scary word mean? It means that I get a progressive buildup of plaque in the arteries in my heart. Want a better explanation? I sure did!
Clogged pipes. That's the simple easy answer. What happens is that the arteries around my heart have slowly been collecting plaque. Plaque is sticky and once it's there it's hard to get rid of. Gradually, the plaque will build up and your arteries will narrow. Once that happens clots can form and totally block the artery. That's a heart attack. The heart muscle isn't getting blood so it starts to die. That's the heart damage. If a "pipe" gets clogged in your heart you have a heart attack. If a "pipe" gets clogged in your head you have a stroke. Get it?
Now that's the easy description. The rub comes in with this. Why does the plaque stick there in the first place?!? Well your heart works hard. It's your pump and normally it does a good job. As it works your arteries are flexing and moving. Just like feeling the burn from a really good workout, your arteries develop tiny tears. These tears are itty bitty wounds. Now here's where the bad genes and smoking come in... they make the wounds worse! Risk factors like genetics, smoking, and stress are added up and your body (now isn't this ironic?) tries to defend itself. It rushes blood cells to the tears in your arteries. Cholesterol in your blood settles in the tear and gets stuck there. Over time the buildup will get worse and your artery will start to suffer. Eventually, a clot will form and the artery will stop doing what it does best. Keeping your heart and you alive.
Holy goodness that sounds bad right?!? Well yeah, it's bad. I can't candy coat that part. Here's the good news. I know what it is!!! Before I had the equivalent of a sniper attack. No real warning and no preparation. I lost a battle because I didn't know there was a war. Never again! I can't reverse the damage my heart already has but I CAN fight the atherosclerosis. I can adjust my diet, stop smoking, work out, and be prepared! Just as gradually as the plaque built up, I can erode it away. People that actively attack heart disease have a much better chance of surviving it. So don't count me out! I'll take those odds and I expect to be around for quite sometime.
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