My Conclusion

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20 Outstanding Heart Facts

photo cred: google

Everyone knows the facts of the heart and people, but they don't know how serious it can be. Well I'm here to tell you those facts. I feel like it is important to know these, because I feel like it'll mean something to you in a good or bad way. I hope not a bad way, just and eye opener. I promise I won't bore you, but I do promise that you'll get something out of it.

1. The more education you have, the lower the risk of heart disease
2. The normal heart valve is about the size of the half dollar
3.The first heart pacemaker was plugged into a wall socket
4. Happiness and a strong sense of emotional vitality helps lower your risk of heart disease
5. The number of heart attacks peaks are on Christmas Day, followed by December 26th and New Years
6. The first heart cell starts to beat as early as 4 weeks
7. The first "study" showing benefits of a vegetarian diet appears in the Bible's Book of Daniel
8. The Blue Whale has the largest heart weighing at 1,600 lbs
9. Modesty prompted the invention of the stethoscope. Before it existed, doctors had to press their ears directly each patient's chest
10. Heart disease has been found in 3,000-year-old mummies
11. The heart is the size of your two hands clasped together,,,
12, ,,, It beats 100,000 times a day
13. Regular exercise is the single most important key to heart health and its free!
14. Heart disease is your greatest health threat
15. The beating sound is the is the clap of valve leaflets opening and closing
16. Each minute, your heart pumps 1.5 gallons of blood
17. Your heart is a coordinated machine. The RIGHT SIDE pumps blood into your lungs, while the LEFT SIDE pumps it back into your body
18. Celebrities who have had open heart surgery in most recent years include David Letterman, Bill Clinton, Robin Williams, Arnold Schwarenzegger, and Regis Philbin
19. You can control your heart health through diet, exercise, and managing your stress
20. Heart cancer is very rare because your heart cells stop diving early in life

CPR

photo cred: google

Have you ever been in a situation where you saw someone that needed CPR? Have you ever given someone CPR? Are you certified in CPR? CPR is not a scary joke. If you see someone just laying there on the ground, what do you do?

Learning CPR is something that you should probably learn. Why? Because according to American Heart Association there are 383,000 out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrests occur annually, and 88% of cardiac care arrests occur at home. Sudden cardiac arrests are not the same as heart attacks. Sudden cardiac arrests occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to suddenly stop beating.

You can save someone when performing CPR. How do you do CPR? Everyone knows that CPR is 30 pushes on the chest and 2 breaths and you keep doing that until medical professionals come. But there's more to than just that. At the American Heart Association website, under the CPR&ECC tab, you'll find multiple ways to learn more about CPR and how you can save someone.

American Heart Association/CPR

Raising Money/Donating

photo cred: google

With this blog about heart disease, you realize that there is a lot more that you can do to help. The American Heart Association is the number one organization to help cure heart disease. Every money that is raised or donated goes to the researchers to find ways to prevent any cardiovascular disease. Without them, people like me wouldn't be here today.

I feel this blog is very important because I want to show people the struggle of what it is like living with the #1 killer. There's only so much surgeons can do to save a heart. The heart is the #1 most important functioning part of the human body because it does so much. Without that, you're not here. Image would it be like having to go through so many procedures and surgeries to fix your heart and not having enough medical tools to do it. That was me. I was living on a machine while I was under operation, twice. It sounds scary when thinking about it, but that's what needed to happen. 

So think about that and all of the other stuff that to happen. Can you imagine yourself going through what I did or my parents? Without the money, there wouldn't be machines for me to live on, there wouldn't be me, there wouldn't be you. 

You can change that, you can save someone's life, possibly yours if you help raise money or donate to the American Heart Association. If you go to the American Heart Association website, you can find out how to help.
American Heart Association/Giving

Is Being Busy Heart Healthy?

photo cred: google

Are you a mom, a CEO, or just a person who lives their life busy? I know I'm a busy person. But is being busy heart healthy? Being busy is healthy because it works the brain, but there are ways to make it more heart healthy. Easy.

You can do a couple exercises like: push-ups, squats, and/or tricep dips.

I will give you 5 tips that I think will make you heart healthy.

Tip:1- Bring your own lunch to work or to school. You can pack whatever you want, it saves time and money, and inches off of your waist!! I think that's deal breaker right there. Healthy body=healthy heart

Tip:2- Plan all your meals ahead. This also saves you time as well. On a day that you have time, go through and figure out what your week is going to be like and plan your meals according to your day and what foods will help you be energized.

Tip:3- Try mixing it up a bit with a smoothie or a shake. Sometimes solid foods say that they are healthy, but they always have those hidden fats and sugars that gets you. If you are a morning person, a smoothie or a shake will make your life a lot more easier and faster and more healthier! It only takes about 20 seconds to make one and 20 seconds to rinse it out. Fast, simple, and easy.

Tip:4- Scheduling fitness time. If you have a little bit of freedom in your schedule, just do a simple workout here and there. I'm not talking about the whole sweat-sesh, but a simple squats, wall-sits, jumping jacks. Workouts like those.

Tip:5- Re-Evaluate your current priorities. This is where putting yourself first for once in a while. Stop being everything for everyone, you can't do that. It's not good for you, your body, or any relationship that you have. Make sure you have time for yourself so you can keep yourself healthy.


Those tips actually don't look hard at all. They look pretty easy. I mean, I do that and I'm a full-time college student, I work 3 jobs, and I am a Special Olympics coach for every sport. I have a lot on my hands, but it's worth it. It started to be a little hard because of the routine, but once I got into that routine, it became really easy and fun. Now I am living a more heart healthier life style.

Exercising

photo cred: google

Exercising. Exxeerrccisssiiinnnnggg. Not a huge fan. Actually, I don't mind exercising. I mean I'm not that gym junkie that makes odd pooping grunts when I lift. When I think of exercising I do think of running. "Run like the wind Bulls-eye!" -Woody, Toy Story. But I don't run. I hate running. Actually, I can't run. Whhaaattt??? Yeah, I was told by my cardiologist that I WASN'T ALLOWED to run. If I did, heeellllooooo hospital. I don't like going to hospitals, because one, the bills are high, and two, the waiting room sucks. So I do what I can to make sure I don't go to the hospital.

When I exercise, it's not the whole running and jogging and the whole shabang, because I can't. Usually I just do the basics: the elliptical as a warm-up for a mile, do my leg workouts, ride the bike for two miles, then do my arms and abs work-out. It is pretty simple. Simple enough that I take my own time. I am usually there for about two hours. Well, I try to be. 

Exercising is very good for the heart. Did you know that if you exercise or do something active for about 30 minutes everyday, it could save you in the long run? In order to keep your heart healthy, you have to make yourself healthy.  

Medical Bills

photo cred: google

Oh my, let me tell you about medical bills. Now I have been going to the hospital and to the doctors offices countless times that I can't even remember how many times. BUT those bills are high up there. From heart check-ups to surgeries, those can get pretty pricey. My dad always told me that I am worth more than $3 million from all of my hospital/doctor visits and surgeries I have had. Think about it, $3 million. Me, I am worth that much. That is $157, 894.74 just a year. That's about what an Anesthesiologist would make annually. And 2 of those 19 years, I only had surgeries, but both surgeries were four years apart. My cardiology check up alone is $978! Just for one check up. Imagine, an open heart surgery is $324,000. So double that amount, because I had two of those. Let me tell you, insurance is the best thing ever invented, because they paid literally almost all of it. If they didn't pay for it, I don't think my parents would have made it through life.

Now that I am past 18, the hospital and doctors offices don't take out money from my parents account anymore. I just got an email or a letter in the mail from the hospital saying that I owe this amount of money and let me tell you, that conversation with the hospital was not pretty. I felt bad for the lady because she had no idea what was going on. So I did feel bad for her, but it was just the fact that they decided to send me a letter a year and a half later telling me that I owe this amount of money by this deadline.  I still haven't figured out what I am going to do. They sent me a financial aid application, but I have not filled that out yet. I should probably do that since I'm  writing this post about medical bills..

Family

I love my family with all of my heart, but they can get more than over protective. Once they found out that I had a heart condition, everything has been with precaution. Which I totally understand, because I would do the same thing. But there's just something about them that I can't really quite understand.

We all know that parents who have children with some sort of health diagnosis are protective because they don't want anything to happen to their baby. Family is family. They are the ones who will be there for you, protect you, support you, and they will do anything for you. 

What's It Like Dating a Person Who Has a Heart Disease

I sometimes wonder what goes through my boyfriend's head when I talk about my health, because he knows everything about it. Well, I think everything. I know that he worries a lot. I wouldn't blame him. Everyday he has to live with that "what if" moment or "today's the day that something happen." That "something is going to happen" thought actually happened. In my previous blog about the experience I had with the ER, he went through that with me. The fear, the anticipation, the not knowing what was going on, I bet I scared the living hell out of him. I think I actually did, because he was asking me so many questions that I had no answer for and that just made it worse for him. It probably didn't help that my phone died on him as well... I can't image what was going through his head when my phone died.

As a boyfriend you have those thought of "Should I go see her?", "What would happen if I did?", "What would happen if I didn't?", "How would her parents be if I showed up?" The endless possible thoughts of what should I do in this matter of situation. He didn't come see me which was actually fine, because I had no idea what going to happen to me and I didn't want to drag him into my mess I was in with the whole hospital situation.

Dating someone who has a heart disease takes your relationship to another whole level .You now have to understand what people can and can't do in a relationship. There's quite a few things that I can't do that everybody else can do and he is completely okay with that. I don't think that he knows this, but parties actually cause myself to stress which makes my heart stress. I don't know why it causes me to stress, I mean its just people that I know at a house just having a good time. But too many people is too overwhelming. I think that's why. So him and I don't go to parties anymore. I know he likes to go out with his friends, but he chooses to stay in on a Friday night and eat Chinese food with me.

There are other things to list, but that'll be too long and will take forever to read. Just know that the key to dating someone who has a heart disease is compromising, understanding, and being supportive.

Sorority Related?

This is my sorority and my beloved sisters taken on Philanthropy night during recruitment 

How does sorority relate to heart disease? It is all about the philanthropy. Philanthropy is another word for an organization that Greek houses raise money for. Each Greek chapter has a specific philanthropy that they do fundraisers for during the school year.

I am a member of the Alpha Phi Upsilon fraternity. We call ourselves a fraternity, because we are the house who created the word "fraternity." Alpha Phi is all across the nation including in Canada. Our philanthropy is the Alpha Phi foundation and Women's Heart Disease. We are partners with the American Heart Association to help them with their annual Heart Gala, Heart Walk, and the Go Red for Women's Luncheon.

In 2013-2014, I was the Director of Philanthropy which means that I was in charge of all the fundraiser events. My team and I plus the girls in the sorority raised $5,000 in one week. That is really good for a house of 70 girls. Usually we would raise less than $2,500. From raising all of that money, we got an award from our university and from Alpha Phi International.

Here's a video of when I was Director of Philanthropy. You'll get a chance to see what I look like. I'm the last person and my name is Shayla. I hope you understand that this happens everywhere and it hits home to my sorority sisters and myself. 

So there are other organizations out there who are helping to raise money to try and find a cure. From the Alpha Phi's internationally, they have helped researches to create new technology to help with heart disease. If it wasn't for Alpha Phi, I wouldn't be here today. 

My Experience with the ER

There are so many parts to living with a heart disease. It would honestly take me forever to write because I would have to do everything in my life and that is basically the last 20 years... Well, it would be the last 20 years. Life is crazy if you think about it. I mean I go to so many doctors, so many appointments, you would think that my life would be taken over.

As of now, I look and feel healthy, but inside I know that I am not. I now have to carry a little heart monitor for when I feel a double beat. I'm being tested for a double heart beat. They happen every so often and they don't last long. In January around when school started back up, for the whole week I had felt this massive pain and tightening in my chest that so happened to be a double heart beat. Some of those "episodes" would last 30 seconds to 10 minutes. I knew something was wrong with my body, because I can feel it.The worst one was on Wednesday. It started in the morning around 7:30 am and from there it went down hill. I remember making a sound like I was being suffocated in class. Then work came, around 4 pm it got to the point that the episodes was happening back to back. One of them happened when I was walking back from the restroom, it made both of my legs weak and I collapsed. Thank goodness I did it by a chair otherwise I would have been lying on the cold ground. By the time I got to the ER with my mom, I couldn't feel anything in my body. I went completely numb from my head to my toes. My mother tried pinching my fingers, nothing, the nurse poked my finger, and still I felt nothing.

After waiting for 15 minutes to get back to do an EKG, my body was still numb. Like I had some feeling coming back, but I sure couldn't walk. THEN, oh man this made me really really mad, I WAITED FOR 3 HOURS TO GET A ROOM. I am a person who has a heart condition who was having some massive heart pain and all they did was nothing. Now I don't know what it's like on the other side, but all I know is that people who came in after me were getting rooms before me. Usually it is first come, first serve, right? Oh man, my mother was livid. She called whoever was in charge of the hospital in the evening time and told the gal what was going on. I got called back as soon as my mother got off the phone with her. By that time, I had my feelings back in body and my episodes went down.

I was in the hospital for almost 20 hours trying to figure what in the world was going on with me. they didn't know. No one knows what's wrong with me. All they can do is to believe me with what I'm saying and feeling.

Living with a Heart Disease part 2

So that last post about living with a heart disease was long. I know, imagine typing that that was even harder. I don't know how long this will be, but I will try to make it not as long as the last post.

You would think that I would have some requirements that I am suppose to do. In all honesty, I do, but I really don't follow them. *GASP* Actually, I do follow them, but not in the order that I am suppose to. I mean there is drink water, exercise, to this and to do that. It is hard to actually keep up with myself. I'm a college student, so everyday I get up at a decent time to be ready for class, I go to class, and then I go to work. I work two jobs. It may sound like I can handle it, but I really can't. With my heart condition it adds more stress than I actually need. 

Everyday I live with stress. Stress from worrying about family, friends, the relationships I have with people, and the biggest one is schoolwork. Now everyone has stress, it's a human nature to naturally have stress. That's how we live. But is having too much stress too stressful? To answer that question, YES. With my condition, I worry about my condition which makes me stress about if I'm doing everything I can to make sure that I am not worried about it and it just keeps adding up. I try not to think about worrying about my condition that will cause myself to stress, because if I stress too much then that'll make my heart stressful and the cardiologist does not want that to happen.

Stress. The word that we live with, the word that we wish we didn't have, the word that will forever always be in our vocabulary everyday. The state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. Having stress causes too much stress that will probably not go away, but it can lower the level of the stress. Let me admit something here, I think that from having too much stress that's causing me to stress more is making my health not so good. I guess, we'll see if it is. 

Living with a Heart Disease

Alright, I know you all have been waiting for this. I am going to tell you what it is like living with a heart disease. It WILL NOT be all in this post. There is a lot of stuff to tell you, so I will be doing a 2-3 blog post of what it is like living with one. This first post will be a about my past surgeries, future surgery/(surgeries), and the reasons why the thought(s) that goes through my head when I see my cardiologist when I go for an appointment.

Here we go, living with a heart disease can have its ups and downs. You go in and out of the hospital for the rest of your life just by having two open heart surgeries. Yes, I have had two open heart surgeries. My first one was when I was four days old and my second one was 4 years later when I was four years old. From my heart surgeries, I have only three heart valves while everyone, including you has four. Everyone needs four to function the older you get, but so far I don't need a fourth one...yet. They are waiting for the technology to catch up with my condition. My cardiologist said that he is going to do a Heart Cath Surgery by going up through my leg/thigh up to my heart to make my own heart valve out of own tissue. Right now, that heart cath is in testing and has been in testing for about 5-6 years now. He also said that a couple years ago that I needed it when I was in my early 20's, but as of my last appointment with him I don't need to have it until my 30's or 40's. Hearing that was a HUGE relief from me and my parents. 

Just the fact that knowing that I have to have another heart surgery is a scary feeling. Every time I go in to see my cardiologist, I feel like when he comes in from all of my usual testings he is going to say "Due to the testing results, it looks like you will need another heart surgery. So let me tell you what's going to happen with the surgery and I will have someone come in to schedule a time for the surgery. Don't worry Shayla, it is not a 'you need to have it done right now', but you do need to have it. Just to be on the safe side." Now I know that will not be word-for-word of what he will say, but that just runs through my mind every time he comes back from looking over my results. 

Now I did mention "my usual testings". My usual testings include two testings, the first one they do is  an Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG) that checks for problems with the electrical activity of your heart. It translates the heart's electrical activity into line tracings on paper. The second test is an Echocardiogram (echo) which is a type of an ultrasound test that uses high-pitched sound waves that are sent through a device called a transducer. The device pick ups echoes of the sound waves as they bounce off the different parts of your heart. Those are my usual testings that I do every time I go in to see my cardiologist just so he can see where I am at with my heart. 

Side note: I thought I would share with you a picture of what I looked like after my first open heart surgery. 

Below is a photo taken by my father of me (the baby) and my mother right after my first open surgery in the NICU.

Wondering Questions

Have you ever wondered what a daily life is like for a person who has a heart condition? Like do they take any medication to make them function or do they have to do wear something to make them to help them get through the day? To answer your questions, some do depending on the severity and what kind of heart condition they have.

For me, my condition is severe, because in all honesty, people who have this type of condition don't even make it to a certain age or they have a physical disability. Me, I got blessed. I am 19 going on 20 without taking any medication or wearing something to help me get through the day and I do not have a physical disability. You know, sometimes I wonder why? Like why am I the one who has to go through this everyday and live with it?  No one knows what it is like to be living with a heart disease and that is the whole point of this blog. Every blog I post is a little of what it is like for me living with one or something that is related to heart disease. 

If you think about it, you are probably wondering why I have not actually told you what it is like living with one or my personal story. To be honest, I am waiting. Why? Well, the only reason is that I want to get a little bit more information out about heart disease before I share my story. 

Ways to Keep Your Heart Healthy

Have you ever thought about "Oh, I'm going to start becoming healthy starting tomorrow." and them it's already tomorrow and you say the same thing over and over? Well, I have a solution to that! It is the Heart Healthy Testing. In order to keep your heart healthy, there are some on your own testings that you can do. Doing these tests often will help your heart, but will make you a much more healthier person.

The only thing that the test requires is to Know Your Numbers. What does that mean? What that means is that you need to know your Blood Pressure (#1), Waist Size (#2),  and Weight (#3). You are probably wondering why waist size is important. Well, to answer your question, if your waist size is half the size of your weight, then you are at risk of getting cardiovascular disease. So, grab your measuring tape and measure your waist!

Thank you! And I hope these tests will start making you want to become more healthier!

American Heart Association

So as you saw the video on my last post, I thought I would give you some more information on the American Heart Association if you have no idea what that is.

The American Heart Association is a national organization that lets everyone know the beauty of having a healthy heart. On there website that are multiple categories where you can learn more about anything heart related; fundraising, causes, research, CPR, volunteering, or even education. They also provide you statistics.

 I have been volunteering with the American Heart Association (AHA) for I think about nine years now. What started me volunteering for them was when I first became the Heart Child for them back in '06-'07. From there, that's when my volunteering started.

I encourage you to click the link below and explore this site. Who knows what you'll learn. 

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG 

Below will be a map of the American Heart Associations that are close in the Midwest.
Locations of the American Heart Association near me 

Fun Heart Video

I'm guessing you are probably tired of reading, so below there is a YouTube video just showing how one can have a heart attack and not even know it. I hope you enjoy!!

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I hope you see the importance that any time of the day, you could be experiencing this. 

What I Am Suppose To Do vs. What I Actually Do

photo cred: google

Alright, so as you can tell from the blog post title that there are some things that I should be doing versus what I actually do. YIKES, my cardiologist will not be pleased with what I'm actually doing, because he gave me specific stuff to do to keep my heart healthy. When you think about it, doing all that stuff that he wants me to do is kind of hard when you're in college. I mean, I would choose watching Netflix over exercising or eating chocolate instead of an apple.

What my cardiologist told me to do: Eat healthy, drink 100 oz of water everyday, exercise everyday for at least 30 minutes, try to be active in daily life routines, get plenty of sleep as in 7-9 hours, and try to not stress my heart out to the max.

What I actually do:Eat whatever is in the fridge because a girl loves food, drink maybe 75 oz of water everyday with a little bit of pop here and there, I rather lay in bed and watch Netflix than exercise, my active daily life routines include walking to class that is right next door to where I live and walking to the bathroom, my sleep consists of maybe 4-5 hours because when you're in college who needs sleep, and stressing out my heart comes from being in college.

So there you have it, what I'm suppose to do vs. what I actually do. True definition of a college student haha.

My Condition

                                         

Photo cred: google

I was born with a Congenital Heart Defect, Critical Pulmonary Stenosis, Atrial Septic Defect (ASD),  and Hypo-Plastic Right Heart Syndrome. That's a lot of big words that you probably have no idea what those mean. Have no fear! I thought I would be nice and give you a brief, easy, and understanding description of what each of those mean. Trust me, I have a hard time knowing what they mean.  

#1: Congenital Heart Defect: which basically means that it changes the blood flow through my heart
#2: Critical Pulmonary Stenosis: is caused by Cyanosis (blueish color of the skin that is due to not enough oxygen in the blood and a malformation of the heart that doesn't allow the arterial system blood be fully oxygenated).
#3: Atrial Septic Defect (ASD): is a hole between my two upper chambers which the condition is present at birth (hint: congenital). 
#4: Hypo-Plastic Right Heart Syndrome:is where my right ventricle failed to grow and develop like it was suppose to be and it cannot allow the proper amount of blood pumped to my right atrium.  


I hope that helped a little bit. If it didn't help, I'm sorry. 

Welcome to Living with a Heart Disease

Hello! Welcome to my blog about Living with a Heart Disease. Now I know that all of you are thinking about "Oh my gosh! Is she okay?! How can she do it??" Well let me tell you, living with it is not easy and it is also not hard as well. With this blog, my goal is to share what it is like to have heart disease, the affects that it can cause, what can you do prevent it, how can you help, and other things along those lines.

 If you are a woman or have a friend/family member who has a heart disease and would like to know a little bit more about, this blog is the one for you. I will share my personal story as well as a few others.