National Wear Red Day for Women's Heart Health & My Mom's Story

Feb. 3( today) is National Wear Red Day. It's a day when  you can wear red to proclaim your support for Women's Heart Health and do your part with no donations or fundraising etc. needed.

I will be doing my part and can't tell you strongly enough how important paying attention to heart health is. You see last year The Mom had to have triple bypass surgery. She had NO symptoms and almost no risk factors. One look at her and you'd say the picture of health with her blonde hair, perfect makeup and always on the go attitude.  She never smoked, her diet is ok, not great , not that bad. Up until  2 years ago her cholesterol was fine and then it was borderline. She never had high blood pressure. While she's not an exerciser, she rarely sits still. Whether it business things or doing laundry and fussing over  other house stuff  .  During a one hour TV show she will get up at least once, usually more. She's never been even remotely a couch potato .

Luckily for us, our main doctor is a cardiologist. She's had EKGs every so often and  kept up her blood work , but when she needed minor non invasive surgery he wouldn't clear her until she had a stress test. That showed abnormalities and so she had to have a catherization. They told here right off she had several blockages, one almost 90%. To say it blew our minds would be an understatement.

Her surgeon said  without the surgery  not that she might have a heart attack, but that she WOULD have one. Maybe in 2 months , maybe a year. Mom's darn tough so she was scared but didn't consider not doing it. She just waited until she was ready.

Thank God she did so well. She came home from the hospital in 3 days  and we saw her gain energy each week. It's 9 months now and she's almost there. They say it takes  a full year. She's done great and had a fast recovery which we are grateful for.

 So for all of you, please if you are in the age range that needs checked ( and that begins in the 40s, as women are having heart attacks sometimes then sadly) get checked. Drag your mom , and grandmom to get checked. They don't call  heart disease the silent killer for nothing. Too many doctors don't stress it enough with women but it's getting better. If your doctor won't make it a priority , then find another.

So wear red today and be mindful every day.  And hug your mom.

If you want to find out more:
http://www.goredforwomen.org/

Go here for your free Red Dress pin
https://www.goredforwomen.org/Registration.aspx

Sponsor  Macy's Twitter followers can also share the love by tweeting #heart@Macys from Feb. 1 through Feb. 14, and Macy's will donate $2 for each tweet, up to a maximum donation of $250,000 for both Facebook and Twitter participation. All donations benefit the American Heart Association's Go Red For Women movement.