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A Mississauga RN’s experience with heart disease has made her more appreciative of getting and staying healthy
By Sandi Peroff  My life changed suddenly in the fall of 2001 when I was 43 years old. I started having mild throat tightness; it felt like there was a lump in my throat when I tried to walk faster. At times, I would also get short of breath. I would slow down or stop for a few seconds, then continue at a slower pace.
As a registered nurse, heart disease had entered my mind and I certainly knew all the risk factors for it, but I couldn’t believe that it could happen to me — a young, active, lifetime non-smoker with no previous health problems. Against me were a family history of heart disease (my father had his first heart attack at 49), elevated lipid levels (I was having this checked yearly but they were certainly elevated the day before surgery), and being slightly overweight.
I went to see my family doctor for blood work and an electrocardiogram. They were normal. A stress test was ordered and my doctor told me to take a coated aspirin every day and wrote me a prescription for nitroglycerin spray, which I didn’t fill.
On the day of my stress test, there was a dawning realization within me that something was seriously wrong. During the test I only lasted about one minute before I started having discomfort, registering major changes on the heart monitor. I was sent to the emergency room and within the hour was admitted to the Coronary Care Unit at the Trillium Heath Centre in Mississauga.
My first reaction was that this was my worst nightmare come true. The tables had turned and now I was the patient, and a cardiac one at that. The next day, I went for a cardiac catheterization. The test showed that I had a 95 per cent blockage in my left main coronary artery. A blockage in this artery is nicknamed “the widow-maker” since it is associated with such a high probability of death. A total blockage of this artery would have wiped out the blood circulation to a major portion of my heart. I was a time bomb ticking away and I was lucky that it was found in time. I underwent a double bypass the next morning.
My family was traumatized by the event. My supportive husband took on all the household duties, aided in my psychological and physical recovery, and drove (no driving for six weeks post-bypass) my daughters to their different figure skating lessons and my son to his hockey practices and games. My friends also helped.
I realized the impact on my quiet, eight-year-old son a few days after I was home from the hospital. A letter he made on the computer said: “Mom you are the best! The day you left I was sad. I am happy that you are back. SO NEVER LEAVE ME AGAIN! I love you, Timothy.” I cried.
Unfortunately, three months later, the day before I was to go back to work, I failed my stress test. I felt like I was caught in a downward spiral where I was losing control. I had been having a continuous ache in my left arm for about a month where my radial artery had been taken and used as one of my bypass grafts. Another heart catheterization proved that one of my grafts had failed. Two weeks later, I underwent an angioplasty and a stent was inserted in my left main coronary artery.
Within two weeks, my life started to turn around. I got approval to return to work. I stood on the commuter train platform that clear crisp morning in February and I wanted to shout out and tell people how lucky they were to be healthy enough to go to work and have another regular day.
I also started a cardiac rehabilitation program that helped me gain more confidence in my ability to exercise. It also gave me the chance to meet others who had suffered cardiac events, attend educational sessions and get individual nutritional counselling. I would strongly recommend a cardiac rehab program for anyone who has suffered a heart event.
I have incorporated many changes into my lifestyle since the fall of 2001. Exercise now plays a large role in my life, helping me manage my weight, lipids and stress. After finishing the cardiac rehab program last summer I started walking briskly; now I can jog that same route five times a week. Through exercise, low-fat and low-calorie foods, I have lost more than 50 pounds, and kept it off since last fall.
My encounter with heart disease has positively changed my life forever. I value each day and am grateful to have a second chance at life, which I know some people do not get. My battle scars are a reminder of how far I have come.
Today, we understand so much more about heart disease and stroke than when my father had his heart attack. There are many new therapies aimed at prevention and early treatment. Research holds the answers not only for my life, but my children’s lives and future generations.
Sandi Peroff lives with her husband and three children in Mississauga. After working in cardiology for 13 years, she now works in the Adult Cystic Fibrosis Program at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
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