Open, Full and Imperfect: What You Must Know About Your Heart by Maya Talisman Frost

Last Friday was National Wear Red Day, an intentional opportunity to wear a red dress as a symbol of awareness of the fact that heart disease is the number one killer of women in America.

I didn’t wear a red dress, but I did get my very first electrocardiogram.

I wish I could say that I had planned it that way.

The truth is that I was experiencing chest pain, a terrible squeezing sensation in my left shoulder and left arm, and an alarming tingling running up my neck. I headed into Urgent Care. The next few days brought a series of tests involving all kinds of electrodes, ultrasounds, and my personal favorite, running on the treadmill. I’m still waiting for the results.

I’m a 43-year-old woman, fit and active, with low blood pressure, a stupendously healthy diet, and zero history of cardiac problems in my family. I’ve never smoked, I drink a small glass of wine most evenings, I have low cholesterol, and I’ve been meditating for over twenty years. You’d be hard pressed to find a woman with a lower degree of risk for any kind of heart disease. Yet, here I am, hanging out in the cardiologist’s office with a bunch of 75-year-olds.

My doctor is my stepfather’s cardiologist. I know he’s good because he has done about a dozen surgeries and procedures to keep my stepfather alive and kicking over the last 20 years. Dr. Toren is a great guy. Still, I never quite imagined I would need to visit him myself.

It’s been rather disconcerting, to say the least.

But it’s also given me an opportunity to think about my heart in a whole new way. I am appreciating this fantastic organ and its ability to beat over a billion times in an average lifetime without (much) assistance.

Like most healthy people, I’ve taken it for granted. I’ve allowed it to go about its work, and only in rare circumstances when it decided to pound—middle school crush walking past me, parachute not opening fully while skydiving, snatching children out of harm’s way—did I ever really pay attention to it.

Poor heart. So unappreciated.

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BIO:

Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse. Her work has inspired thinkers in over 80 countries around the world. She serves up a unique blend of clarity, comfort and comic relief in her free weekly ezine, the Friday Mind Massage. To subscribe, visit http://www.massageyourmind.com.

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