How To Heal A Broken Heart

"I have no idea why your diastolic number isn't going down? I'm concerned, there might be something wrong with your heart. I'm going to schedule an Echocardiogram ASAP."

The minute I stepped into my car, I took out my phone and googled "Echocardiogram." Btw- before anyone asks. My nurse practitioner is the bomb. I love her, and I can ask her any questions on my mind. But because of Coronavirus, I didn't want to be in the clinic a second longer. 

After discovering what an Echocardiogram was, I sat back in my driver's seat and had a mini pity party for myself. Growing up, I was always one of the most athletic kids in school. I prided myself on being the strongest, fittest kid. I remember breaking weightlifting records in high school and playing intramural sports in college. Even after college, I was a gym rat. The gym was my therapy. I loved being surrounded by juiced-up gorillas with sexy bodies. 

I knew heart disease, high cholesterol, and diabetes plagued the African American community, and I did not want to become another statistic. But in recent years, my body started to fail me. I started having a lot of overuse injuries and lost my motivation to workout. On top of that, I also became a Delta Air Lines Flight Attendant. I loved my job, but I found myself taking multiple shots on Bourbon street, eating Poutine in Toronto until dark and, not sleeping much. Before I knew it, I was up 20 lbs. 

Three months earlier, my nurse practitioner diagnosed me with high blood pressure. She told me that if I started working out and eating better, I could reverse it and get off Amlodipine. But in the back of my mind, I told myself that I had plenty of time to get my shit together. I also secretly thought it was heredity. I have three immediate family members with it. So, I kind of convinced myself it was inevitable, and I was powerless. But now I found myself sitting in my car, hearing that something might be wrong with my heart. 

What's an Echocardiogram?

An Echocardiogram is an ultrasound. Sound waves change pitch when they bounce off blood cells moving through your heart and blood vessels. These changes can help your cardiologist measure the blood flow's speed and direction in your heart. 

What to expect during an Echocardiogram?

I undressed from the waist up, put on a heated robe and blanket, and laid on the examination bed. The technician attached sticky patches (electrodes) to my chest to help detect and conduct my heart's electrical currents. She also applied a gel to the transducer that improves the conduction of sound waves. Most of the time, I laid on my left side or back. The tech moved the transducer back and forth over my chest to record images of sound-wave echoes from my heart. I heard a pulsing "whoosh," which is the ultrasound recording the blood flowing through my heart. I'm not going to lie; the Echocardiogram was a little awkward. Not pap smear awkward, but uncomfortable. My tech asked me to breathe in a certain way. She would ask me to inhale slowly and then exhale. My tech was very friendly and professional, but you're lying on a bed with your breasts exposed. She also said it's hard to pick up the waves if the patient is talking, so I laid there in silence for an hour. After an hour, she was still having a little difficulty seeing what she needed to see, so another woman came into the room and inserted an IV into my arm. The IV bag had fat lipids in it. It was neat to see how my heart lit up as they were entering my body. 

The Aftermath

A few days after my Echocardiogram, I received a call from my Nurse Practitioner's nurse. She told me that my heart's pumping strength didn't look well. The measurements obtained from the Echo included the percentage of blood pumped out of a filled ventricle with each heartbeat (ejection fraction) and the volume of blood pumped by the heart in one minute (cardiac output). A healthy person's Ejection Fraction is between 50-70%, and mine is 30-35%. She told me to pick up a prescription for Lisinopril. She also said that I needed to see a Cardiologist. 

         A few days later, I had an appointment with a Cardiologist. Because of Coronavirus, I did it from the comfort of my home. We used telehealth solutions, a secure version of Zoom. He diagnosed me with Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy (decreased heart function). He said the cause could be genetics, or I might've caught a virus. My heart valves looked healthy in the Echocardiogram, but he would like me to have a Coronavirus antibody test. He prescribed a third medication, Carvedilol, and scheduled a Lexiscan nuclear stress test. 

I hope all this information was helpful to you. I also hope that it motivates you to work out, eat better, and make better lifestyle choices. I plan on doing that once it's safe. I was taking a leave from Delta Air Lines but returned in November. I hope you'll follow my journey to better health. Also, if you have any advice or feedback, I would love to hear it. 

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