I have them, and several people I know do, including my own sister.
Since the days following Julie Powell's passing, wonder has been expressed at how one could have died so young. I will hazard a guess. Not being connected to Powell or family, nor an MD myself, but based on my personal experience, I feel Julie either was not aware she had cardiac issues or had foreshadowings that she ignored.
I speak from personal experience. Readers on here know I was born two months premature, and with a congenital heart defect. That was corrected on May 10, 1966, but eighteen years later, in June 1984, I developed something called atrial flutter, saw a cardiologist from then on, and was on and weaned off several heart medications. In 2020, at the height of Covid, I discovered my heart was beating too rapidly to be normal. I never felt a thing. I had tachycardia, but, unlike many, I am one of those people who don't feel it. There had been foreshadowing, years before, in another doctor's office, and that summer, 2020, when I became excessively tired, and my good friend, Nicholas, the cat, saved my life, knowing something was wrong, and staying by side till he thought I was saved.
The result was cardioversion, heart monitors, and then the ablation. I was on Eliquis for six months, and Cardizem for two years. I am now off the last, though I still take blood pressure medication.
I was lucky. It was discovered by professionals, and something was done, and I survived. I still pay gratitude to all at NYU Langone.
Julie was not so lucky. I wish she had been. I cannot speak of genetic connection in her case, but there may have been in mine. My maternal grandfather died two years before I was born, at 67, in 1952. He had a long cardiac history, and things were limited then so not much could be done. I was fortunate, but not till the ablation did I ponder the grandfather I never met.
Like me, Julie might not have known, either. Besides sadness at her passing, I am urging those out there--if you feel something, take action immediately. And if you think something is wrong--even if you just think--take action immediately.
It saved my life. And it might have saved Julie's.
4 comments:
I can hardly comprehend all the intricate systems of the human body!
Animals too!
Inserts even!!
Victoria,
It always fascinated me, but when
it came to dissecting stuff, I knew I was
not wired for the sciences.
Ugh me also
Dissecting that frog in high school!
That formaldehyde smell!!!
Victoria,
Just your mentioning it. I can still smell it.
That was the year I found out science was not for me.
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