It has been four weeks since I was diagnosed with a serious heart condition and I find myself thinking of my life in pre and post diagnosis terms. Certainly my life has changed. I have replaced the weight training, tyre flipping, assault cycle with walking and this at a fairly sedate pace as a route march brings on chest pain. I have slowed down. And I am starting to smell   the roses. For the first time in years I am taking a lunch break.  Whereas lunch was usually eaten at my desk whilst I carried on working I am now taking myself off to Regents Park to get in my 10,000 steps. And guess what? My work hasn’t suffered one bit.

I have also being doing a lot of reading about my condition. I was already fairly knowledgeable being a nurse and a midwife but now I am an expert! Doctors just love people like me although I don’t include my GP in this as clearly he needs to go back to school. But however much I read and research there are some questions that I can’t get answers to.

What has caused the calcification of my aortic valve? Is there anything I can do to stop it getting any worse? Can I prevent it affecting my other valves?

Calcification of the valves usually affects people over 65. It is one of the joys of getting old. But I want to know why I started getting symptoms when I was 54. I had been prescribed statins a few years ago as I had a slightly raised cholesterol. I can’t now recall what it was but I wasn’t particularly worried and actually stopped taking them after a while. My cholesterol is now 5.1 mmol/l which is slightly raised (it should be below 5) but I don’t, or should I say I didn’t,  have any have any risk factors. If I had continued taking the statins would I have avoided all this?

I have also read that there is a relationship between rheumatoid arthritis and aortic valve calcification. I do have psoriatic arthritis which is a form of rheumatoid arthritis but it is very well controlled and only affects my fingers.

Trying to find answers on this questions can be fairly depressing as you are always coming across the mortality and morbidity implications of cardiac disease. What is more uplifting is how dietary changes can slow down, halt and maybe even reverse cardiac disease. The evidence is quite compelling so I am moving towards a low fat, vegetarian diet. This will be a big change for me as for the last year and a half I have been following a low carbohydrate, high fat, high protein diet. And I have done very well on it. Losing a stone and a half and being in the best shape of my life but needs must. What won’t come as a shock is cutting out processed food as it is a long time since I have ‘enjoyed’ cakes, burgers, pizzas, sweets etc.

One other change I have made is to wear a Medical Alert bracelet. I know that if I do collapse that will be probably be my lot but if not I want to be given a fighting chance. The bracelet has my name and condition printed on it. My daughter thinks it is all very unnecessary. She takes a very pragmatic approach. I’ll stay well until the operation and once I have recovered everything will be as it was. I asked her how she would respond to being questioned  what was wrong with me if I became ill when she was with me. Her response : ‘you have a thickened vein’.

I’d love to know how the paramedic would respond to that.