Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Hey there. So it's Christmas Eve, and for most of us, we're thinking about that dinner that we've got coming up or that party that we've got coming up, or maybe that dog agility competition we've got this weekend or, or what have you, family gathering, friend gathering, any of that stuff. But I want to take a few minutes to talk to you about something that's been on my mind for a while.
[00:00:22] And it does and does. Doesn't have to do with dog agility directly, but it's. But it's pretty relevant, I think, to all of us.
[00:00:30] And it's this idea that. And I talked about it in my email list a while ago, but it's this idea that you never actually really know what any competitor is carrying with them into the ring. There's all this stuff that we've all got going on in our lives, and when we see each other at a dog agility competition, we're just seeing through a tiny window into that other person's life, 30 to 50 seconds of their life in the ring.
[00:00:56] And maybe when they're in the ring, they're flying around the course with their dog, their handling looks smooth, or maybe they're stretching, struggling in the ring, but they're still showing up, still smiling. And you just, you just never know what's going on with someone internally.
[00:01:10] And here's an example. And this happened back in late August, and it was just a few weeks before I headed to Sweden World Championships with Dude. And that was that. I got this wild idea that I wanted to get something called a coronary calcium CT scan.
[00:01:27] And a coronary calcium CT scan is something that insurance didn't cover, but it was only a hundred bucks.
[00:01:33] So my primary care provider, when I asked, said, yeah, it's totally fine if you want to do it, it's a hundred bucks. I'll refer you today. And I'm a nerd. I totally like data. I love numbers. I like knowing where things stand. And if I can measure it, I'm going to measure it. So I wanted to get this CT scan. And it wasn't because I felt bad. It wasn't because I had any symptoms that led me to think, gee, maybe I should get this CT scan. I felt great. I was in the best shape of my life. I've spent the last year and a half, I guess back in August, it would have been the last year I'd lost weight, I'd gotten into bodybuilding. And this November, I won all five divisions at my first bodybuilding competition. So I'm in pretty good shape. So I just wanted the data. I love numbers, and I like knowing where things stand.
[00:02:16] So this was just a few weeks before I was supposed to get on a plane to go to Sweden for world championships.
[00:02:22] And I get those results back, and I was pretty floored because they showed significant calcium buildup in something called my lad, my left anterior descending artery. Now, if you know anything about cardiac health, you may have heard this LAD thing by another name. I didn't know anything about it, but it's also called the widowmaker, so that was pretty startling.
[00:02:47] So I do what I always do. I just want to learn everything I can about it. And I've learned that the LAD supplies about half of your heart's blood supply. And when it blocks completely, mortality rates for this specific type of artery getting blocked, that lad, that widowmaker, which affects women as well as men. So it's kind of misleading. The mortality rate can shoot up to over 70%.
[00:03:12] So that's pretty high. And about a third of sudden cardiac deaths in the United States are from this exact blockage.
[00:03:21] So, yeah, that's what I was carrying around with me as I got on the plane to go to the biggest event in the dog agility world this last fall, world championships in Sweden with Dude. And again, I felt completely fine. I still feel completely fine. I'm healthy as a horse. But that's what makes things like this so dangerous, because it doesn't announce itself. It just quietly builds up while you're busy training dogs and teaching seminars. And if you're like me, trying to remember where you left your car keys when you're at the trial site. So what am I doing about it now?
[00:03:53] Now I'm on a statin, which is a cholesterol medication, and that prescription showed up in my record the second the CT results came in. Like, the same day. I got the results later that same day, and that medication prescription came in, and I was like, oh, man, here we go. I don't know about this.
[00:04:11] Then I'm also on something called Repatha, which is a monoclonal antibody, which I knew nothing about, but it's designed for people like me that have something called. And I'm going to butcher this familial hypercholesterolemia, which is what I have. It's a family history of. Of high cholesterol and heart disease. So I can be as healthy as I want. I can eat all the fiber I want, all the fruits and veggies and lean meats that I want. Still going to be a problem.
[00:04:36] But now that I'm on those medications, now that I've had that test, my lipids, my cholesterol looks amazing, better than they ever had. And then I also had this follow up test that's called a nuclear imaging stress test, where they injected me with a radioactive tracer. It was super cool. It like showed up in this little radioactive canister, the syringe. So they injected me with a radioactive tracer, they took an image of my heart, they got me on a treadmill to stress my heart and took images again. And let me tell you, it took forever to get my heart rate up to where they wanted it because again, I'm pretty healthy.
[00:05:09] So in terms of actual risk right now, I'm ahead of the game. My results from the stress test came back a plus, basically. But here's why I want to tell you guys this. And I say guys, I shouldn't even say guys, because most of you watching this are women. And statistically, heart disease, as I've learned, is the number one killer of women. Not breast cancer, not all cancers combined. It's heart disease. And here's what kind of pisses me off about it.
[00:05:36] We women are more likely to have unrecognized heart attacks. We delay seeking treatment by an average of 54 hours. That's more than two days. And you know how long a guy waits? An average of 16 hours.
[00:05:49] So we're like, oh, it's probably just indigestion or I'm stressed or I'm out of shape. We don't want to make a fuss and we don't want to be dramatic. We'll be super dramatic about other stuff. But when it comes to something like we might be having a heart attack, we're like, no, no, go on without me.
[00:06:03] And then when we do go in for help, we're 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed. And if you're misdiagnosed, it gets even worse because you have a 70% higher chance of dying. So those are some pretty grim statistics. And this whole familiar familial hypercholesterolemia stuff, it doesn't care that I'm fit. It doesn't care that I eat my vegetables, doesn't care that I can run a 250 yard agility course without getting winded.
[00:06:29] So yeah, that has got me thinking.
[00:06:34] Ever since then, it's just stayed on my mind about how often we all show up to trials carrying this invisible stuff into the ring. Maybe you're dealing with a sick parent, maybe you just lost your job. Maybe you got your own health battles, but you're still running your dog because it's the one thing that brings you joy. And maybe it's the most normal thing that's happening in your life.
[00:06:54] So all of this to say, maybe we can be a little more generous with each other this holiday season and going forward and a little less judgmental about other people's choices.
[00:07:04] Again, we're only seeing through a tiny window into a few seconds, maybe a few minutes of somebody's life.
[00:07:11] And also, maybe you can turn that generous energy towards yourself long enough to make a doctor's appointment. Because if you're over 40 or if there's any family history, if you keep putting these things off because you feel fine, I'm here to tell you, go get that scan. It's a hundred bucks well spent. Maybe it's even less than that where you are. Get your lipids checked, get a blood panel done. It's like, again, like a hundred bucks, even if insurance won't cover it. And then it's information that you have. So my gift to you this Christmas Eve is just a little plug about heart health and heart health awareness. Spread the word. Tell people that you love, tell people that you know, encourage people to pay attention to this stuff and get checked. And I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year.
