Looking back, I can still remember how quickly things unfolded.
After my emergency room visit, I followed up with the nurse practitioner at my primary care physician’s office. She referred me to a cardiologist, who scheduled a CT scan and an echocardiogram for Monday.
On Monday, I completed both tests. When the echocardiogram was finished, the technician scheduled a follow-up appointment with the cardiologist for the following week. I assumed I would wait several days before hearing anything more.
However, while I was driving home, the cardiologist’s office called. The CT scan had revealed stenosis (narrowing) in one of my coronary arteries, and they wanted to see me sooner. Instead of waiting until the following week, they moved my follow-up appointment to Thursday.
By Wednesday, I was naturally concerned about what I might learn at that appointment. My youngest daughter planned to go with me so that I would have another set of ears and someone to help me ask questions. I hesitated about taking the entire day off from work. I had already been away Monday through Wednesday for appointments and recovery, but I wasn’t feeling well and found myself becoming increasingly worried.
Eventually, I reminded myself that my health was important.
Listening to My Body
I am so grateful that I went to the emergency room—because normally, I would have ignored the symptoms.
In truth, I had been ignoring the pressure in my chest for a few months. I thought it was just menopause. But when the tingling in my arm started, that felt different.
Even when I arrived at the emergency room and my symptoms subsided, I thought: Girl, you’re overreacting. Your anxiety has you thinking you’re having a stroke.
The irony is that I had seen the nurse practitioner two weeks earlier for the same symptoms—minus the arm tingling. When I followed up with her again after the ER visit, I was so grateful that she referred me to a cardiologist. In fact, if she hadn’t done so, I was planning to ask for the referral myself.
I share this to say: We have to listen to our bodies. Dismissing symptoms can cost us our lives.
”It’s Just Menopause”
One of the things I keep thinking about is how easy it is for women to dismiss symptoms.
I did it myself.
For weeks, I explained away the pressure in my chest. I told myself it was stress, exhaustion, hormones, menopause—anything except my heart.
Even in the emergency room, after my symptoms eased, I remember thinking: You’re probably overreacting.
Later, I learned that many women do the same thing. Symptoms like fatigue, chest discomfort, nausea, anxiety, and shortness of breath can overlap with stress and menopause, making it easier to ignore what our bodies may be trying to tell us.
Living with Type 1 Diabetes has made me realize even more how important it is to pay attention to those signals instead of pushing through them.
Concerned…and Grateful
So yes, I’m concerned. But I’m also grateful.
I’m grateful that God did not allow me to ignore what I was feeling. I’m grateful to know what the issue might be and to have the opportunity to do something about it. This moment feels like a fork in the road—an opportunity to improve my quality of life.
And I’m not just talking about this diagnosis.
I want to live a life of freedom—that is, freedom from fear. Not that fear will disappear or that I will never feel afraid again, but I want to be more unafraid than afraid. I want to acknowledge fear without being paralyzed by it. I want to trust God rather than be led by fear.
I recently purchased a home, and I would not be telling the truth if I said I haven’t wondered about worst-case scenarios—like whether I will be able to keep it. I’ve found myself asking: Why would God give me something only to take it away after all the prayers and hard work?
But even as I ask that question, I am reminded of selling my home after my ex-husband and I separated—and how I believed then that God would one day restore what I had lost.
This house—and the new friends and opportunities I have encountered along the way—are evidence of that restoration.
If He has done it before, He can certainly do it again.
There’s a lot going on right now, but I am encouraged.
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