Lois Trader

Supposedly 500,000 women die a year from heart disease...

I read it once, but didn’t believe it.

Then I died on June 6, 2003.

With radiating pain in my upper back, I went to the emergency room.  My intuition told me something very unusual was happening. Abnormal EKG's, nitroglycerin administered under my tongue, a lot of blood drawn, tears running down my face, it didn't seem good.  About two hours later a cardiologist opened the curtain separating me from the man getting stitches, "You're young and a woman, probably indigestion; you’ll rest better at home."   With that I was discharged. A few hours later at home I had a massive coronary and died. 

It wasn’t indigestion.

I have missed a lot since then...

• My oldest daughter and her husband had a baby boy, two years later they had a baby girl. I had always planned on being a cool grandma.
• My other two daughters graduated college. One got married.
• My brother committed suicide when his daughter was a baby, and we lost touch with her mother.  My mom was reunited with my oldest brother’s daughter, after thirty years. A miracle I had dreamed of most of my life.
• Threading is more popular than waxing or plucking your eyebrows.  I never enjoyed having my eyebrows waxed. 
• I missed my anniversary – 26 years of marriage.  
• Three reminder cards came in the mail to have a mammogram.  The Women’s Breast Cancer center wasn’t notified.
• Oprah ran a special on women’s heart disease in 2005. I liked Oprah, I would have missed it, I worked full time.

Real version: Barely conscious I was taken to emergency room the next day.

I needed surgery.  I have been given another chance at life.

I wrote a book: 

Lady in the Red Dress:

A personal story of a woman with heart disease

I am your sister, your mother, your neighbor, the lady you see panting on the treadmill, and yes that is me you see grocery shopping on Saturday morning.

I am Lois Trader, a woman living with heart disease. I care that I was hours away from being one of the 500,000. I have a story to tell.

MOST REQUESTED TOPICS:
Making Positive Decisions While Our Hearts Are Mending
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