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.
 

Lois Trader helps women understand their number-one killer: Heart Disease. I make sure that what I put in my body and on my body is healthy. This site will help you to be beautiful inside and out. Juice Plus and Arbonne are ways to take better care of yourself.