You’re going to want to read (or watch) this one, if not for YOU, then for a loved one….
You know that person at the trial who seems to have it all together?
Maybe their dog is flying, and their handling is smooth as silk, but also, maybe they’re struggling but still smiling, still showing up.
It’s hard to know what somebody’s internal experience is just based on external observation. You never actually know what somebody else is carrying with them into that agility ring.
Back in late August, I decided to get something called a “coronary artery calcium CT scan”. Not because I felt bad. Not because I had symptoms. I’m that person who eats well, works out every day, walks my dogs most days, and then of course there’s the agility training. I’ve lost weight over the past year, gotten into bodybuilding, and hopped on stage back in early November for my first ever bodybuilding competition, and won all FIVE divisions I entered. I’m in the best shape of my life. I just wanted data. I loooove numbers. I like knowing where things stand.
So, I got that Ca CT Scan, just a few weeks before I was supposed to leave for Sweden to compete at Agility World Championships with Dude.
The results came back showing significant calcium buildup in my LAD — the left anterior descending artery. You might know it by its other name: the widowmaker. It supplies about half of your heart’s blood supply, and when it blocks completely, about 47% of people die before they even make it to the hospital. About a third of all sudden cardiac deaths in the U.S. are from this exact blockage.
This is what explains those stories you hear about the “healthy” woman who dropped dead of a heart attack at 45. No symptoms. Just… gone.
And here’s the thing that makes it especially dangerous for us women: we are BAD ASS.
Studies show that women are more likely to have unrecognized heart attacks. We’re also conditioned to minimize our symptoms and prioritize everyone else’s health over our own. Women delay seeking treatment for heart attack symptoms by an average of 54 hours, compared to 16 hours for men. We chalk it up to stress, indigestion, anxiety, being out of shape. We don’t want to make a fuss. We don’t want to be dramatic.
And when we do seek help? Women are 50% more likely to be misdiagnosed. And if you’re misdiagnosed, you have a 70% higher risk of dying.
So yeah. That’s what I was carrying with me when I got on the plane to Sweden.
Here’s the thing: I felt completely fine. I still feel completely fine. That’s what makes this particular bastard so dangerous — it doesn’t announce itself. It just quietly builds up while you’re busy training dogs, teaching seminars, and trying to remember where you left your car keys at the trial site.
What I’m Doing About It
I’m on a statin – that prescription showed up on my record the instant the CT scan results came in. I’m also on a monoclonal antibody called Repatha that’s designed to crush LDL numbers for those with familial hypercholesterolemia (like me). My lipid numbers now? They look amazing. Better than they probably ever have, honestly. And I’m walking around knowing that despite a family history of heart disease and high cholesterol, I’m actually addressing this thing before it gets to make the big decisions for me.
I had a nuclear imaging stress test, where they inject you with a radioactive tracer, take some images of your heart, get you on a treadmill, and then take more images of your heart when stressed. Not surprisingly, it took FOREVER and a huge incline on that treadmill to get my heart rate up to where they wanted it. And, also not too surprising, my “ejection fraction” (a measure of how much blood the left ventricle of the heart pumps out with each contraction) is amazing. So in terms of real RISK, I’m ahead of the game. But it was still a blow at the time, and it took me a while to pick myself up and look at the big picture.
Do I love taking medication? No. Do I love knowing that I get to keep doing this work, keep competing, keep seeing my students succeed? Absolutely.
Why I’m Telling You This
Because most of you reading this are women. If you’re NOT a woman, you know one or two, I bet. And statistically, heart disease is the number one killer of women. Not breast cancer. Not even all cancers COMBINED. It’s heart disease.
And heart disease is sneaky. It doesn’t care that you’re fit. It doesn’t care that you eat your vegetables. It doesn’t care that you can run a 250 yard agility course without getting winded.
If you’re over 40, if you have any family history, if you’ve been meaning to get checked but keep putting it off because you “feel fine”, this is me telling you: get the scan. Get your lipids checked. Have the conversation with your doctor. When I asked for the scan, I was told insurance wouldn’t cover it, but it was only $100, and my PCP happily made the order for me. I got it later that same week.
It’s a weirdly vulnerable thing, realizing you’ve been walking around with a ticking time bomb in your chest while teaching pressure training and talking about performance under stress. Kind of makes you think differently about what “pressure” really means.
Back to Training
I’ll be honest, this diagnosis made me think about how often we show up to trials carrying invisible stuff. The handler who’s dealing with a sick parent. The person who just lost their job. The competitor who’s fighting their own health battles but still wants to run their dog because this is the thing that brings them joy.
We look at someone and make assumptions about what they should be feeling, should be prioritizing, should be worried about. But we never actually know the full picture.
So maybe, this holiday season, and going forward from there, let’s pause, and give one another the gift of being a little more generous in our interactions, thoughts, and actions. A little less judgmental about the person who’s “not training hard enough” or “caring too much about results” or whatever story we tell ourselves about other people’s choices.
And maybe, just maybe, you could take that generous energy and turn it toward yourself long enough to make a doctor’s appointment.
Because I’d really like to keep seeing you at trials. I’d like to keep getting your emails about your training breakthroughs. I’d like to keep watching your dogs light up in the ring.
But mostly, I’d like you to be here.
Go make the appointment. And share this with a friend who needs to read it ❤️
~ Daisy