Women's Heart Disease

Posted by Lois Trader Jan 30, 2007

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 the 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. My story will help you learn to stand up for yourself. Give you confidence to believe there are more than hormones messing with women’s health. I’m funny, relatable, and realize it's a lot more than clogged arteries killing us, but best of all I am alive.

My mission is to help you stay alive!