My husband, Jim, suffered an unexpected heart attack last week. I am writing this blog to detail and chronical what happened. Except for this post, which will remain at the top of this blog, the posts are in reverse chronological order-so the most recent posts are at the top, immediately below this post. Most of this blog’s readers will want to navigate around here using the categories which are listed in the right column. Jim’s heart attack occurred on January 8, 2008. I started this blog the same month..
It is our hope that the information here helps others.
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The results of my husband’s echocardiogram contain many technical, medical terms. Here is a list of the definitions:
Anteroapical hypokinesis: diminished or abnormally slow movement
Ao: aortic root
Apex: normal interior septum
Aortic valve sclerosis: buildup of calcium deposits on the aortic heart valve
Atrium: a chamber of the heart that receives blood from the veins and forces it into a ventricle or ventricles
Atrial: of, relating to, or affecting an atrium
Hypokinesis: abnormally decreased muscular movement
Hypokinetic: decreased motor activity
IVC: inferior vena cava
IVSd: interventricular septal thickness in diastole
LV: left ventricle
LVEF: heart’s pumping efficiency
LVIDd: LV internal dimention at end diastole
LVPWd: left ventricle posterior wall diastolic
MR: mitral valve regurgitation
PA: pulmonary artery
Pericardial effusion: fluid around the heart
RA: right atrium
RV: right ventricle
Sclerotic: of, relating to, or affected with sclerosis
Septum: a dividing wall or membrane especially between bodily spaces or masses of soft tissue
Stenosis: abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel
TR: tricuspid and valve regurgitation
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Here is an explanation of cholesterol:
Cholesterol is a lipid found in the cell membranes of all animal tissues, and it is transported in the blood plasma of all animals. Cholesterol is also considered a sterol (a combination steroid and alcohol). Because cholesterol is synthesized by all eukaryotes, trace amounts of cholesterol are also found in membranes of plants and fungi.
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LDL is an acronym for Low Density Lipoprotein. LDL is the "bad cholesterol" so we all want our LDL levels to be low. My husband has had somewhat high LDL levels since at least 1999. That is most certainly a major factor in his having suffered a heart attack on 1/8/2008 at the age of 57. More specifically, LDL is:
Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) belongs to the lipoprotein particle family. Its size is approx. 22 nm and its mass is about 3 million daltons; but, since LDL particles contain a changing number of fatty acids, they actually have a mass and size distribution. Each native LDL particle contains a single apolipoprotein B-100 molecule (Apo B-100, a protein with 4536 amino acid residues) that circles the fatty acids, keeping them soluble in the aqueous environment. In addition, LDL has a highly-hydrophobic core consisting of polyunsaturated fatty acid known as linoleate and about 1500 esterified cholesterol molecules. This core is surrounded by a shell of phospholipids and unesterified cholesterol as well as a single copy of B-100 large protein (514 kD).
Because LDLs transport cholesterol to the arteries and can be retained there by arterial proteoglycans starting the formation of plaques, increased levels are associated with atherosclerosis, and thus heart attack, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease. For this reason, cholesterol inside LDL lipoproteins is often called "bad" cholesterol. This is a misnomer. The cholesterol transported on LDL is the same as cholesterol transported on other lipoprotein particles. The cholesterol itself is not "bad"; rather, it is how and where the cholesterol is being transported, and in what amounts over time, that causes adverse effects.
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HDL is an acronym for High Density Lipoprotein. HDL is the "good cholesterol" so we all want our HDL levels to be high. My husband has had somewhat low HDL levels since at least 1999. That is most certainly a major factor in his having suffered a heart attack on 1/8/2008 at the age of 57. More specifically, HDL is:
High-density lipoproteins (HDL) form a class of lipoproteins, varying somewhat in their size (8–11 nm in diameter), that carry fatty acids and cholesterol from the body’s tissues to the liver. About thirty percent of blood cholesterol is carried by HDL.
It is hypothesized that HDL can remove cholesterol from atheroma within arteries and transport it back to the liver for excretion or re-utilization—which is the main reason why HDL-bound cholesterol is sometimes called "good cholesterol", or HDL-C. A high level of HDL-C seems to protect against cardiovascular disease, and low HDL cholesterol levels (less than 40 mg/dL) increase the risk for heart disease. When measuring cholesterol, any contained in HDL particles is considered as protection to the body’s cardiovascular health, in contrast to "bad" LDL cholesterol.
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