REVIVED
Story by AMANDA BEDGOOD
Photos by PENNY MOORE
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Brenda Boudreaux doesn't look like a person with heart problems. That's the thing about heart disease – it can appear in the most seemingly unlikely of places.
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Two years ago, a fit and not-yet-50 Brenda found herself in ICU fighting for her life. What she had once believed would be but a minor inconvenience nearly destroyed her and in the aftermath she learned some of life's most precious lessons.
Brenda Boudreaux was born with a heart mummer. While she should have had four valves in her heart she had but two. It was something she discovered in her 20's but learned would likely not impact her life. She was told that in her 60's or 70's she would need to have a valve replaced and went about her life believing she had years before it would be a concern.
Then at the age of 47, two summers ago, Brenda began feeling a laundry list of symptoms she attributed to everything but her heart. The woman who had always exercised never looked to her heart as the source. But, who would have?
"It began as pain in my stomach and then panic attacks. My heart racing," she says.
Brenda concluded it was likely her gallbladder. A common problem in her age group. She continued
exercising doing cardio kickboxing and jogging and to her dismay no matter her efforts she couldn't' get her time up or increase her miles.
"I finally broke down and went to the doctor. I told him 'I have to do something about my gallbladder,'" she says.
After a series of tests Brenda was shocked to hear her gallbladder was in good condition.
"He says 'the gallbladder is fine. But, the heart mummer is very very bad. You need to go. Within a week you need to go."
Days later, on a Friday, Brenda headed to a cardio doctor for an echocardiogram. Even as the procedure was done, Brenda sensed things weren't good. By Tuesday she got the call.
"He said 'you need the valve replaced and it's bad.' I said 'how soon?' and he said, 'now.'"
Her valve was worn out. When the doctor asked whether she'd had symptoms she assumed she hadn't.
But, she quickly learned that her laundry list of unusual ailments could be attributed to the problem with her heart. As Brenda waited for the surgery she was given a simple instruction 'don't get your heart rate up.' Easier said than done.
Brenda headed into surgery expecting a brief stay in the hospital after a procedure that would include an incision above the breast rather than the more invasive method of spreading her ribs.
"Anything that could go wrong went wrong," she says "I didn't come out of it for three days."
And when she did, she was unable to speak. At all. Brenda's surgery would be to use a pig valve to replace her own. When it didn't fit correctly they went with a mechanical valve and sewed her back up. The procedure then required the valve be tested.
"And it was leaking. They had to crack open my chest," she says.
The small Brenda gained 50 pounds of water weight afterwards and became jaundice leading to the need for a temporary pacemaker, which didn't work.
"They had to put in a permanent pacemaker and it still didn't work. They had to put me under and shock my heart into normal rhythm."
Brenda spent 12 days in ICU and a month with paralyzed vocal chords. She has a scar she never expected and a pacemaker that because of her taut frame shows. And true to Brenda form she was back working less than a month from her release from the hospital. And while Brenda's experience was a trying one, she has a message of hope for those hesitant to seek treatment.
"As bad as it was. I have a full life now," she says.
The experience solidified her marriage to her husband Al. A marriage that was new at the time. It drew them closer together as well as her children and friends and family. Al quickly became the lifeline between Brenda when she was unable to speak for those weeks.
"It changed me. God has a reason for me to still be here," she says.
It's something Brenda's own daughter believes as well as she finds herself much more aware of the risks of heart disease. Brenda's son was in high school at the time and her daughter, Julian, was in the first months of her freshman year of college in Birmingham, Alabama.
"It's definitely made me more aware of taking care of my heart. Normally that would be something I wouldn't think about. Her going through that – it's always in the back of my mind," Julian says.
In addition to a newfound look at heart health, Brenda has a newfound look at her world.
"She has this new outlook on life. She's always been full of life. Very vibrant and full of life. Now she has a new appreciation for being around," Julian says.
That appreciation has led Brenda to participate in things like the American Heart Association's Circle of Red group and Road to Recovery to American Cancer Society.
"I live each day to the fullest," she says.
It's a fact that wasn't lost on Brenda's cardiologist either. Dr. John Mickey says Brenda's outlook was not one everyone would have in such a trying experience.
"She has a great attitude. It was a very traumatic ordeal that would have broken a lot of people. She has an amazing resiliency and positive outlook."
Brenda remembers even before being discharged making promises to continue a healthy lifestyle. As she lay in the hospital she and her son joked about the lack of muscle tone left in her leg after the experience.
"If I get out and have the ability to exercise I will and eat right," Brenda says.
Brenda now lives on blood thinners. She jokes that it means any plans for plastic surgery are likely off limits.
"I guess I'll have to age gracefully," she says with a laugh.
Brenda is taking care of herself and pursuing the things she never took time to before.
"The biggest thing I did after surgery was to go get my master. I always wanted to do that," she says noting that she took out loans and made it happen.
"I love life," she says.
It's a lesson some take years to learn and one that Brenda already felt while she was still in the hospital.
"I remember the nurses in ICU kept saying 'you're so nice.' Why would I complain? I'm alive. I'm lucky to be alive," she says.
And while she felt blessed to have survived, in the months following her procedure, Brenda wore scarves and turtlenecks because of her scar. And then one day she didn't.
"I wore a strapless dress to the Heart Ball and someone said 'you don't let it bother you.' I don't. The scar gets better and better all the time."
And so, it seems, does life on this side.
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