The Backup Plan You Didn’t Know You Had

An anomalous coronary artery

Two years ago, my life was saved by something that I didn’t even know I had. It’s something called an anomalous coronary artery. What does that mean? Anomalous is obviously an an anomaly, meaning I had a coronary coronary artery or or an artery servicing my heart that typically wouldn’t be there. Uh, it wasn’t a defect, wasn’t a mistake.

It was actually a built-in backup plan that weirdly, even though my major artery in my heart, which is called your left anterior descending, also referred to as an LAD, nicknamed a widowmaker because if that gets blocked off. It’s often not really compatible with life and causes a lot of people to die.

Um, mine was completely, unfortunately, had blocked off. Uh, it was absent and thankfully though I had a built-in backup system and I didn’t know I had it. I did not know any of this until. Kind of that time of, of crisis as health is deteriorating and and dwindling. And the thing that’s weird is, you know, I’d kind of been doing all the right things.

I was, I exercise regularly. I watch what I eat. I was doing what I could to try and sleep. I was trying to take care of the things within my health. But what I realized is life doesn’t follow a checklist and our bodies often don’t read textbooks and, and sometimes there’s things that are different. In fact, I’d had two figuring this out.

In retrospect, I’d had two silent heart attacks that had come and gone misread. And even as a doctor, I was not interpreting my symptoms correctly. And it was kind of a lesson in that when it’s your own body or maybe even that body of a, of a loved one of yours, sometimes it’s, it’s hard to maintain objectivity and you often view those things through your own lens.

Finding the right tests and the right doctor

And it’s important that we advocate for ourselves because we do know our bodies really well. But there also may come a time where we need. A trusted guide, uh, that trusted doctor that knows the science, that knows the evidence that can take over when we’ve kind of done our best. And I was at a point where some of my initial tests were normal and I was told to perhaps just wait it out.

And nobody really knew kind of what was causing all the symptoms I was having at the time. Getting back to, I knew though within myself something was wrong. It just wasn’t right. And, and the main thing that was driving me to get answers was I could not exercise anymore. I could not do the things that I was.

Accustomed to doing, and it was rapidly kind of progressing and I’m like, I can’t wait this out. I’ve gotta find some answers. And it took a couple of uh, sessions, it took some time to find the right doctor, and thankfully I found that trusted source. A caring, compassionate doctor who looked at things a different way, who viewed my symptoms from a different lens and suggested I get some other tests done.

Those were the tests that mattered. Those were the ones that, even though my first ones didn’t gimme the answers I wanted, those second tests were the things that. Led me to ultimately figuring out what was wrong with me, but also helping me realize what had saved my life, what had got me through relating this to you.

This isn’t just my story

This, this actually isn’t a story, uh, about me. What I want to do is relate this more to you, and that sometimes

you may have something you didn’t know about. You may, and, and I mean that in a good way. Sometimes. Sometimes you may realize you have strength that you didn’t know you had resilience, you didn’t see a workaround, you didn’t realize your body could build or a workaround that your mind was able to solve for, and we need to find those things in our life that’s kind of carried us through.

Maybe even some of those quiet things that were working on our behalf that we didn’t even know. We didn’t know it was really working for us. For me, it was an anomaly. It was an anomalous coronary For you, it may be something else. It may be someone else. That that’s there to kind of, it’s just that steady guide, that steady source, uh, that helps motivate you to have the strength that you need.

The hidden strengths you’ve built

People with food allergies and chronic illness, I mean, you live this truth every day. You adapt, you compensate, you reroute, you endure in ways that no, no one else sees. You carry an emotional load that no one else sees, and often. You’re stronger than what you ever realize. So first of all, like search within you in terms of what’s carried you through.

What are those characteristics within you that’s carried you through some of those tough times? What’s that compass that’s been there? And then extend beyond that a little bit in your circle of influence of who has also been there with you through those things. Um, those are important things because as life doesn’t follow a checklist, and as life happens and as challenges come up, what is it that allows you to reroute, allows you to adapt, it allows you to have resilience within yourself.

You know, sometimes perhaps your symptoms may not follow the guide or the textbook. They may be unusual. They may have an unusual presentation. You may initially be dismissed because of the symptoms you have. You may be dismissed because the symptoms aren’t usual and the Dr. May not understand it. Not necessarily the fault of either of you.

It’s just the circumstance, but you know you better than anything, keep being your advocate and keep searching because.

It may just take somebody looking at, looking at the things through a different lens, and

often you may feel like you’re doing everything right, you’re doing all the things, yet you’re not getting to where you want to be. And I would just say keep trying, keep searching, but at the same time. The one thing that I want you to kind of guard against is falling prey to misinformation.

Guard against misinformation

When you’re hurt, when you’re struggling, when you have the heaps of emotional load on top of you, it’s often easy to fall prey to misinformation because misinformation is often catchy.

It’s attractive. It’s often posed as a simple answer where it’s the one thing, the one supplement, the one test, the one thing. Um, but life is often more complex than that. And so I would just say kind of guard against falling prey to misinformation of people trying to twist things around. Um. Ask the critical questions.

Ask yourself the critical questions. You may think your life is harder, and yes it is. But the skills you’ve built along the way might also be the very things that save you, that strengthen you in the long run, and you might not see it. But you have strengths that are wired into you that aren’t mistakes.

They’re survival tools.

A new year, a new focus

And this year, as we’re starting a new year, as we’re moving forward, the point is I know there are many out there that are struggling. They’re carrying deep emotional loads, they’re carrying physical burdens. Life hasn’t gone as planned. It didn’t follow the checklist you’ve had to either use some whiteout or an eraser to kinda reconstruct your own life’s outline.

In those moments, maybe take a some time to reflect on what are those things that have gotten you through that may be working on your benefit without you even knowing. Where does your ultimate strength come from? Where does that ultimate hope come from? What motivates you to continue to put one foot in front of the other, to reroute, to adapt, to pivot, to make those adjustments?

One thing is I would say don’t give up on the hope of finding the solutions. And maintain your focus on the solutions. Not always the problem, because I think as we shift the focus from problem-based to solution-based, that also gives us that hope to muster that strength, muster, that resilience within us

gives us what we need to set proper boundaries to move forward. And, uh, this year, honor those things that have got you through. Don’t waste another day on the noise that keeps you from the life that, that you’re meant to live.

Find your anchor and keep moving

Find your way. Find that anchor that keeps you steady. Hold onto that and be very, very careful with the vast amounts of misinformation that’s trying to take you away.

From those very things that have gotten you through from that misinformation, that’s trying to confuse, to create doubt. It creates fear that does not enable you, but rather lean into that, that voice within you, because I know it’s there. I know you have that resilience. I know you have that strength. I know there are trusted people out there, and I know life is hard.

I know it’s really hard. And sometimes we don’t get it on that first try, and we have to pivot and pivot again and pivot again. But we can get there. And every time you do that, you get more strength, you get more resilience, and find those trusted sources, those trusted people, and focus this year perhaps.

Of taking just some steps, not perfection, not holding yourself up to any other competition, to somebody else, just that competition within you. How are you going to be a little bit better? How can you get a little bit better? How can you serve a little bit more? And, um, lean in on those strengths that you have in.

Closing thoughts

Through carrying the emotional and physical loads that you’ve carried, you are stronger than what you think. You’re very, very much stronger than what you think You’ve learned lessons you’ve, you’ve been able to realize a lot of things. Take time to reflect on that, and as you reflect on that, think of those edits that you can make in your world, in your life to take the next steps.

On your journey and hopefully we go along on this journey together and, uh, reach out. Would love to hear some comments. Would love to hear some of your stories. Would love to hear the things that have powered you through the things that you’ve learned and realized. It takes some time to reflect on how far you’ve come, even if there’s a long way to go.

Don’t forget how far you’ve come and the strength that you have. Much love in this new year. Take care.

‍

‍