She Did Everything Right and Still Ended Up With a Serious Heart Condition

Nancy had done everything right. She had lost more than 100 pounds and kept it off since 1993. She exercised regularly, followed a healthy diet and took zero medications. Heart disease, she had decided long ago, would not be her fate the way it had been her father’s.

Then a routine imaging scan for an entirely different condition changed everything.

“My initial response was one of disbelief,” Nancy says. “When I received the initial diagnosis, I was in a state of utter shock and didn’t want to believe it.” When a cardiologist came to the imaging room to explain the gravity of what they had found, the shock gave way to something harder. “I was angry and resentful because I had worked so hard at being a healthy person.”

What they had found was aortic stenosis, a narrowing of the aortic valve that restricts blood flow from the heart. It is one of the most common and serious heart valve conditions, and for Nancy, it had been quietly progressing without her knowledge.

The Warning Signs That Slipped By

Looking back, Nancy recognizes that her body had been sending signals she did not connect to her heart. “I had noticed that periodically my heart felt that it was thumping very hard, but it happened irregularly and would pass,” she says. When she mentioned it to her primary care physician, an EKG was ordered. The results showed a slight murmur, but she was told not to worry. She took that reassurance at face value and moved on.

It is a pattern Nancy now wishes she had questioned more. “I assumed that the EKG was adequate, but it wasn’t,” she says. Her message to other women is direct: Do not stop at a normal EKG if something still feels off. “Women should press the doctor for a thorough heart exam beyond an EKG if the problem continues.”

She also points to the broader gap in women’s cardiovascular awareness. “If women get information about healthy hearts and the statistics on the level of heart disease among women, I believe they will be more inclined to pursue additional exams if they feel something is wrong.”

The Procedure That Changed Her Life

When Nancy’s care team recommended the Abbott Navitor transcatheter aortic valve implantation, a minimally invasive procedure known as TAVI, she arrived at the hospital carrying a mix of emotions. “I was anxious to get it done, yet I was somewhat apprehensive about what I would experience, and to be perfectly honest, somewhat frightened,” she says. But once her team walked her through what to expect, her anxiety eased. She felt she was in competent hands.

The recovery was remarkably smooth. “I returned home with no pain and very little soreness,” she says.

A Changed Perspective

The experience transformed how Nancy approaches her own health care. “I am definitely a changed person, recognizing the importance of regular checkups, asking questions more proactively than I've ever been,” she says. Where she once deferred to her care team without much follow-up, she now listens closely, asks questions and researches anything that concerns her health. “I feel very fortunate to have been blessed with devices that have made my life and my health a lot better.”

Her story is a reminder that healthy habits are essential, but they are not a guarantee, and they are not a reason to skip the questions your gut is telling you to ask.