Years ago someone gave Judith Johnson the nickname “Dustie,” because either she was kicking up dust or gathering it, there was no in-between.
Twenty-five years later she found the same was true, she was either into her activities with both feet or not at all. It was the kind of behavior that was partly to blame for her heart attack at age 70 last August.
Johnson, the self-described workaholic who had known for years that she had health issues such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and was borderline diabetic, thought somehow she was invincible.
“At 70 now, I realized that I was just flirting with danger,” she said.
Johnson of Renton is now counted in the statistic that says one in every five women have some form of heart disease. But, she’s also one of many doing something about it and will attend the GLOW Red Dress Tea and Activewear Fashion Show 2-4 p.m. Feb. 27.
The event, which is being hosted by Valley Medical Center and the city’s Renton Heart Month campaign, will be held at the Tea Palace Restaurant, 2828 Sunset Lane in the Highlands.
It’s part of a month-long campaign to raise awareness about maintaining a heart-healthy lifestyle.
“Cardiovascular disease is the No. 1 cause of death in women,” said Dr. Belinda Fu. She will be speaking at the GLOW event.
“I think that many women are probably not aware that they have a greater statistical chance of developing cardiovascular disease than of developing breast cancer,” Fu said.
According to the American Heart Association, the disease claims the lives of half a million females a year.
For Johnson, she didn’t even realize that she was having a heart attack.
She didn’t have the typical chest pain or left arm pain and she could walk upstairs in her home without
feeling breathless. She thought she had an extreme case of heart burn with pain in her throat, in her right side and a sense of dread hanging over her.
“Heart attacks are often described as having a classic presentation of symptoms,” said Fu. “Women are more likely to present with atypical symptoms, meaning that they may be having a heart attack without some of the classic symptoms usually seen in heart attacks. That said, every individual experiences heart attacks differently.”
Before her heart attack Johnson prided herself on working long hours as an administrative assistant at Boeing, not needing more than five hours of sleep and being able to handle whatever stress came her way. She had a volunteer job that she worked as hard as her full-time job.
“I had all the warning signs and I took medication most of the time and I watched my diet some of the time because being Southern we cook entirely different,” she said.
Once in the hospital she realized the seriousness of her attack and armed with a no nonsense doctor she got on the road to recovery.
Five weeks after her heart attack, all of her blood tests came back with great results, she said. She now has to take insulin to manage her diabetes, a strict regimen of medications and manage her weight.
“My thing is to tell women and men too, but to tell women in particular don’t try and second guess it,” Johnson said.
She said that she used to have concerns about bothering the doctors or emergency technicians to look into her concerns about chest pains, but she quickly got the message from her experience not to be ashamed and that her concerns were valid.
She tells others it’s important to visualize an image in your head to ward off bad lifestyle behavior. For her, it’s that commercial of the man with high blood pressure being followed around by a hospital stretcher. Or, she says think of what life would be like for your family if you weren’t around.
Johnson has made some significant lifestyle changes. She tries to watch what she eats. She quit the volunteer job that became like a second job for her. She’s learned there’s nothing wrong with a short nap and although she loves her job at Boeing, she moved up her retirement to the end of March instead of September.
“I’m proud it’s not making an invalid out of me,” Johnson said.
Dr. Fu said there is no “magic bullet diet” that will prevent cardiovascular disease, but there are many ways to eat healthy, which will help reduce a person’s risk of developing the disease.
“In general, reducing one’s cholesterol level, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, and not smoking will all help reduce a person’s risk of having cardiovascular disease,” Fu said.
GLOW Red Dress Tea and Activewear Fashion Show
WHAT: A tea and fashion show to raise awareness about cardiovascular diseases that significantly affect women.
WHEN: 2-4 p.m., Feb. 27
WHERE: Tea Palace Restaurant, 2828 Sunset Lane N.E., Renton
COST: Free
REGISTRATION: By phone, 425-656-4636 or online. Registration is required.
