My origin story: I was born in Moose Jaw, SK, on November 15, 1942. My family moved from Saskatchewan in 1948 to north Kamloops, BC, when I was five-and-a-half. I lived there until 1966. I got married and had two sons and a daughter while we were living in Kamloops. In August of 1966, my family moved to Vancouver and we lived there for a long time. I got divorced in 1973 and I was a single parent for many years and never remarried. At one point, I was engaged to an Englishman who had property in Nanaimo. And, in 1975, we built a house on Lost Lake Road in Nanaimo. I did move from Vancouver to Nanaimo at that time, but then after a few years I broke off the relationship and moved back to the Lower Mainland. It was during that time that I lived in Surrey for a number of years. Unfortunately, my youngest son passed away in 1993 from congenital heart disease before his 29th birthday. He’d had heart trouble from the time he was born.

My age: I’m 79, but most days I feel 60.

Occupation: When I was young living in Kamloops, I worked as a dental assistant. I did that for years until my first child was born in 1963. When we lived in Vancouver, I worked for a lot of non-profit organizations such as the Hyack Festival in New Westminster. I also did work for the Crisis Centre in the Lower Mainland, and the Seniors Lottery, which was an organization to which seniors’ groups all over BC could send in requests for grants every year. After that, I worked for the City of Surrey in the Finance department.

I retired in 2004 and moved back to the Island in February 2005 with my oldest son who was living with me. My daughter had also moved back to Nanaimo after living in Texas for a period of time. After moving to Nanaimo in 2005, I worked for the Heart & Stroke Foundation at the Nanaimo office for a short time. For the past 15 years, (other than in December 2016), I’ve volunteered from March until June at the Salvation Army with fundraising for their June golf tournament, and have also been a contract employee between October-December working on the Christmas Kettle Campaign.

My heart health experience

All through my life, I was very athletic and played just about every sport imaginable. I didn’t experience any specific health issues. Then, in the 1990s, I discovered I had some problems. I felt like my blood was running in the wrong direction. It was nothing serious, but my doctors told me to go every two or three years to have tests. They thought I had heart problems and told me I might go all my life and not need an operation.

So, I did that. I had ECGs and echocardiograms done about every three years or so for a check on my heart. Then the specialist I was seeing in Nanaimo retired, and I realized it was time for me to have another echo done in 2015. My GP put in a request, but it wasn’t happening. So, I called the hospital’s medical imaging department and they said I was actually on the waiting list.

It wasn’t until September of 2016 that I got in to have my echocardiogram done. I went on a Friday afternoon for the test, parked my car, had my test done, felt great, and went back to my car. Then on the Monday morning, I got a call from my GP’s office and they said the doctor wanted to see me again as soon as possible.

I made an appointment and, when I got there, I was told my aortic valve was closing and it was getting quite narrow. Up to that time, I didn’t think anything was wrong with me. I was still golfing and walking, working in the garden, and never had problems, so I didn’t think anything was wrong with me. Osteoarthritis was setting in, but I just thought that was age-related.

After that diagnosis, I was fortunately able to get in to see an internist in late October 2016. He made arrangements for me to go see both a cardiologist and a surgeon in Victoria. He recommended December 31 as the date for my operation.

Early risk factors

I had high blood pressure and high cholesterol for several years before my operation. And my mom passed away from a stroke but she was almost 90 at the time. My maternal grandparents lived long lives, too. But my mom divorced my dad before I was five, so I lost track of my dad for most of my life and never really knew about any health issues on his side of the family.

I had my operation on December 31, 2016, and they replaced my aortic valve. I was in the hospital for six days and fortunately my daughter was a nurse, so she was really helpful. She stayed in Victoria with me and she brought me back home and took care of me. She was very conscious of what I should and shouldn’t do.

But I really have to say that after my operation, I didn’t have any major problems other than a lot of swelling in my legs. It was hard to get in and out of bed in hospital, and they gave me compression stockings and diuretics to take. My son-in-law and daughter looked after me at home in Nanaimo and drove me to medical appointments, so they were a big help. I couldn’t drive for six weeks after my operation.

And I was really happy a week after I got home because I got to go play canasta! My daughter made me wear a face mask because there was a flu going around that January.

Continuing treatment post-procedure

I’ve been really fortunate, I have to say, maybe because of my family support. I never went through any depressions, I was concerned that everything healed up properly, I was careful when I showered, and looked after my incisions. The only thing I did notice is that I’ve always had a healthy appetite, but before my operation, I just didn’t eat as much as before. But that’s gone back to normal now!

The medications I take are Telmisartan, Atorvastatin, Diltiazem and Furosemide (a water pill), and Aspirin. I also take Metformin for diabetes, and Ferrous Fumarate, an iron pill.

A few years before my operation, my original internist had sent me for a MIBI test. On the second day of the test, when I was having a cardiac MRI, my legs suddenly began to shake. I thought I’d ruined the test and they got me out of the MRI quickly. It turned out that my blood pressure had gone sky high so they admitted me to hospital even though I’d had lots of plans that day.

I was in hospital for about a week because of high blood pressure, and they’d also found some blood in my stool during one of my tests. They checked me for an ulcer and my doctor recommended that I have a colostomy – but nothing came out of that. I had to wear a Holter monitor and I also had to have a blood transfusion to raise my iron level as quick as possible. The doctors still don’t know why my iron goes low occasionally and, for awhile, I was getting regular iron injections in my hip.

As for my diabetes, I’ve never been on a controlled diet or required injections. I’m pretty good about controlling it with my diet and exercise and one medication. The last time I saw my doctor, earlier in 2020, the test results were really good. The diabetes hasn’t progressed.

I should also mention that when I have a dental appointment, I’m required to take Amoxicillin, 500 mg - four capsules an hour before the appointment.

Returning to an exercise routine

At first, my daughter noticed that I wasn’t as active as I’d been before my operation, because I always liked to walk and swim. Now I’m walking and doing exercises in the house.

I really enjoyed golfing, swimming, and 10-pin bowling for many years. But I had to give bowling up due to arthritis in my hand – I couldn’t hold the ball any longer. And, as the years went on, the arthritis got worse in my fingers. I also used to play basketball, volleyball, tennis, and badminton. But I can’t anymore because I can’t keep up the game to play a decent match.

Part of the reason I like to golf is that I’m out with my friends in the fresh air. And I like walking around a golf course. A lot of time we only play nine holes, but sometimes 18, and that’s a fair jaunt in the day. With golfing, it’s important that you keep up so you’re not detaining other people.

The only other thing doctors told me over the years was not to stay in hot tubs or a sauna for more than 10 minutes at a time so I still follow that advice now. I was told that by quite a few different doctors and took it to mean that I should avoid them for the rest of my life.

What are the benefits of belonging to the Nanaimo Heart Sisters?

I heard about the Heart Sisters when I was here in Nanaimo, because I’ve volunteered a lot for the Heart & Stroke Foundation and the Salvation Army. Janice Krall (formerly of Heart & Stroke) put me in touch with Diane. I had my operation in 2016 so I became a member probably about six months later, in 2017.

I think the benefits are the companionship and being able to sit and talk about the different things we all experience and the friendship from it. It’s a very supportive thing, a lot of women don’t know people who’ve gone through similar experiences. I definitely feel that because most women are so used to being the caregivers that we don’t worry about ourselves as much as we should. I’m really happy to be part of such a wonderful group of women.

* Donna has a been a canvasser for the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada for more than 20 years, and her volunteer efforts have been profiled in a story featured in the Heart & Stroke newsletter, Healthline.

You can read about Donna’s dedicated volunteer work here.