(Savannah) Six years ago you wouldn't find 64-year-old Jean Maloney working out. The mom, grandmother, and ICU nurse thought she was on her health game. "I had some shortness of breath, which increased on exertion." Brushing it off led to a serious problem. "Went to bed one night one night, woke up very short of breath, was in congestive heart failure." A stress test shocked jean. "The results showed that my heart muscle wasn't getting the oxygen that it needed." Turns out jean's condition was far worse. "The following Monday I was at St. Joseph's/Candler Hospital having Open Heart Surgery, having 5 vessels replaced." Jean's story should be a lesson for all of us. "I'm too busy. Women are too busy. We have families, we work, we try to take care of others. We don't take care of ourselves. We really don't." Treatment presented a change of heart. Jean transferred from ICU to educate cardiac patients about lifestyle changes. "They come to me and say did you have this symptom, did you have this symptom, did you have that? I say yeah, but it's going to take time. Everything heals. It really does." Jean says she works out 6 days a week now. She swears by cardiovascular exercise, saying it keeps your heart strong, helps with hypertension, and keeps your weight down.
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