She's been a nurse for 50 years; the last 30, she's also been a heart patient

在50多年的护理生涯中，Marilyn Rantz做到了这一切. She's gone from working one-on-one with patients and serving as an administrator to spending the last 30 years working as a professor and researcher. 她很会写拨款, 太, 为密苏里大学创造了超过1亿美元的收入.

她的大部分工作都围绕着帮助老年人独立生活展开. 为此目的, 她在Tiger Place的发展中发挥了重要作用, 哥伦比亚的一个老年社区, 密苏里州, 它使用房间传感器来监控老年居民，以防可能出现的麻烦, 比如瀑布.

The American Academy of Nursing thought so highly of her body of work that in 2020 the organization named her a "Living Legend."

What makes it even more remarkable is how much she's achieved after the arrival of heart disease.

虽然她的家族有心脏病，但兰茨从来没有过多考虑过这个问题. 她注意饮食，保持活跃, 这个习惯始于20世纪50年代, when young Marilyn and her mother did situps and leg lifts while watching pioneering fitness proponent Jack LaLanne on their black-and-white television.

但就在她40岁生日的时候, Rantz had her cholesterol checked during a heart fair at the nursing home where she worked.

总胆固醇是衡量血液中几种脂肪的指标. 200或更少被认为是健康的成年人. 240或以上的读数是心脏病发作和中风的高风险. 她的号码:256.

“我真是措手不及，”她说.

而胆固醇含量很重要, Rantz knew they are just one measure of overall health and should be considered in context of other risk factors. So when further testing showed her heart was fine, her doctor recommended a wait-and-see approach.

六个月后，在完成博士学位后.D. 在护理中，兰茨非常疲劳. 更让她担心的是，她的脖子疼，疼痛蔓延到她的手臂. 心电图显示她患有一种叫做 束支块. It was interfering with her heart's electrical impulses, causing an irregular heartbeat.

两个月后，她接受了心导管手术. Knowing her way around a cath lab, Lantz started to cry when she looked at the monitor. There were many blockages, including a 98% obstruction of her left anterior descending artery.

这是在支架成为清除堵塞的常用方法之前很久的事情. 当时最好的做法是球囊血管成形术. 心脏病专家用这种方法艰难地打开了她的动脉.

Over the next six months, even the smallest amount of activity caused Rantz to feel chest pain. 一天，她在工作时晕倒了. 四天后，她做了心脏搭桥手术.

Doctors were pleased with how the surgery went but were less optimistic about the long-term health of her heart. 他们告诉她的丈夫，她可能只剩下大约10年的好日子了.

那是在1991年6月.

在接下来的六个月里，兰茨致力于心脏康复. 依靠她自己的临床经验, she went twice a week – instead of the recommended three times a week – so she could extend how long she spent in the program. Despite all her efforts, and her knowledge, it 太k years for her to trust her body again.

Part of the reason Rantz exceeded that 10-year projection was advancements in science – such as the arrival of stents. 医生们分别在2003年、2005年、2009年、2011年和2014年进行了排名.

Then, in March 2019, Rantz was leaving work one day when she struggled to make it to her car. She instead walked into an office and asked them to get her to the nearby emergency room.

尽管她已经和胸痛抗争了三十多年, 兰茨从未感到过如此剧烈的胸痛.

Her cardiologist placed two stents less than two hours after she began having symptoms. 她的迅速反应使问题得到迅速解决. Under less dramatic circumstances, she received another stent in 2020 and yet another last year.

现年71岁的兰茨最近减少了工作量. 她现在每周工作两天. Personally and professionally, she's a champion for what's possible in health care. 这包括为其他心脏病幸存者提供支持和鼓励, 密友兼前同事说, 唐娜奥托.

“如果他们想一辈子都坐在椅子上, 是她推着他们动的,奥托说.

毕竟，作为一名护士和一名病人，兰茨是一个经验之谈.

"Nobody gets to choose their health problems, but this one is very manageable," she said. "The statistics weren't good for us early on, but they've gotten better and better."

发自内心的故事 chronicles the inspiring journeys of heart disease and stroke survivors, caregivers and advocates.

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