Q&A: Sometimes a conversation is the best way to introduce a book/author to the media. Please provide short answers to the following questions. If you are so inclined, feel free to add a few more specific questions to help round out this Q&A.

Q: Why did you decide to write this book?

The Executive Editor at Johns Hopkins University Press approached me out of the blue in the fall of 2015, asking if I’d be interested in writing a book for them based on my Heart Sisters blog articles--which had already attracted over 10 million views by then. I said NO at first. I’d already written two books several years earlier, and knew how much hard work such a project entails. I was also a heart patient now, and living with significant ongoing cardiac issues, so I wasn’t at all sure that I’d be physically or mentally able. Also, I knew that any book on women’s heart health I’d be interested in writing would be nothing like most heart books written by healthcare professionals—the books with topics like anatomy, risk factors, diagnostics and treatments. I didn’t want to write another book about bad cholesterol or eating more kale! When I was freshly-diagnosed, what I desperately looked for was a book written for and by a woman like me, a book about what it’s like to actually live with heart disease. But I couldn’t find a book like that when I really needed it. After I became convinced that this Johns Hopkins book could indeed become that book I’d been looking for back then, I changed my mind, and said YES.

Q: What were some of the most surprising things you learned while writing/researching the book?

This book is based on excerpts from dozens of my Heart Sisters blog articles. What surprised me most was how certain topics clearly attracted an avalanche of reader responses compared to others. The most popular were invariably articles in which I wrote about the profound psychosocial impact of being an overwhelmed and frightened patient. I especially loved reader responses that started, “I thought I was the only one who felt this way until I read this. . .”

Q: What is new about your book/research that sets it apart from other books in the field? This book is very different from most other heart books. First of all, it’s written by a heart patient, not by a cardiologist. It’s partly a dramatic personal narrative about what it’s like to survive a heart attack, partly an overview of the often-dismissed psychological fallout that heart patients can expect along the road to recovery, and partly a plain-English translation of important research on women’s heart disease. I really like evidence, so I’ve included hundreds of journal references whenever quoting research findings. I know that my readers have questions about this research, like, were any women included in that study sample? On my Heart Sisters blog, I’ve spent years compiling a huge jargon-free, patient-friendly glossary of complex cardiology terms--a really useful resource that I’m thrilled to say is now part of my book, too.

Q: Did you encounter any eye opening statistics while writing your book?

All statistics about women and cardiovascular disease are eye opening! For example:

 cardiovascular disease causes 1 in 3 women’s deaths each year in North America, killing approximately one woman every 80 seconds  cardiovascular disease kills six times more women every year than breast cancer does  cardiovascular disease kills more women every year than all forms of cancer combined  until recently, most cardiac research over the past four decades has been done either exclusively on (white, middle-aged) male subjects, or with fewer than 20% female subjects studied (and most cardiac studies on animals have used only male lab animals)  women are twice as likely as men to die within one year after surviving a heart attack  women who have experienced pregnancy complications like preeclampsia are twice as likely to develop cardiovascular disease (a preeclampsia history, in fact, is now considered to be as serious a cardiac risk factor as a failed treadmill stress test)  the rate of sudden cardiac death of young women in their 30s and 40s is increasing much faster than in men of the same age, rising 30% in the last decade  90% of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in North America are fatal  although smoking rates are declining overall (18% of white women, 13% of black women and 7% of Hispanic women now smoke), 1/3 of cardiovascular disease deaths are still attributable to smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke  only 17.6% of women meet the current Federal Physical Activity Guidelines  90% of women have one or more risk factors for cardiovascular disease  80% of cardiovascular disease events may be prevented by lifestyle changes

Q: Does your book uncover and/or debunk any longstanding myths?

 When it comes to cardiovascular disease, women are not just small men.  A heart attack is a deeply wounding event, and psychological healing can take far longer than physical scars.  Sudden cardiac arrest is not a heart attack.  While chest pain is the most common heart attack symptom for both men and women, many women experience vague or atypical signs - but no chest pain.  Women have unique cardiac risk factors that raise their risk of heart disease (e.g. pregnancy complications, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus).

Q: What is the single most important fact revealed in your book and why is it significant?

There are too many significant facts in this book to be able to pick just one!

Q: How do you envision the lasting impact of your book?

I envision that the women who read Heart Sisters will be able to recognize their own unique experiences in this book--no matter what the specific diagnosis--and feel less alone while coping with a health crisis.

Q: What do you hope people will take away from reading your book?

I hope that the overall take away message here will be that women must stop putting themselves last on their own priority lists when it comes to surviving a health crisis. For example, we know that women consistently delay seeking emergency treatment (yes, even in mid-heart attack) far more frequently than our male counterparts do. So I remind women to ask yourself what you would do if these symptoms were happening to your daughter, or your sister, or your Mom, or to any other woman you care about. Then seek--and demand!--that same care for yourself. You know your body, and you know when something is just not right. Respect that little warning voice inside.