Women’s Heart Health & Sci-Fi Conventions

February is Women’s Heart Health Month.

Many of you know about my weight loss journey.  Of course living between two and three hundred pounds for the better part of a decade and hovering around two hundred pounds for a decade or two before then took its toll on my body.  I was diabetic, had a lot of aches and pains and I could barely walk three few feet without getting short of breath and having chest pains.  The times I went into the Emergency Room the doctors said it was angina, not a heart attack.  I had numerous stress tests, echocardiograms and even an angioplasty in which they found some plaque in one coronary artery, but not enough to require a stent.

I was lucky—especially the day I nearly blacked out while singing on the ward at the VA.  I finished the song (clinging to my cane) and then sat down next to my music therapist.  Another patient in the program was playing the piano.

Paula leaned over and whispered, “Rochelle, are you alright?”

I shook my head, which was clearing slightly.

“What’s wrong?”

“Short…of…breath.  Chest…pain.”

“Do you think you need to go to the ER?”

I nodded.  “Let…Jim…finish.”

Paula got the ward nurse while Jim finished his piano piece and they got me a wheel chair.  That day in the ER they gave me four baby aspirin and three nitroglycerine tabs, but still called what happened angina.  I passed both stress and echocardiograms, so they kept me for a day or two and sent me home, telling me I needed to lose weight—like I hadn’t figured that out thirty years and several failed diets ago.

That was when I asked the difference between angina and a heart attack.  When the arteries to the heart muscle are blocked and oxygen can’t get through, you get chest pain.  That’s angina.  If the heart muscle is deprived of oxygen long enough to actually die, it’s a myocardial infarction or heart attack.  You can tell you’ve actually damaged your heart muscle because it will show up on your electrocardiogram and because when heart muscle dies it releases certain enzymes into the blood stream.  You can have cardiac chest pain and even a funky EKG but if those enzymes are not present, you’ve had angina or a “cardiac event,” but not a “heart attack.”

At some point a doctor ran a test and asked when my heart attack was.  There were times when I had chest pain but did not go to the hospital.  I can think of two off the top of my head.  If you have chest pain that lasts more than twenty (20) minutes Get Thee to the Hospital FAST to paraphrase Shakespeare.  And whatever you do, DON’T DRIVE YOURSELF!  Here’s a good rule of thumb for us women caretakers who don’t want to disturb anyone.  Ask yourself this question:  If this was happening to my husband or my child, would I call 911?  Treat yourself you the way you would treat the people you love.  And don’t ask anyone to drive you.  If you code in the car, they can’t treat you.  Do you want that on their conscience?  If you want to be around for your family, you have to turn the Golden Rule back onto yourself.  I know it’s difficult.  We want to take care of everyone else and we don’t want to bother anyone.

Don’t necessarily look for chest pains if you’re a woman.  We have the strangest symptoms when it comes to heart attacks.  I attended a seminar conducted by a group called Women Health at the VA where they talked about many of the ways heart attacks can be different for women than for men.  Neither of the ladies there had typical heart attacks.  Neither knew she was having a heart attack when hers occurred.  They also told us that heart attack is now the number one killer of women.  That’s partly because we have such atypical symptoms we don’t always go to the ER and often when we do, we get left sitting in the waiting room with heart muscle dying while patients with less life-threatening problems get seen before us.

One of the times I did not go to the hospital, I had chest pains, but they were radiating to my right shoulder instead of my left.  Every book I read and movie I saw showed the person clutching his left arm.  I was a guest in the home of a bunch of smokers and it was late at night after having inhaled a bunch of second-hand smoke and about coughed up a lung or two that the pain started.  I bundled up and sat on the porch for three hours trying to catch my breath with pain in my chest and right shoulder, thinking maybe I tore a muscle coughing.  When I finally went inside and went to bed, I dreamed I was in pain and woke up because of it later that night.  I’m probably lucky I woke up at all.  Most fatal heart attacks occur between three and five a.m.

So, what the heck does any of this have to do with science fiction conventions?  I’m getting there.

Two weeks ago after a busy day, I came out of Wal-Mart, got into my car and my head exploded.  I dialed 911 thinking I was having a stroke.  My blood pressure was 198/80-something and my pulse was down around 50.  A C-T scan of my brain showed no sign of a clot or bleed so it wasn’t a stroke.  I told the doc I was having an anxiety attack because I had some chest pain.  Guess what?  My cardiac enzymes were slightly elevated.  I had a mild heart attack.  If I hadn’t asked for something for anxiety, chances are the docs would never have looked at my cardiac enzymes.  They would have treated me for a migraine or sinus problems and sent me home.

I should have realized something was wrong.  Leading up to the incident I’d been tired and unable to walk or work out as I did before.  I would do my morning walk wondering, “Why do I feel tired?  Why do things seem a bubble or so off plumb?  Where are my endorphins?”  Other signs of a heart attack can be pain in your back, jaw, neck, throat or shoulder.  Women often have an upset stomach.  Many people mistake chest pain for heartburn.  I’ll post links at the end for more resources.  Before they let me go home, I passed a stress test/echocardiogram, but since I’m still feeling all of the above symptoms, I’m taking it easy and planning to ask for more tests at the VA where I’m normally seen.  The paramedics took me to a civilian hospital that night, and I’ve not yet been able to see my Primary Care Provider at the VA.

Okay—I’m not sure what the deal is with the headache.  It’s never quite completely gone away.  During the day, I can sort of feel it lurking around the edges.  By night, it comes back if I don’t keep ahead of it with some sort of medication like Tylenol or nsaids. I’ve gone back to my volunteer work at the VA and even done one or two abbreviated work-outs.  This past Friday (Feburary 8, 2013), I had an appointment at the VA and from there I went to CapriCon a science fiction convention.  My intention was to just attend Friday, but I checked my purse with my coat and left my meds in it.  The headache caught up with me fairly early in the evening and I didn’t feel up to driving home.  Some friends allowed me to crash in their hotel room.

One of those friends is an RN.  I quit using my CPAP a couple of years ago.  It was uncomfortable and my sinuses are so badly congested, I felt as though I couldn’t breathe at all with the CPAP on.  Besides, I figured I didn’t need it anymore since I’d lost 145 pounds.  I was wrong.  My friend said my snoring woke her and I stopped breathing several times in the hour or so I kept her awake that night.  Sleep apnea can cause heart damage, which could be one explanation to why I had this heart attack now that I’m thin.  I dug the thing out of the closet last night and used it with mist.  I still felt congested, but I soldiered through and woke up an hour before my alarm went off feeling more refreshed than I have in awhile.  I plan to follow up with the sinus problems as well as cardiology when I see my Primary Care person.

Since I woke up at the hotel yesterday morning, I decided to pay for the full con and stick around.  I’m so glad I did.  Gene Wolfe, one of the few remaining classic sci-fi writers was there.  It turns out he lives in a Chicago suburb.  He’s being honored this year by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association with a Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master award for "lifetime achievement in science fiction and/or fantasy," so they had a special interview with him.  The room wasn’t nearly as full as I expected, which made the interview very intimate and cozy.

Later in the day they had a panel that was right up my alley entitled “Girl Cooties!  Someone put Romance in my Sci-Fi!”  Who should show up and ask if the seat next to me was taken?  Mr. Wolfe!  What a lovely, gracious man.  He’s a Korea veteran, so we compared a few notes on military experiences and talked about writing sci-fi romance.  He was there because that’s what he’s working on right now.  I gave him my cards and he says he’s looking forward to reading my books!  Wow!  Instant silver lining!  I’m so glad I was too sick to drive home Friday.  Still, I can’t wait to see my PCP.  She’ll be out all next week so I can’t get in to see her until the week after.  Meanwhile, I’m taking it easy.

For more information on women and heart attacks:

The American Heart Association:  http://www.aha.org/

Women Heart:  http://www.womenheart.org/

Chicon 7 -- The World Science Fiction Convention

In April, I wrote about my experience attending the RT convention as a fan, where I felt like cattle being shuffled from one line to the next.  Over Labor Day, I attended Chicon 7, the World Science Fiction Convention.  This is the convention at which the Hugo Award ceremonies are held.  They’re the highest honors in science fiction, given to the best in literature, drama and fandom (i.e., fan-fic, fanzines, etc.).  There were over five thousand people there, and yes—in some instances there were lines—for food, guest of honor panels and autographs, and of course the masquerade (which anyone could enter) and the Hugos.  However, no one had to stand in line to get a number to stand in line for an autograph.

Some of the ribbons I ordered

I was on staff for this convention.  I did clerical work for the Executive Committee before the convention which got my registration cut in half.  In fact, I put in enough hours even before the con that I learned at the con, my registration will be refunded.  I also earned a lanyard and a water bottle.  At sci-fi conventions, people wear ribbons that attach to their name badges to identify their jobs and then there are ribbons they can pick up along the way at parties and such.  In addition to the administrative work I did for the Executive Committee, I was also the Ribbon Wrangler.  It was my job to order the official convention ribbons for the Executive Committee, Division Heads, Area Heads, Staff, Hugo Award Nominees, Past Hugo Award Winners, Guests of Honor, Program Participants, Speaker Liaisons, etc.  There was a “field trip” to the Adler Planetarium here in Chicago so we ordered a couple thousand ribbons that said, “My God, It’s Full of Stars,” and one of our guests of honor was Sy Liebergott, the Apollo Program EECOM.  He was the man who told the astronauts on Apollo 13 to “Stir the cryo tanks.”  Those tanks blew up and it took a lot of savvy and hard work to bring them home safely.  Sy was played in the movie by Clint Howard, Ron Howard’s brother.  We ordered a couple thousand ribbons for him that said, “Failure is not an option.”  I had him sign mine, and I got to schmooz with him a bit.

Me with Sy Liebergott, Apollo EECOM

I figured I’d get there the day before the con, hand out my ribbons, and be free to enjoy the con.  It wasn’t that simple.  Since each staff member got a lanyard and a water bottle, they decided each staff member should come in and get his/her ribbon and gifts individually and that I needed to check their name off on a master list.  Needless to say, there were glitches.  I had to ask people who were not on the list to get their department heads to give them a note or come in with them to verify they really were staff.  In some instances their names were supposed to be on the list but somehow were omitted.  In some instances they were people who were drafted at the con.  One young man put in a few hours slicing vegetables in the staff/participants lounge and they were calling him “staff” so he thought that qualified him.  At that point, I didn’t know you needed to put in twenty-five hours to qualify for a staff ribbon, and I had difficulty explaining why a few hours cutting veggies didn’t earn him a ribbon and a water bottle.

Lt. Cmdr. Timothy Bailey (RMN)*, Astronaut Story Musgrave, & Me.

I ended up sitting in the office Wednesday (pre-con), Thursday, and Friday.  I did get to the Planetarium Thursday night, but I missed a few panels I had planned to attend.  Ah, well—I really did earn that refund.  On the other hand, when I went down to the Exhibits Room, half the people I met in the office were people whose photos were on the wall as having made major contributions to fandom by organizing major conventions, publishing sci-fi magazines, or editing fanzines over the years.  I also met some of the Hugo nominees and they combined the staff lounge with the green room so I still got to eat and relax with the authors and panelists.  I met Gene Wolfe, passed Alan Dean Foster, and said hi to both Mike Resnick and Eric Flint, both of whom I’ve met at other cons.  I stood in line (not too long) to get Dr. Story Musgrave’s autograph.  He was one of the builders of the Hubble telescope and he was also one of the first people to go up and repair it.  He replaced one of the mirrors on it.  He was on an episode of NOVA on PBS, advising the second team that went up to work on it.

The Adler Planetarium

Even though my job bled farther into the convention than I expected it to, I really enjoyed being in the middle of everything.  Yes, I would do it again if I had the chance.  I greatly prefer being part of the con than being shuffled around like so much cattle, not that I ever felt that way when I was out and about enjoying the con as just another fan.  Oh, and the green room wasn’t the only place that had food.  The con suite was kept stocked with cold cuts, salad fixings, fruit, and munchies pretty much 24/hours/day.  They even had vegetarian and gluten-free choices.  Maybe I would have had a much different experience at the RT if I had paid the $500 to attend the full con, but I’m not so sure.  Would they have fed me as well?  Somehow, I doubt it.  And I noticed that even the people who paid $500 had to stand in line to get a number to stand in line that day.  They just got to stand in line first.

I’m not saying I’ll never attend another romance convention.  I’m saving up for Lori Foster’s next Spring.  I understand it’s smaller, but there are still great opportunities for networking, and it sounds as though it will be more like a sci-fi con and less like a cattle call.  I’ll let you know.  ;-D

*RMN—The Royal Manticoran Navy, based on the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.  (No relation.)  Honor is a starship captain at the beginning of the series.  She eventually becomes an Admiral in two navies and a member of royalty on two planets.  Her fan club is organized as the military in the books.  I’m a member, and Tim is the Commanding Officer of HMS Galahad, a destroyer.  I am the ship’s Chief Bosun’s Mate, but we have too many members for a destroyer and will soon be splitting the chapter.  When that happens, I will be promoted to Lt. Cmdr. so that I can take command of the Gallahad. Friday night at the con, we had dinner with the man who will be my executive officer once Tim's new ship is commissioned and the Galahad passes to me.  Membership is free.  All you have to do is read the books and go to the website.  http://www.trmn.org  If you live in the northern suburbs of Chicago, you might even end up aboard Gallahad!

"Into Peril We Ride" the HMS Gallahad Crest

Line-Up at the RT Corral

Chris Winters Mr. Romance 2008, Me, and Len Gunn Mr. Romance 2011

Being part of a convention is much more fun than going in as a tourist.  I don’t necessarily mean that you have to be on panels or the staff of every convention you attend—I mean it’s much more fun when you pay full price and attend the whole con.  That way, you can go to all of the workshops, hang out in the con suite until all hours, attend the banquettes (depending on the con and whether they cost extra), and go to all the various parties in the evening.

It is, however, even more fun if you participate behind the scenes so to speak.  I don’t know if this applies to romance conventions, but at science fiction conventions if you put in enough volunteer time, you can get your registration either reimbursed or rolled over for next year.  In fact, most sci-fi cons have a “gopher hole” for people who volunteer to run errands throughout the con.  It’s a large room where you can bring a sleeping bag and crash for the duration and not have to pay for a hotel room.  If you’re on a panel, you can hang out in the green room which usually has better food than the con suite and sometimes you can even hob-nob with the guests of honor.  I had a nice long conversation with two best-selling authors in the green room at one convention, and have since become a fan of their books.

I must preface this paragraph by saying that I think the Romantic Times people did a fantastic job of crowd control.  There’s only one suggestion I could make—they should have given out tickets to see the best-selling authors at the door.  Going in on Saturday as a reader, I felt as though I was at an amusement park going from the line for one ride to another.  For the E-Tickets (Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris, Sue Grafton), you had to find a person with a red shirt and get a ticket to wait in line.  Of course, if you could spot the person with the red shirt, you had to wait in line to see them.  The signing room doors opened for convention-goers an hour before they opened to the readers, and when it was time to check out, the authors and conventioneers were, of course, first again.  I’m not used to attending a convention as cattle, but that’s a bit what I felt like.

There were high points.  If any of you are fans of Mary Janice Davidson’s Betsy Taylor vampire series “Undead and…,” Mary Janice was at a regular table with everyone else.  You did not need to get a ticket to stand in line to see her.  She’s a wonderful down-to-earth Minnesotan, and we connected!  I bought the last copy of an “Undead” book from her and got her signature.  I can’t praise her enough—either her writing or her graciousness toward her fans.

Jennifer Brown (J.D. Brown, Danielle Ravencraft) and Charlene A. Wilson

My other high point was meeting people I know from the internet but have not met in person before.  The first two were Charlene A. Wilson, who writes “The Chronicles of Shiloh Manor” series.  I’ve edited both books and they’re really good.  Charlene says I’m prejudiced, but believe me—I don’t praise every book I edit.  The next is Jennifer Brown who writes as J.D. Brown and Danielle Ravencraft, depending on the heat level of the book.  Charlene came up from Little Rock and the three of us car-pooled from my house and shared a hotel room.  We went sight-seeing in the Loop and up the Magnificent Mile, and of course before we left here we checked out the Volo Auto Museum which is practically in my back yard and where my daughter and her fiancé both work.  And while we were downtown, we made sure we walked up to the House of Blues so we could take a photo of Jennifer since her short, hot Danielle Ravencraft series “A Trace of Love,” “A Trace of Passion,” and “A Trace of Hope” takes place there.

With Mary Alice Pritchard aka Marla Munroe

And finally, at the signing, I ran into Mary Alice Pritchard, who was the first author I ever edited.  I was her first editor and she’s another author of whom I was proud.  Talk about laughing and crying at the same time!  It’s been almost ten years since we worked together, but we became friends and it was so good to see her.

My next big convention will be Chicon 7, the World Science Fiction convention that’s being held here in Chicago over Labor Day weekend.  I’m attending the whole thing.  I’ll be on a panel, I’m “wrangling” a speaker (helping him/her find his/her way around the hotel, etc.), and I’m doing clerical work for the Executive Committee.  Don’t know that I’ll have time to schmooze in the con suite or the green room, but I sure won’t be a tourist.  I will, no doubt, have to wait in line for elevators.  At Chicon 6 there were lines for the elevators and hotel security making sure people didn’t cram on and overflow them at night when everyone was going back and forth between the con suite and the parties.  It was, of course, a basic safety precaution.  Anticipated high point?  My former roommate of eighteen months who moved to Colorado will be here!  More hugs and crying!

Charlene A. Wilson

Cornerstone Deep Buy Link: http://www.classactbooks.com/Cornerstone-Deep-by-Charlene-A-Wilson--MobiPocket_p_247.html

Cornerstone Deep Echoes Buy Link:  http://www.classactbooks.com/Cornerstone-Deep-Echoes-by-Charlene-A-Wilson-Mobi_p_327.html

Danielle Ravencraft

A Trace of Love Buy Link:  http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=192&category_id=60&manufacturer_id=92&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

A Trace of Passion Buy Link:  http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=292&category_id=8&manufacturer_id=92&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

J. D. Brown

Dark Heirloom Buy Link:  https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=339&category_id=48&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

Mary Alice Pritchard

Ghostly Mistakes Buy Link:

http://www.thewildrosepress.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=89_126&products_id=992