At 27 weeks pregnant with identical twin boys, I was diagnosed with Stage III twin-to-twin…

At 27 weeks pregnant with identical twin boys, I was diagnosed with Stage III twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). One baby had fluid overload and heart and kidney failure; the other was losing fluid and shutting down his kidneys. I flew to Miami that night and underwent emergency fetal laser surgery the next morning. About ten days later, Peter and Maurice were born at 28 weeks and five days and spent nearly three months in the NICU. Today they are healthy and strong.

Medicine saved my sons, but the experience also showed me how easily a woman’s health story can become fragmented. A pregnancy can end while the information from it gets left behind in another chart or another decade.

I had already been working as a physician assistant since 2003, beginning in interventional cardiology and later preventive medicine.
After my pregnancy, I became a patient-family advocate and USFetus ambassador. Today my work asks women one question: At 80, what do you want your heart to let you do?

Pregnancy history, menopause, symptoms, tests, inherited risk, and physical capacity do not automatically mean heart disease. They belong in one cardiovascular story. When women can carry that story forward, they can ask better questions and make clearer decisions with qualified clinicians.

Warmly,

Lisa Zahakos, PA-C
Founder, HEART RESERVE
https://heartreserve.blog/