Valentine’s Day this year for Joanna Moore and her husband, Merlin, is all about heart like it is every other year. What makes this year different is they are thinking more about heart health, heart care and healthy living.
The reason? Last year she survived a heart attack thanks to a quick-thinking husband and the medical staff at Scott &White Memorial Hospital.
It had been a stressful week. But Joanna, Realtor for RE/MAX Temple and one of the top real estate agents in Temple and Texas, was accustomed to stress; in fact, thrived on it. This was different, though. Two days earlier she had found out her husband’s cancer was back and he needed to go in the hospital. Her beloved dog Clyde was in the hospital after eating a chunk of rubber and poisonous plants.
On Sept. 26 she finally had a chance to relax by celebrating her husband’s birthday with friends at a local restaurant. The only thing unusual about the day was an irritating pain in her neck. She remembers leaning over to a friend at dinner and telling her the pain in her neck was intolerable. Once again, she put it down to stress.
Looking back, she realizes she had signs that she ignored. Tingling feelings in her legs, the occasional tightness in the chest that would pass. Pain in her neck and shoulders - all signs that a heart attack was imminent.
“She had signs,” Merlin said. “But she doesn’t go to the doctor.”
Nothing had prepared her for the life-changing events that would take place late that evening when she would be in the hospital, fighting for her life.
Joanna has been a Realtor since 1980. “It was a case of empty nest syndrome,” she said, explaining she needed something to do after being a stay-at-home mother for her three children.
As with everything in her life, she entered the real estate business with gusto. As always when you strive to be No. 1, something has to be neglected. In Joanna’s case it was exercise. “I used to exercise regularly, but being busy I just cut back.” Her job is not sitting at a desk all day, she runs around showing houses to clients all the time, but that wasn’t enough.
Now she walks 45 minutes, five days a week. “I am making time for it,” she said, “and the dogs are just loving it.”
Diet was never really a problem for Joanna. “We like chicken and fish. Beef has never been a big part of our diet,” Merlin said. Joanna is now more aware of what she is eating. “I have a sweet tooth, but I limit myself,” she said.
For Joanna slowing down at work just isn’t an option, she loves her business that has grown over the years. “I have my husband come in now. Since 2005 he has been a Realtor, too. We love working together,” she said.
Joanna’s health problems were more a matter of genetics because she had always been heart-healthy, knowing her family’s history of heart disease.
It was success that contributed to her stress levels. She now approaches all aspects of her with the same vigor she gives her business.
