Local woman had no real symptoms of a major heart valve problem

Heart disease is not the only problem men and women need to watch out for. Problems with one's heart valves or rhythm can also be a huge risk to your health.

Jeanette Kellerman, of Cedar Rapids, found this out for herself more than 20 years ago. Returning to work as a nurse after raising her kids, Kellerman was required to take a physical.

“I've always had a very slight heart murmur,” Kellerman says. “I had been to my family doctor in November and he said it was fine, that it wasn't any louder.” Yet, the nurse practitioner who conducted Kellerman's physical thought it needed a closer look.

“Thank the Lord for her. She thought I could have aortic valve disease and asked if I'd ever had a cardiac workup.”

Although Kellerman had no other symptoms, Kellerman went to a cardiologist who did an echocardiogram and did diagnose her with aortic valve disease. Her doctors took a wait-and-see approach for five years. At that point, “my valve got smaller and I ended up having it replaced.”

Now retired at 73, Kellerman feels very fortunate that her story has a happy ending. She's still able to volunteer her time at several free medical clinics and is able to live a very active lifestyle with no restrictions.

Looking back, she realizes she had some risk factors for heart disease.

“My mom had heart disease,” she says. Kellerman also admits that her weight has gone up and down over the years. “My eating habits weren't the greatest when I was younger. I just ate anything and everything and didn't eat well-balanced meals,” she says.

Kellerman felt that her job as a nurse specializing in physical rehabilitation more than made up for her other less than healthy habits.

“Working in rehab, you do a lot of lifting, a lot of transferring of patients because of their inability to move themselves,” she says.

Looking back, Kellerman realizes that physical activity wasn't enough to protect her heart. Today, in addition to walking every day, she eats a more healthy diet and drinks a lot of water.

“It's very important to eat a well balanced diet,” she says. “Now I'm more conscious of what I eat.”

Kellerman encourages everyone to be more conscious of mindless eating.

“There's so much junk around,” she says. “You go to a meeting and they think they've got to serve cookies, when we don't really need anything, maybe just something to drink. Our society has gotten so we think that we need to feed people all the time.”

Kellerman often talks to her children and grandchildren about taking care of their health now so in later years they won't have the problems she had.

“You've got to take care of yourself and advise your family to start young.”

Kellerman encourages everyone to slow down enough to pay attention to their bodies and talk to their doctors about any changes or unfamiliar feelings.

“We're so busy with other activities and taking care of our families and our jobs, that sometimes we don't think about ourselves. We just have to be aware of our health.”

Learn more about how to protect your heart at www.GoRedForWomen.org.