{"id":2664,"date":"2023-05-05T11:29:40","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T15:29:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=2664"},"modified":"2023-05-05T11:29:40","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T15:29:40","slug":"toni-braxton-shares-that-she-had-emergency-heart-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2023\/05\/toni-braxton-shares-that-she-had-emergency-heart-surgery.html","title":{"rendered":"Toni Braxton Shares That She Had Emergency Heart Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2676\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2676\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2676\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2023\/05\/toni-braxton-credit-kathy-hutchins-shutterstock-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"toni braxton\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2676\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kathy Hutchins\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Toni Braxton shared that she\u2019s lucky to be alive seven months after an emergency heart surgery for a blocked coronary artery. The singer, who\u2019s been open about her battle with the autoimmune disease lupus erythematosus, says she lost track of her regimented preventive care, which includes regular blood and urine tests.<\/p>\n<p>Braxton said she also experienced some chest pain. After dismissing the pain initially, she sought medical treatment. She told <em>People Magazine, \u00a0<\/em>\u201cI kept putting it off thinking, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m fine. I\u2019ll be okay.\u2019 But my doctor was persistent, and I went to get tested in the last week of September. I did a specialized test, and they looked at my heart and saw some abnormalities. I found out that I needed a coronary stent. My left main coronary artery was 80 percent blocked. The doctors told me I could\u2019ve had a massive heart attack, and I would not have survived.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Braxton said of learning she had a more severe condition, \u201cIt was a traumatic moment for me. I was in shock. I remember that day because my chest was aching often, just hurting. And I thought I was just sad because, unfortunately, my sister\u00a0Traci Braxton had just passed, and I thought, \u2018Wow, I\u2019m really aching in my heart for my sister.\u2019 And come to find out, of course, I was sad about my sister, but I also had underlying health issues. It was my body talking to me, telling me something\u2019s not quite right.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KFbpb3Zo19A\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>According to the Cleveland Clinic, the heart attack, known as a widowmaker, is one where you have a complete blockage in your heart\u2019s most significant artery. The left anterior descending (LAD) artery sends oxygen-rich blood to your heart\u2019s left ventricle. Braxton told <em>People, <\/em>\u201cIt was really a scary moment. Had I not gotten that test, my life would\u2019ve been different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the procedure, Braxton stayed in the hospital. While appearing on \u201cToday,\u201d Braxton shared that doctors had told her she was \u201ctouch and go\u201d for a bit. The Grammy-award-winning singer said her goal is a \u201clong life and old age,\u201d emphasizing the importance of regular screenings, which she does every three months.<\/p>\n<p>She joked, \u201cI look at it like it was a blessing in disguise for me because now, putting off tests? Oh no, I will not put off tests. If all I have to do for my lupus and kidney health is pee in a cup, I can pee in a cup. How many times do you need me to pee? If all I have to do is get my arm pricked for some blood? Oh yes, I can do that. How many vials do you need?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Admittedly, Braxton\u00a0says not every day is perfect. She shared, \u201cThere are good days and bad days. I\u2019m going, to be honest; sometimes, the bad days get me down. I\u2019m not superwoman. I like to think I am. I like to feel like I\u2019m that boss b&#8212;h all the time, but I\u2019m also a human. When my body tells me to take it down and relax, I have to listen to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toni Braxton shared that she\u2019s lucky to be alive seven months after an emergency heart surgery for a blocked coronary artery. The singer, who\u2019s been open about her battle with the autoimmune disease lupus erythematosus, says she lost track of her regimented preventive care, which includes regular blood and urine tests. Braxton said she also&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":2676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101,168,40],"tags":[21,651],"class_list":["post-2664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-heart-health","category-illness","category-physical-health","tag-heart-health","tag-toni-braxton"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Toni Braxton Shares That She Had Emergency Heart Surgery<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Grammy-award-winning singer Toni Braxton recently shared that she had an 80 percent blocked artery and needed emergency heart surgery.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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