Robin Asbell: Congenital Heart Defect

As a Twin Cities-based chef, author and cooking instructor, Robin Asbell considers it her passion and lifeās work āto make food that is both good for you and good tasting.ā Her awareness of heart disease and the role a healthy lifestyle plays have always been high, as her father had two heart attacks and eventually died from heart disease. She herself has always been committed to a healthy lifestyle ā riding her bicycle on 50-mile trips and regularly working out at the gym as well as eating healthfully.
āI really didnāt ever imagine that there could be anything wrong with my heart,ā said Robin.
However, in 2008, the then 46-year-old was shocked to discover that she had a fairly rare congenital heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome. Normally, electrical signals follow a certain pathway through the heart, which helps the heart beat regularly. In people born with WPW syndrome, some of the heartās electrical signals go down an extra pathway. This may cause a very rapid heart rate called supraventricular tachycardia, which can be dangerous if it takes the form of atrial fibrillation.
At the time her condition was discovered, Robin was juggling multiple projects and deadlines. When she felt pains in her chest, she popped an antacid and chalked it up to stress. One day when she thought she was experiencing heartburn, she called her doctorās office and spoke to a nurse. The nurse knew that Robin lived near Abbott Northwestern Hospital (ANW) and stressed that she should immediately go there and get checked out. Robin was initially hesitant as she didnāt want to āmake a big deal of it,ā but she eventually was persuaded to go to the emergency room, where an EKG revealed the problem.
Doctors recommended that Robin schedule surgery to correct the heart defect, but since she wasnāt feeling any symptoms in the months after the diagnosis, she continued to ignore it. A nurse kept calling her every few weeks to schedule a surgery consultation, but Robin continually declined.
āIād say, āIām too busy; I canāt go,ā said Robin. āIām answering my cellphone here because Iām riding my bicycle. I kept thinking, āWhy does this woman keep calling me? I told her Iām not gonnaā do this. I donāt need this.āā
It wasnāt until a friend of hers showed her a newspaper article about a young athlete with WPW syndrome who had passed out while playing basketball that Robin finally made an appointment. After meeting with Dr. William Katsiyiannis, an electrophysiologist at Minneapolis Heart InstituteĀ® at ANW and researcher at the Minneapolis Heart Institute FoundationĀ® (MHIF), she was finally convinced of the need for the surgery. Without it, she would increasingly be at risk for fainting, atrial fibrillation and possibly even sudden cardiac arrest.
āI started thinking of what would happen if I started fainting while I was driving or on my bicycle, out in the woods alone, or working alone,ā said Robin. āIām always running up and down somebodyās stairs with some food in my hands or working on cookbooks alone at my house. I do a lot of things alone where I could just fall, or I could be teaching a cooking class and just go headfirst into the stove. I thought, āThis could be really bad, if I just suddenly fell over right now.āā
Through a minimally invasive procedure called a catheter ablation, surgeons destroyed (ablated) the tissues in the extra electrical pathway. After seeing her new EKG, Robin said she was pleased to hear doctors tell her that her heart was now āperfectly normal.ā
Robin has since become a frequent supporter of MHIFās educational initiatives, having spoken at a luncheon and also donated copies of some of her eight cookbooks for various MHIF events.
āWeāve just seen so many advances (in heart treatments), and I feel so lucky to have been at a very cutting-edge hospital,ā said Robin. āI think that itās great that thereās an organization like MHIF looking forward to solving these problems, because again, so many people are affected on so many levels. I mean, some people like me are just born with problems, others need to learn more about preventing heart disease, and of course, thereās a huge need to learn how to fix various heart problems. So, itās absolutely crucial stuff.ā
She added, āI think one of the things that I think never gets enough play is the impact on women. We still have that silly stereotype that itās men who have heart disease and heart attacks. If youāre having a pain in your chest or something in your arm, or you donāt know why your back is hurting ⦠all those things could be your heart. But women just donāt even think about that, and so I certainly didnāt think about my heart at all. Iāve learned to just pay attention; especially to what the doctor or nurse tells you!ā