What is my prognosis?

I was just diagnosed today with minimal atherosclerotic disease bilaterally at the lower end of the less than 50% stenosis category bilaterally.  Can you tell me what my prognosis is with this?  I am a single mother, age 51, whose ex-husband is dying from end-stage liver failure.  I am really concerned about my two children still living with me, ages 10 and 13.

Any information would help.  Thank you.

[erijon]

Your stenosis still require no intervention and should be treatable with meds and some lifestyle changes. I would not be concerned with prognosis at this time because with the proper intervention including meds, exercise and diet you should have a normal life unless there's something here I'm missing.

You need to do everything you can to slow or stop the progression of your blockages. Is your cholesterol under control? How about your blood pressure? What meds have your doctors put you on so far? Do you have other risk factors that can be controlled like being overweight or smoking? If so, losing some weight and not smoking would be a great start. How about a family history of early onset heart disease?

Again, with the proper changes in your life to control the progression of your CAD, I don't see why you need to worry about your life being shorter than anyone else's. Just make sure to get these looked at as often as your doctors say, most likely yearly.

Good luck!

Jon

[Flycaster305]

Did the doctor tell you which arteries are starting to show Cardiac Artery Disease?  
Reinforcing what erijon suggested, you have really been given a gift of a warning.  If you have risk factors like smoking, overweight, diabetes, poor diet, etc you can start eliminating these risks.