Toni Braxton underwent ‘traumatic’ heart procedure after lupus complication
Toni Braxton underwent a “traumatic” heart procedure after suffering a complication from lupus.
The “Un-Break My Heart” singer admitted she “kept putting” off her routine blood and urine tests only to find out last September that she had some “abnormalities.”
“I found out that I needed a coronary stent. My left main coronary artery was 80 percent blocked,” Braxton explained to People.
“The doctors told me I could’ve had a massive heart attack, I would not have survived.”
Braxton, 55, said the results left her 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 [Traci Braxton] had just passed and I thought, ‘Wow, I’m really aching in my heart for my sister,'” she recalled.
“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’s not quite right.”
Two days after hearing the news, Toni underwent surgery to place stent — a tube that opens passageways — in her heart. She remained there for a couple of nights to recover.
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“I 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,” the “He Wasn’t Man Enough” performer said with a laugh.
“If all I have to do for my lupus and my kidney health is pee in a cup, I can pee in a cup,” she added.
“How many times do you need me to pee? If all I gotta do is get my arm pricked for some blood? Oh yes, I can do that. How many vials do you need?”
Six months after her surgery, Toni told the publication that her family is keeping her health and spirits up.
“There are good days and bad days,” the mom of two admitted. “I’m going to be honest, sometimes the bad days get me down. I’m not superwoman. I like to think I am. I like to feel like I’m that boss bitch all the time, but I’m also a human.
When my body tells me to take it down and relax, I have to listen to it,” she added. “But I always try to be optimistic. The glass is always half full.”
