The casual conversation that alerted couple to husband's serious health problem

Richard and Antoinette Colbran first met when they were both working in politics - she for a health minister in Canberra and he representing the Australian Association of Surgeons.

It was 1983, and what began as a phone meeting to discuss surgical standards and regulations was the beginning of a love story that continues to this day.

Antoinette says the irony of the fact her husband used to represent surgeons, and his reluctance to see doctors himself, isn't lost on either of them.

Most recently, Richard had been suffering from left shoulder pain for about a year and had no idea it was the lead up to a heart attack.

"He thought he'd hurt his shoulder at the gym so he did physiotherapy, acupuncture, visited a chiropractor... nobody could pick anything up," she tells 9Honey.

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The pain continued, and it wasn't until Richard read a story about Nine presenter Leila McKinnon's husband David Gyngell's recent heart attack that he took action, that and conversation with a friend about the article.

The friend mentioned during the conversation they'd had a stent inserted due to their own heart attack that began as pain in their left shoulder.

Richard decided to see his GP who didn't think his left shoulder pain was heart related. Still, Richard insisted he be referred for testing.

He was was told he'd need a stent inserted to open up a blocked artery and that the situation was urgent.

"I dropped him off at 6am at St Vincent's Private Hospital on August 14 to have a stent put in and he rang me at 12noon and told me he wouldn't be coming home that night, they wanted to keep him overnight because they wanted to do surgery, a triple bypass," Antoinette says.

A stent is a tiny tube doctors can insert into a blocked artery to keep it open. The procedure is described as being "minimally invasive".

Bypass surgery is when blood is redirection around blocked sections of the patient's heart using healthy blood vessels from the leg, arm or chest.

Richard's triple bypass went as well as can be expected, and three week's later he is back home continuing his recovery.

"The hardest part [of his recovery] is getting his breath and getting to sleep," his devoted wife says.

They have been told it will take at least eight weeks before Richard fully recovers from the operation. Standard rehabilitation offered to heart patients isn't running at the moment due to the coronavirus pandemic so he is being instructed online via an exercise clinic.

"They have already assessed the type of exercise he is doing," she says. "They try and get him moving. He has been going for walks. He sees the positive side [of his health problems]."

Antoinette initially shared Richard's experience on her Facebook page, urging friends and family to get their health checked.

She wrote: "He had treatment by a chiro, acupuncturist and physio and it was only when he was talking to a friend at Balmoral recently about David Gyngell collapsing on the beach at Byron Bay - that his friend said 'Oh I had a Stent put in for a sore shoulder - it was my heart that cause the pain' with that we whipped him off to the GP to get a referral to a cardiologist we know and she ran all tests and indicated he definitely needed a Stent. Well that 'Stent' turned into a Triple Bypass within 48 hours!!!"

Since Richard's heart surgery, more of their friends have begun discussing their own problems and Antoinette says they were shocked at just how many of them have had heart attacks, but not discussed them.

"One told us they have an echo every 12 months and another said their husband had a massive heart attack but they were near a hospital so got there in time," she says.

"And so they happen all the time.

"He [Richard] just didn't believe you went to the doctor unless you were sick, not as preventative measure."

Richard heart attack wasn't the first time the couple had faced a crisis, having lost their business and family home ten years earlier, causing Antoinette to step in and take over the family business.

"It really prepared me as a resilient person to deal with whatever the outcome is going to be," she says. "Even my sister-in-law said she couldn't believe how calmly I've been able to deal with it.

"But I have resilience through adversity, and I know the people looking after him were the best in the business."

She said the message she wants to share with everyone is to "prioritise your health".

"Get a health check, make sure it includes your heart," she says. "You've got to take charge. If you've got a gut feeling about something, insist on a test for it."

She said if anyone is experiencing pain on their left shoulder or arm, it is worth getting it checked to ensure it isn't something more sinister.

"It is very, very fortuitous that he [Richard] is still here."

Antoinette has written a book about the couple's loss of their business and home and how she rebuilt their lives called Nice Handbag: Don't Forget Your Briefcase which you can purchase here.