How the lives of others can affect your own is an understatement – meaning this is so true!
I had a scare.
Pain was traveling up my left arm , to shoulder, to neck. What the heck was this? I had shortness of breath and I couldn’t talk.
My husband took me to the hospital. He thought I was having a heart attack – so did I. No, not really – me? A heart attack? Unthinkable. Yet there I was being poked and prodded in the ER and moved to a cubicle waiting to be seen.
My blood pressure was 210/110.
The pain had somewhat disappeared as my husband gave me an aspirin before going to the hospital. By the time we got there my blood pressure had dropped some – 170/90
Then I was escorted from cubicle to an ER bed where an EKG was done, blood-work taken, and seen by various nurses, doctors, and techs.
I arrived at the hospital around 7 PM and at 12 midnight it was decided by the ER doctor to stay overnight for observation which turned into 4 days.
A cardiac protein called Troponin was elevated and needed to be monitored through a blood test every 6 hours. It was a little high showing some potential heart damage. Over time it decreased by the time I went home.
During my hospital stay I also had a nuclear stress test and an echo cardiogram. Both were normal.
I was in slight denial of the whole experience, but very aware of the potential dangers of having such high blood pressure (BP) which became the focus. My BP stayed on the high side and medications were adjusted and I was discharged on a Friday (admitted on a Tuesday).
Throughout the “Mechanics” of being a hospital patient and being poked and prodded, wheeled here and there were the moments I laid in my stiff, side-rails up, gurney type bed thinking – what if ..
What if I died – did I leave my last wishes in order for my family?
What would happen to my son? Husband? Pets? My journals? My websites? … and … and
Then there was my hospital room-mate. . .
Maria was an 80 year old woman, a beloved grandmother in the hospital with CHF (cardiac heart failure), Kidney dysfunction, and diabetes. She had a lot of swelling in her legs her physicians were trying to reduce though various medications.
She was from Russia. Married to a doctor with two children, she came to the USA to start a new life. But when in the USA, her husband suddenly died. She spoke no English and found herself in a dire situation to survive and care for two children.
I don’t know her full story but somehow she managed to find work, learned to speak English, raise her kids and survived. She had a hard life and her she was in the hospital.
Her current health problems scared me more than my potential of having a heart attack. Because she represented to me my potential future as I age. She was 20 years ahead of me and if I didn’t do things to stay well, I could be her – minus the nationality and her story.
Some illnesses are preventable.
I’m NOT going to go down a path that leads me to illness. Good health is like a “Mine field” because the food we have access to is full of crap, sugar is rampant, and a cause for a lot of health issues.
Even though there’s more information about the perils of sugar and other ingredients on your body’s well-being, most advertisers keep promoting the foods we should stay away from.
It’s troublesome.
Which is why you have to be your own food/health advocate.
So I think of Maria and now when I’m 80-years-old I have NONE of her health problems. I’m on a healthier path of wellness now:
- I started eating fish (I hated fish), salmon n particular.
- Back to the gym 3 – 4 x/week
- NO sugar what’s so ever ( I READ food labels
- Have gone NO-DAIRY (I now consume non-dairy products)
- Consume as little cholesterol products as possible (cholesterol comes from animal products)
- Monitor daily my BP, glucose levels, and monthly cholesterol check with a home monitor I have
I’ve read, heard of significant life experiences in people’s lives that have been the catalyst for change.
Perhaps this is one for me.
