Heart disease is killing us more than everything else combined.
An epidemic of heart failure is responsible for the soaring death count!
If you are like most people, you are likely to listen to the medical merchants who will want to manage your heart disease with medical intervention every 10 years.
Yes! Every 10 years.
Coronary artery bypass surgery statistically needs to be repeated every 10 years.
Surgically managing your disease means Continue reading article
Some folks are drama queens, you never know when to take them seriously.
But if you are seriously feeling your body shutting down … dying … then I hope you can get someone to listen to you!
I’m not saying that YOU are a drama queen, but I’ve seen so many people STRUGGLE getting the care they need!
It leaves me wondering, “why won’t your doctor listen to you?”.
My good friend, Terri, had advanced heart failure before they decided to listen to her.
I miss her.
It wasn’t all the doctor’s fault though.
Terri just wouldn’t complain very loudly.
Days before her death she said, “I put up with it too long”.
She was referring to having constant diarrhea for over a year that she couldn’t get anyone to address.
Terri died because Continue reading article
If you have recently received a CHF diagnosis, I don’t want to minimize your concern about what heart failure treatment you might need.
Certainly you must immediately address the life threatening fluid retention that is associated with acute heart failure if you have reached a point that it threatens your life!
Your doctor actually doesn’t want to medicate your fluid retention until he/she absolutely has too. “Water Pills” make you pee off important vitamins and minerals so it really isn’t good for you.
The only reason your doctor would prescribe drugs for fluid retention is because the alternative is worse than the damage the drugs will cause. Heart failure is a serious diagnosis, so you must allow your health care team to stabilize your fragile state before you question the choices you face.
Remember oxygen IS a drug and it is also a vital nutrient!
Once you have achieved a stable balance it is time to realize that your situation didn’t happen over night and it won’t heal over night.
It’s time to take a look at what needs to change and change it! Continue reading article
My conversation with Briana about Bucket List ideas the other day got me singing the song from the movie.
I absolutely love the song sung by John Mayer that addresses a huge issue some folks never work through in their entire life time.
Do you “Say What You Need To Say”?
My daughter’s Bucket List includes travel and chocolate.
Personally, I like the idea of a Bucket List that gives me Peace when I lie down to die.
Saying what I have to say, when I have to say it, would give me more Peace than all the travel and chocolate I could consume in a lifetime!
It’s not like I really have a choice.
I HAVE to “Say What I Need To Say”!
The alternative is to swallow it and let it rot my guts.
I’ve always wondered how people swallow their truth. It makes me think, “Is the truth more costly than rotten guts?”
There is no way to know without walking a mile in another’s shoes, but still I’ve got to wonder.
Recently I was hired to assess an in home care giving situation.
The elderly woman receiving the care had been experiencing dementia symptoms for over a decade.
At times she was very lucid and you could see how intelligent and thoughtful she was.
At other times she couldn’t remember her children’s names.
One particularly enlightening conversation I had with this sweet woman helped me to see Continue reading article
When you are in pain you want it to stop!
How long do you allow pain before you medicate it?
The way I see it, there are two kinds of pain.
One is about growth.
The other is about injury or degeneration.
My father taught me the lesson of positive pain.
When I was eleven, I started taking judo lessons.
My dad was there offering “moral support”.
“Just pull with your arms more!”
“Twist your hip and get under your opponent!”
Dad’s suggestions were not helpful during the confusion of a judo match.
I finally just got so frustrated that I blurted out, “If it’s so easy, you do it!”
It was pure frustration on my part, but my dad rose to my challenge and joined the judo club!
The first day of practice he became so exhausted after five minutes he had to stop and sit for the remainder of the hour. He said later that his first thought was, “I’m too old for this!”
The next day seemed confirmation!
As he struggled to get out of bed he wondered about the wisdom of this decision. He could just quit! Nobody expected the old man to hang in there.
Dad said what kept him going Continue reading article