Choosing Life and Sobriety
As this is Mental Illness Awareness Week (October 6-October 12) and addiction and substance abuse are a part of mental health, I wanted to share something here that I shared publicly on Facebook for the first time last month during National Sober Day. I don’t talk about it much, but alcoholism runs deep in my veins, much like it did my father who was an abusive alcoholic when I was a child. There was once a time when I could and would drink you under the table. The hard stuff was like water in my system. I loved the taste of it and the burn as it went down. But no longer. All of that changed for me when I…
Great News from the Cardiologist
I went for my stress test follow-up appointment this morning, and received some great news from the cardiologist. The stress test results indicate that the strength of my heart has increased 7% over the last year. It’s now 42%, as opposed to 35% at the time of diagnosis with CHF. 50% is considered normal, so I’ve only got 8 points to go to reach that goal. The cardiologist says that if I continue at this pace on the treatment plan I’m on, with the medications, diet, and exercise, I should be able to reach that goal, and beyond, over the next year or two. The test results also indicated that the 30% blockage in the Left Anterior Descending Artery of…