Matters of the Heart

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I'm talking about the physical heart. We've always known that heart disease and diabetes were strong in my father's family. When my brother had a massive heart attack which killed him at the age of 56, the rest of us kids went running to the doctor to get checked out. Two years later my father died of a massive stroke. But now, my mother has had a heart attack. There has been no history of heart problems in her family except for two of her brothers who brought it on themselves with their unhealthy lifestyles. My uncle died at the age of 90, though he blames himself and smoking. I know, 90 is a good ripe age. Their mother lived to be 98, as did my mother's sister. My mother is in 91 and up until recently in good health. She had 90% blockage in one artery in which they put a stent in. She has two more blockages of 70% which they will do nothing about because of the size of the stent in the other artery, and her age. And now I'm thinking about myself and my children. My husband's mother has had a pacemaker for years, along with low blood pressure. Though I won't be able to get my husband to eat healthier (he doesn't eat veggies), my daughters and myself have to start eating healthier and keep in shape. I've been in a lot of pain lately (the weather playing havoc on fibromyalgia) but I forced myself to walk 40 minutes on the treadmill today. It's time to take control of my health for matters of the heart. I should have done it a long time ago because of the strong diabetic gene on my father's side. But mom's heart attack has opened my eyes a little wider. I'm not very disciplined with my eating (especially with IBS), and am pretty weak where food temptations are concerned. I wish I could afford to have someone come in a couple of days a week and cook some meals, some healthy meals. Not just because of the genetic health issues, but because of all health issues. My brother has had weight issues for a long time, up and down, mostly up. I hope the realization has come to him that both sides of the family are contributors to matters of the heart in our family.