This story starts back several years ago. My mom, who is a 20+ year breast cancer survivor, was not feeling good and was extremely fatigued for about a year. The Christmas of 2017 she was very sick, seriously congested and no energy what so ever. She even visited to the doctor’s office a couple of times and was diagnosed with bronchitis. Christmas, by the way, is her favorite time of year and for her not to shop, decorate and cook is just unheard of, but 2017 was not usual for her. We were all very concerned about her throughout the holidays. But you know moms, especially if you are one. Keep going even when you don’t feel well, because you always put others above yourselves. So, one morning in January of 2018 she got up and could barely breath. I, thinking that she had pneumonia, gave her no choice and took her to the emergency room. She could hardly walk through the door. Once there they moved her to the heart center of the main hospital. Not knowing what we were fighting, the doctors ran several tests on her and had a heart catherization done. Her doctor was 90% sure that she had a blockage and was going to need bypass surgery. Side note….we are a faith family and had many praying for her. Thank You, Jesus, she had zero blockage. She was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. The doctors don’t know what it came from other than maybe a virus. She had a very difficult time dealing with what she was going through for a while. Often my mom would say that going through cancer was not as hard as dealing with a heart issue. She was in Cardio Rehab for 3 months and her spirits were lifting. It has taken a year but she is on the road to healing and health. She joined the local gym in August 2018….it was a little slow going to begin with. Not because she did not want to, but my dad had both knees replaced in a matter of 4 months in 2018. So naturally she was there for him. Once he fully mended, she started back to getting well. She wants to be here a long time for her family. I don’t know about you but for my dad, siblings and family, we still need the woman who is the glue of our family.
Now for the moral of this story, I go with her to the gym 3 times a week. While there, I am amazed not at the people my age or younger, but at all of the older generations coming in. It is awesome to see that they too are serious about their health and that they want to live a long and fruitful life. I have seen people come in with canes, walkers and prosthetics. How much we take for granted that our bodies will last a long time. Not if we don’t stop mistreating ourselves. It is time to get serious about our well-being because no one else is going to do it for you. You can even make it fun and do it with friends or family. It is, in my opinion better to have someone to help encourage you along the way, and vice versa.
There are a lot of tools and apps out there at our disposal to help guide us along the way to a better lifestyle. One of those tools being the smartwatch. One of my favorites is the FitBit. Depending on which model you have, you can do everything from counting your steps to checking your heart-rate to talk/text to customizing your workout. Some are even waterproof now. My mom and I currently have the FitBit Alta, , which is great because we keep a check of her heart-rate during physical activities. I do hope to upgrade soon!!
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So remember to, 1)exercise, you can join most local gyms(like Planet Fitness) for $10 a month, 2)eat a little healthier, like I mentioned in a previous post, locally sourced fruits/vegetables are great for getting healthy and, 3)drink plenty of water.
I would love to hear some of your tips for a better life! Get out there and start taking care of yourself!!
