Time Well Spent

Dear Reader;

Alas, it is time for me to put down the mouse and discontinue my blog, ‘Rebecca’s Heart’.

This blog has been instrumental in working through my condition. However, I believe that this avenue of therapy has run it’s course. It is now time to move on to other, more satisfying, endeavors.

I would like to thank you all for your kind readership and, if my experience has helped even one person, then it was all worth it.

Good health to you!

Rebecca Fortunato

Unconditional

It’s not a disease; it’s a condition.

So says my fantastic doctor, Dr. Margo Minissian.  She said it in just the right way, too.  Not downplaying it, instead, focusing on the positive.

After all, when you have a ‘disease’, you sound so, well….sick! 

Let’s compare. 

1.) Disease: an impairment of the normal state that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions.

2.) Condition: a usually defective state of health.

Both definitions have a certain amount of right to them.  After all, who among us would argue that chest pain et al ‘impairs our normal state; or impairs our functioning.”  And, clearly, who would argue that our state of health is ‘defective’.

Semantics

It feels more like a matter of he said/she said.  Take your pick; Heart Disease or Heart Condition.  Now, say it aloud.  Which sounds better to you?  I’m leaning towards condition.  It sounds like something I can fix.  Something that might go away in time.  Something that won’t kill me.

The Hear and Now

Asking you, dear reader, to say both aloud may seem a bit odd.  But listen to the words as you speak them. 

Heart Disease.

Heart Condition.

Decide which is better and incorporate it into your vernacular.  Who knows, saying it aloud might make it go away after all.

Live Beyond The Disease

February is fast approaching.  The ‘red’ month… and I don’t mean Valentine’s Day. 

It’s a fantastic thing that a whole month is dedicated to raising heart disease awareness.  Anytime attention is focused on an issue that affects millions of people, it is a worthy cause. 

Overall, much is being done to spotlight what can be done to prevent heart disease.  Heard this one before?  ‘Check your numbers’; ‘Exercise regularly’; blah blah blah.  It would seem that the only awareness being raised is on how best to avoid it.

Since we don’t have that option, what we need now is information on how best to live with heart disease. 

Come To Terms

There.  I said it.  It’s like anything in life; you win some, you lose some.  So what if I have heart disease.  Everybody has something to contend with.  What’s important is how you view it.  Does it define you?  Or, by living your life the best you can, do you conquer it?

 Challenge Yourself

Mentally, not physically.  That’s a given.  Truth be told, I spent the better half of the day in bed.  However, the other half of the day was spent doing the things I love most.  What is it that you love to do most?  Stop to think before you answer.  Sometimes the more profound realizations come when you are quiet enough to hear them.

 Continue To Learn

The beauty of the Internet is that it continues to evolve.  Six years ago, you’d be hard pressed to find anything on the Internet regarding Microvascular Heart Disease.  That is beginning to change.  So, we need to change.  We need to continue to read and to research and to learn all we can about our condition.  You never know… perhaps we can, in some small way, dictate the direction of our care.

 Stretch Forward

Like a cat waking up from a nap.  Your condition might be static, but you don’t need to be.  Expand your horizons.  Volunteer.  Take a course.  Read that book you’ve been meaning to.  Remember, its the small victories that add to the richness of your life. 

Make this a February to remember.  Join the most important cause imaginable… yours.