Good Health

HolaAmigas,

So summer is finally here!!!

WoooooHoooooo

I am sure everyone has been trying to get beach ready since January.  The operative word in that sentence is "trying".  Yes I have been "trying".  I go to the gym...once in a week.  I don't go for  two weeks.  I go walking once in another week.  Don't go for 3 weeks…and so on.  That is my workout regimen.

I am pretty active.  Having a six year old daughter, a 4 year old grandson (soon to be 5), and a 3 month old grandson, does not allow me to be sedentary.  And still I am overweight.

So this is not so much about weight but health.

I recently went to the doctor for a full physical.  I have borderline cholesterol (it has been like that for more than 10 years now), borderline (high) blood pressure, my thyroid level is low (it can make you feel tired and weak and raise your cholesterol level), and I am anemic (also causing fatigue).  My doctor sent me to the cardiologist STAT.

I was very alarmed to hear all of this news since my mother (Mami) died of heart disease, my father (Papi) had a triple bypass 12 years ago, and both had (Papi lives with) diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and congestive heart failure .    

Immediately I thought of all the loads of medication Mami took and Papi carries around.  In my head I  was like "oh haellll noooo, I am not taking all that crap!!!)

The cardiologist ordered an electrocardiogram (EKG) to be done STAT.  I was freaking out.  I got flashbacks of when I was Mami's interpreter at the clinic and the countless tests the doctors performed.  And again I was like "ohhhhh haellllll nooooooo, I am not doing this crap!!!"

After the EKG the cardiologist called me into his office.  I guess he read the look on my face which said "ohhhhh haellll no, I am not doing any of this crap."  He told me exactly what I was thinking.  He was not going to prescribe a load of medication, most of my ailments are hereditary, he prescribed a low level hormone for my thyroid, and in three months I will be tested again.  My EKG showed I have a strong heart.

WHEWWWW, what a relief.  I am so happy I did not get an overzealous doctor who was waiting for me with his prescription pad in his hand.  Had that happened I would have got a second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. opinion until I found the one who said what he told me.

I am not a fast food, a sugar and sweets, or greasy food person.  I do love my rice, pasta, bread, all the carbs that turn into sugar in the body.

I was listening to a radio show (WBLS 107.5 NYC) where a doctor, promoting his health detox regimen, said "God would not give us hereditary illnesses."  He went on to say that "we inherit our eating habits therefore inheriting the disease that come along with those habits."

I then listened to another radio program where a woman said (I did not catch the name of the program or the woman) "lack of information and health education, especially amongst Latinos, Blacks, and the poor,  lead to many diseases that can be avoided."

I know this is a subject that is talked about often.  But when are we, us, you and I going to act on the issue.

The cardiologist also told me I had to make major changes to my eating and exercise habits.

I am taking a stand for healthy Amigas/os.  We have to do this for the betterment of our lives, our children's lives, and so on…

With a healthy heart,

AmigaMarilyn