My health, my responsibility.

Who is responsible when things have gone wrong?  I was overweight with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar (type 2 diabetes).  The doctors call those three the deadly trifecta that come just before a major heart problem. Both my mother and youngest brother had died at the age of 47 from heart attacks. It had all crept up on me so slowly.  I weighed just 185 when I graduated from the Citadel in 1976.   This is a military college and all of the training you go through while you are a cadet generally turns out very healthy people, and I was no exception.  I hadn't seen an ounce of fat on my body for at least 4 years and I could lift, work,and run with anyone.

Less than one year later I was married to the love of my life and everything was going my way.  I had a good job, a nice place to live and we were starting our own family.  I was enjoying my new life, but it didn't involve any real physical activity.  Occasionally I might run but only to the refrigerator to get a snack.  I worked out of my car every day, and began to eat out all the time except at night when I got to eat my wife's delicious cooking.  We both grew up in the south so fried chicken, country fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy all became a part of my regular food consumption.  Good food and good times always seemed to go together, but it takes a toll, gradually.

I can't remember gaining more than a couple of pounds in one year but I gradually passed 190,and eventually went all the way up to 258 lbs. I went from a 30 inch waist to a 44. I wasn't much different from most people my age, gradually falling into a middle aged malaise of eating more and moving less.  Only now things had gotten drastically worse because even though I had lost some weight recently I was finally asking myself how I had gotten into such an unhealthy place, and more importantly, what could done.This is a question that many people never get right and because of that they remain stuck in poor health and eventually die too young.  This is happening every day all around us if we will just see it.  I was just 57 with 5 kids, a wonderful wife, 3 grandchildren, a relationship with God and way too many productive years ahead of me to give up and just fade away.

I had to face the "how" question to understand why was I in such bad health?  All through these years no one forced me to eat so much.  No one made me eat all those rich meals or desserts.  This was not the fault of McDonalds, Burger King, or Taco Hell.  It was my fault.  I had volunteered for every unhealthy meal I ate so there was no point in getting mad at anyone who made the food, or  sold it to me.  This was my health that was in trouble, not my wife's.  She isn't responsible for my health, I am.  If I suddenly find myself standing before God 30 years early there won't be anyone else to blame but Dan.  Blame doesn't change anything, it only makes you think that you are a victim when you are not.

This was my health.  These were my decisions, and this was my responsibility!  I was determined to find some answers, and I have, but nothing ever changes until we come face to face with the real culprit in this story.  I looked in the mirror and discovered it was me.  Unless I got educated, got my body moving, and changed my personal relationship with food I wasn't going to go very many more years.  I hope you'll be encouraged by my journey because the truth is that you can change your life!  They just started a new season of "The Biggest Loser" on television and I get excited every time I watch it because I can see many people in far worse shape than I was that lose weight and get healthy.  So be encouraged today and continue to join me every week as we share my journey to reclaim my health.  I don't have all the answers, and the ones I have found may not be for you.  I am just willing to share the journey and hope that it encourages you that your life can change.

Starting the journey...

I am 58 years old and my life is not over!  I am in the midst of a relaunch campaign to bring into this glorious world a new, improved and updated me.  A little more than a year ago (Jan. 23, 2012) Dr. Edward S. Novey, a neurologist in my hometown, spoke a short sentence to me that was devastating.  "You have Parkinson's Disease", he said, "and you should do everything you can to eliminate stress from your life." At that time I was the pastor of a local church that had been struggling to grow for the previous 9 years.  I was managing the latter part of a lucrative, but pressure-filled insurance career, as well as a 161 acre horse farm which was taking a significant toll on my wife and me both physically and financially.  I had been eating stress for breakfast (NOT the breakfast of champions!) for almost my entire adult life and this guy is telling me to make enormous changes, or else?

This past Christmas my older brother, Bobby, who is only 61, suffered a major heart attack.  He actually died in the emergency room, his heart monitor displaying an ominous, straight line.  Because his wife Wendy is a nurse she recognized the fear in his voice when he told her during a brief phone call, "he didn't feel right", and insisted he drive directly to the hospital. It's my most earnest desire that I never hear the words, "Clear!", as a medical team hovers above my body.

Just a few weeks after Christmas Bobby's doctor summoned him back to the hospital to attempt opening a second and third artery.  I flew to New Jersey to offer familial love and support.  My second brother, Mike, and I sat with Wendy as the surgery unfolded, hoping and praying for the best possible outcome.  We had lost our youngest brother, John, to a heart attack just 2 years ago, and I felt tremendous compassion for her as the procedure dragged on, this reality sitting heavily on each of us.  Thankfully, they were successful and he has come through it all with his typical smile and affable attitude.  His cardiologist gave him the green light to return to work this past week and we are all cheering him on in regaining his life.   Sometimes our lifestyle choices have an terrible impact on those we love.

The Parkinson's diagnosis and my family's history of heart disease have been a startling wake up call for me.  I am only 58 and still have a large part of my life in front of me, but I have had to make some very difficult decisions to do things I would never have imagined or even considered before.  Radical choices are the price you have to pay if you want to reclaim your health and live a long and productive life.  In the days ahead I am going to blog about what options I'm pursuing and  how they are impacting my life, my marriage and my career.  I have 5 children and 3 grandchildren so far and  I love each of them with the force of a hurricane so I need to be the strongest and healthiest I've ever been.  I am willing to try anything that offers genuine help and I will be sharing openly what does or doesn't work for me.  I am not going to tell you what you should or shouldn't do.  I will only be sharing my journey.  If you are concerned about your own long term health, then I hope you will join me as I continue on the path to reclaim my health.