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.