Bill and Me

I was going to call this post Invincible but apparently I’m not so I’m going with Bill and Me.  It’s about my current events.

This winter after I completed my audiobook, I decided to record some audio stories to post on my website.  I couldn’t just pull stories from my book because the publisher won’t allow me to do that.  I’m limited to twenty percent of the original book.  As I’ve said before, I think hearing is different than reading so that’s why I wanted to expand the audio portion.  Who knows where I’ll end up.

While making the recordings, I could hear myself breathing.  I also noted that I was short of breath and got lightheaded a couple times on the golf course.  I’ve been trying to lose weight and get in better shape so I thought it might be related.  And then about a month ago, my sister Jackie experienced similar breathing issues.  She ended up with a cardiac catheterization and during the procedure had a stent installed.

My symptoms, and her experience, prompted me to meet with my cardiologist.  Long story short, I need to have a heart catheterization.  If my doctor finds something, he’ll give me a tune-up.

In the meantime, he’s written a prescription for two drugs, one for my blood pressure and one for cholesterol, and directed me to start taking an 81 mg aspirin each day.  I went from invincible to drug addict during a thirty-five-minute conversation.  On top of that, he’s put me on a Mediterranean Diet.

I went on essentially a plant-based diet. I live on beans, legumes, vegetables, and fruit. I drink a protein supplement every morning—no dairy. I drink almond milk mixed in with fruit and a protein powder, so I get the protein for the day when I start the day up. It changed my whole metabolism, and I lost 24 pounds. I got back to basically what I weighed in high school.

But I did it for a different reason. I mean I wanted to lose a little weight, but I didn’t dream this would happen. I did it because after I had this stent put in, I realized that after you have bypasses, you lose the veins because they’re thinner and weaker than arteries.  The truth is that it clogged up, which means that the cholesterol was still causing buildup in my vein that was part of my bypass.  Thank God I could take the stents. I didn’t want it to happen again.

So, I did all this research, and I saw that 82 percent of the people since 1986 who have gone on a plant-based diet, have begun to heal themselves.

In all honesty, my cardiologist wanted me to go on a Mediterranean Diet a year ago.  I cut out most of the red and processed meats. I’ve eaten more chicken, turkey, fish and a couple tons of salad, but apparently it was too little too late.  Now I’m in a place that I don’t want to be but I’m confident that I can get myself back on the right track.

I’ve made a new friend this winter.  She’s a vegetarian.  If I take what she knows coupled with what Bill did, I should be good to go. If Bill can do it, I can too.

Six years ago, as I was about to turn seventy-two, I wrote this about my mom.

I had a heart-to-heart conversation with my mom the day she “turned” eighty-eight. Out of the blue she offered, “I think I’ll make it to ninety.”

“I’m sure you will. Grandpa Barner lived to be over ninety so you should too.  I’ll make you a deal. If you live longer than Grandpa, I’ll live longer than you.”

She said, “OK”. And the deal was made.

She held up her end of the bargain.  She outlived her dad by over two years and lived to be ninety-three years, nine months and two days.

My personal goal is March 3, 2041.  If I make it, I will have held up my end of the deal too.  

This week marks the eleventh year since she’s been gone. If I’m going to make it another sixteen years, I’ve got to do a better job taking care of myself.  I should have been for a long time.  I’ve just been lazy.  I have lost almost thirty pounds this winter, dropped a couple of pant sizes and a shirt size.  I need to do it again.  I’m confident that I can.  My recent medical evaluation has given me more incentive.  If I need newer clothes, I’ll just start spending my kid’s inheritance.

I did get one bit of disappointing news from my vegetarian friend.  I wanted to know if potato chips and popcorn are vegetables. She said “no” to the chips and “maybe” to the popcorn.  If you eat the popcorn right out of the field like my friends from Nebraska, you’re probably ok.  Orville’s way is not.

I’ve contemplated asking about the cocoa plant and peanut relationship as it applies to Reese’s Pieces, but I think that would be a waste of time.  She’s gonna say no.