5% isn’t that much of a discount if you go to store, but it is a lot when you are talking about ejection fractions and heart functions. It’s something you don’t want a discount on. It’s something you hope for an increase. I had my annual echo cardiogram last week and met with my cardiologist…
Tag: Acceptance
Try To See The Good In Everything
Change is inevitable. No matter how much we want things to stay or go back to how they were, they never are. So why grieve over the past that can never return. Yes, you were healthy and vibrant a year ago and now you have a chronic illness where you feel like crap most of…
The Weekend Revisit: The Passages Of Time
Why is it that time flies? When I was a boy, it seemed as if time took forever to pass through my universe, but now as an adult, a day, a month, a year flies by in the blink of an eye. I have been at this blogging adventure for a little over two years…
Surviving Without Air!
I recently took a vacation and I decided at the last minute not to travel with my supplemental oxygen. What? Are you crazy man? Yep, you read that correctly. I decided to hop on a plane for a 7.5 hour trip with supplemental oxygen. If you are here for the first time, just a quick…
The Weekend Revisit Of “The Power Of Positivity”
When I was first diagnosed with heart failure in August 2007, I was told my ejection fraction was 25% and I needed to have an ICD implanted. That was immediately after having surgery to close a hole in my heart, and during that surgery doctors came to the realization that sarcoidosis had gone into the heart….
Stumbling Is Another Opportunity To Dust Myself Off And Start Over
What can I say about this disease. It seems I make a step forward and then another one back or sometimes even two. For those of you that are now coming across my blog for the first time, I have a disease known as sarcoidosis and in 2007, I found out that it was in…
Day 40 Of My Mantra Meditation “Challenge” Complete.
I am practicing meditation for a few years now but mostly guided meditations and not everyday. A lot of the time I would fall asleep during it. Today I finished a “test” (I prefer test over challenge) of doing a mantra meditation for forty days straight and I have not missed a day. I will…
The Weekend Revisit Of: The Only True Healer Is You
I came across a blog recently that was written by a person with some of the same conditions that I have – heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. The tone of the writing was very angry and bitter towards both the diseases and the establishment.
The Most Selfish Thing A Person Can Do
I get daily emails of top news stories for my town and surrounding areas and in close proximity are two large bridges that span the mighty Hudson river and a major train line that goes into New York City. Every week, sometimes more than once a week, someone kills themselves by jumping off one of…
The Weekend Revisit Of: Not So Special Anymore
When I first was diagnosed with sarcoidosis, I was just your average sarcoidosis patient. And as time went by, the hole in my heart was discovered, then they found that the sarcoidosis had become active in the heart and the heart went into failure. Then as a result of those things, I developed pulmonary hypertension,…
Wise Words Wednesday : Wayne Dyer #2
Kindness, Always Kindness Originally Posted on MAY 11, 2012 If you find yourself in a confrontation of any kind with anyone, be it a family member or a stranger, before reacting ask yourself, “Is what I am about to say motivated by my need to be right, or my desire to be kind?” Then pick…
Losing The Battle But Never Giving Up On The Fight
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it” – Margaret Thatcher This is my fifth or sixth attempt of coming off of prednisone and again it failed miserably. I started weaning off in November and had pain that was tolerable, and in the middle of February I decreased the dose…
Wise Words Wednesday : Wayne Dyer
Forgiveness Originally Posted on MAY 10, 2012 Revenge, anger, and hatred are exceedingly low energies that keep you from matching up with the attributes of the universal force. A simple thought of forgiveness toward anyone who might have angered you in the past will raise you to the level of Spirit and aid you in…
The Weekend Revisit Of: No Matter What You Do, I Send You Love
When I decided to return to massage school, I was assured by the school that they will work with me and my conditions. The school has been swallowed up by another corporation and the rules have changed. Of course now everyone is back tracking and claiming they never said as such, and that they were…
The Weekend Revisit of: A Wasted Heart?
There is no greater gift than that of a second chance at life, and the ultimate gift is for a parent or spouse to decide to donate their loved one’s organs so that another person may have life. When an organ is donated, the recipient has a second chance, an opportunity given by the…
The Weekend Revisit of: Dangers of Statistics
DANGERS OF STATISTICS Originally posted April 24, 2012 I read a blog today by a heart failure patient who had just crossed their two-year mark of being diagnosed, and according to them, the statistics state that with their particular condition, they had a 50% chance of living for two years. This person apparently is convinced…
Prednisone Withdrawal Symptoms Worse Than The Actual Side Effects?
Here I go again. I have lost count of how many times I tried to wean myself from Prednisone. I am on this drug now for 10 years, 8 months and 23 days, and I tried to come off of it multiple times, all with disastrous results. I was being kept on a maintenance dose…
“Being Hip” Takes On A Whole Different Meaning Now
Sitting in my car in the parking lot of the mall, sipping on a Starbucks Frappucino, waiting for my wife and watching people go by, I try to keep moving around my leg to ease the discomfort of my hip. For the past couple of months my right hip has been aching off and on,…
Why Do I Need To Justify My Apple Watch?
I stood at the counter of the Starbucks, waiting for my mobile order. The ordering line was long and as usual and I could feel the eyes of those in the line on me, watching that I just walked in the door, right past all of them and straight to the pick up counter to…
The Weekend Revisit Of “Crossing Bridges”
Originally posted on April 22, 2012 On a recent trip into NYC for my ICD interrogation, my wife and I took a train down town to see the 9/11 memorial. We have not been there since the buildings fell. Prior to the attacks we were often in the North Tower as my brother had his…
The Weekend Revisit Of “Superman Is Grounded”
Originally Posted April 17, 2012 I went into NYC for an ICD interrogation (Fancy term for reading my defibrillator), a simple procedure where the doctor downloads the information from the device and makes sure everything is okay. That little device – I call him “Buddy” – keeps track of my heart so completely that it…
The Weekend Revisit of “Appreciating My Life”
Originally posted April 10, 2012It’s spring, and with it comes new beginnings, new life, new starts. I recently changed all of my bank accounts to another bank as my old bank was bought out. I had to change my work email address as there were technical difficulties with the old one. Little changes, big steps….
The Saturday Revisit Of “Letting Go Of My Old Self”
Originally Posted March 9, 2012 Letting Go Of My Old Self One thing about having a chronic condition, and in my case, more than one, is that you need to accept that your life, in one way or another, will change forever. I remember the day before I had my defibrillator implanted I knew that…
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Written by Basil Rene © 2016 All Rights Reserved
The Sunday Revisit Of “Is There Such A Thing As Being Too Positive?”
Originally Posted March 7, 2012 Looking at the statistics on my blog, and a few emails I received, it seems the posts with the highest number of hits are those few ones where I am not positive. What exactly are people looking for? Are people look for stories and posts of despair that prove…
The Saturday Revisit Of “It’s All Just 50/50”
Originally Posted January 30, 2012 As I approach my fifth year of living with heart failure brought on by sarcoidosis, I think back to the day that I learned that people with cardiac sarcoidosis have a 50% chance of living for five years and a 20% chance of making it to ten years. Then I…
