Got to stop another medicine this week!!!
WOOT, woot!!!

Once the bottle runs out on the anti-platelet meds, I will be down to taking pills 2 times a day; much better than the 4 or 5 times a day I started with!

That's all for tonight.

Happy Halloween and God bless.

Today was a day of opposites.
We had the joy of our baby's 3rd birthday followed by the sadness of the loss of my wife's friend to Leukemia.


So, today itself was an opposite; the opposite of Nov. 22. That day started off with me going to the store for milk, followed by the sadness and fear of the heart attack, and then the joy of surevival.


Today DID start with me going to the store for milk, but similarities end there. From that point on, today was a 180 from Nov. 22.

So tO'Day, please pray for Ashley, and her friend's family as they deal with a loss we narrowly escaped not long ago.

Good night and God bless.

My baby turns 3 tomorrow, and how can I say this without sounding repetitive....


I can NOT believe how lucky I am to be here to see it.
I know I have said this about things that have already happened; Thanksgiving, Christmas, other birthdays, including my 47th...but it is no less appropriate, and no less a powerful feeling for me.


I am coming up on 1 year out, so, that means that I am still experiencing things "for the first time".
I am still in that place where I am experiencing things newly after my heart attack.


Next year, I will see my kids turn ANOTHER year older, I will TURN a year older, I will open another Christmas present, see another soccer game....but this year, I am still just experiencing these things as a newly minted "survivor". I will never experience things with that odd sense of finality again (if all goes well anyway).


I'll always have that extra bit of gratitude for being given the opportunity to experience EVERY day I have left, but firsts are always more special to us as humans; and I have had a whole year of nothing BUT firsts.


The next time I feel so honored to be given a second chance will be at some extra special occasion, a wedding, or a graduation. the kinds of things that only happen once in a lifetime anyhow. Those days will be extra special to me knowing what might have been. But birthdays, holidays and other annual things will likely become more "normal" as the years go on.


The year is coming to an end, and so is this iteration of this blog. That is a strange feeling for me. I am not sure what to do as the year concludes, but then again, I guess that will be just another "first" for me, won't it?


Good night & God bless.

Hey guys.

Short one tonight.

On Wednesday, I had my latest cardiology appointment as you know.

Not only did it go well, but the cardiologist took me off of another medicine.

YES!!!!!

I will take Brelenta for three more weeks until my current refill is done, and then no more!

At that point, I will pretty well be 1 year out from the heart attack.

I know it may not seem like much, but that is two less pills a day, 1 less alarm to remindicate new to take meds, and $100 a month I get to keep.

Small steps in a year's worth of recovery leading to better health and fitness.

Good night and God bless.

Had my next appointment with my cardiologist today.
Had a bit of an epiphany today.


I realized that when you have had a major health problem, you become very one-dimensional.
Okay, Craig.....What does THAT mean? What "dimensions" are you talking about?


I mean that your sense of "healthy" becomes very one-dimensional.




As I said, I had my cardiologist appointment today, and it went well. He was happy with my progress. He felt I was continuing with a good solid recovery. As always, there is the question and answer period.
"How do you feel?"
"Any chest pain?"
"Do you have any questions?"


Well, I told him I felt fine, and I feel "pretty good, but..."
As you already know, I have felt a soreness in my chest for a few weeks now. It wasn't a heart attack, but I was sore....officially, I could say I had "chest pain."


I also have been having headaches and a VERY stuffed up nose.


...and back to the appointment......


The take your blood pressure, your pulse, your pulse oxygen. The doctor listens to your lungs (deep breath, and again, and again...). The doctor listens to your heart. Everything sounded fine.


The doctor looks at the EKG that the nurse took (BTW, those take all of 5 seconds). Everything looked fine.


"SO, doc...the pain, the soreness, is NOT my heart?"
"Nope." (Okay, so he didn't actually SAY, nope)


"Whew!" Since the pain was not my heart.....
.....all is okay.


Ummmmmm....wait, there is still a pain in my chest, headaches and hard breathing due to a clogged nose.


See, what I mean by one-dimensional is the feeling of total relief when I found out the symptoms were not my heart. That ONE fact made me feel all better.


But , here is the thing.....I STILL have symptoms, symptoms of SOMETHING.
It may be remnants of broken ribs form CPR, it may be a cold, it may be the fact that I have been lifting has made an old injury resurface; nothing.


BUT, here is the thing....as soon as I found out it was likely not my heart, I immediately said it was "nothing." I had no need to ask, "what would it be." I felt no need to find out more. I was satisfied that that ONE THING was okay.


Now...I don't want anyone to think I am all worked up about what it "might" be. No doctor, was overly worried, not my primary, not my cardiologist, not my physical therapist. It is likely the ribs from CPR.


The POINT is...yes, I promise, I have a point....as soon as that ONE dimension of my health as cleared, I was okay with it. I was fine once it was not my heart. Nothing else almost killed me, so nothing else is worth worrying about right now..............one dimensional.


There is no great lesson tonight, no heartfelt message. I just wanted you to know what is going through my mind lately.


Hope you all are doing well & know that I appreciate you all and the parts of YOUR lives that you share with me every time you sit down to read my work.


Good night & God bless.

I am excited, and I am nervous...tomorrow I see my cardiologist for the first time in 6 months.


The excitement comes form the fact that I get to find out how I am doing.
I mean, how am I doing from the eating standpoint?
How am I doing from the exercise standpoint.
And...by extension, how is my heart REALLY doing?


I mean, I can guess that I am doing fine. I can eat as well as I think I need to and believe I am doing the right things. Wednesday morning I'll know.




The nerves are being frayed because I will hear form the Dr. if I am doing the right things...
As you all know....all of you that have been reading and not falling asleep....I have ben hitting a bit of a plateau lately & workouts are getting to be a challenge.


Well, on Wednesday, I get to find out if my heart is the cause of that plateau or not. That is exciting, but also nerve racking. I mean, I am excited that I will not have to hope anymore, but I am also nervous because I may find out that I have been wrong and there is a blockage somewhere, or there is damage I didn't know about.


I am nervous that I will find out that I have been getting lazy and not paying enough attention to my diet and workouts; am I getting "complacent".


AND, I am nervous at what I might find out is the consequence of being complacent. Will I be told to cut out more kinds of food? Will I be told to be less active? Will I have to undergo some sort of procedure; an angioplasty, and angiogram, a bypass?


I know...I am being a bit over the top, but it all flows through your mind when you are seeing the Doctor for the first time in 6 months, and you are only 11 months from your heart attack.


Tomorrow is my last rehab session before my appointment....guess I'll have to make it count.


I'll let you know how it all goes later in the week.


Goo night & God bless.

This has been an eventful 11 months.
Yep...believe it or not, yesterday was 11 months since my heart attack.


So, I have 1 more month to get to the last objective of this blog.




If you remember, I wanted to do a few things with this blog.




In general, this blog was my way of thanking everyone who helped save me, support me and help me get beyond my heart attack. I also wanted to help, to educate, to bring some inspiration to someone with my words.




Hopefully, I have somehow done those things by now.




What I still need to do, is raise some donations for the Forsyth County EMS.
I was going to try to get all fancy & hi-tech and create a "GoFundMe" page or do some sort of electronic donation thing. But, ya know, sometimes old school is the best.


I want to get some serious money to the Forsyth County EMS. I ALSO want everyone who donates to have a tax deduction (my own personal tax plan for you all, maybe I should run for president). GoFundMe does not offer the tax deductible donations.


Having said all of that, I am just gonna simply ask that anyone reading this send a donation made out to the Forsyth County EMS. Any amount will be appreciated and forwarded, $10, $20, $1.


You can send it to me at 5205 Smoky Ridge Ln., Winston-Salem, NC  27127.
If you don't want to do that, you can send it to them directly at:
911 East Fifth St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101


If you send it directly, please let me know what you sent via a comment on this board.
WHY? Because...
I am going to match any donations sent to me, or to the EMS by Dec. 31, 2016 directly because of this blog, up to $250. So, I need to know how much is sent to them.


Just so you have an idea of what this group is:
- They have transported 3 of the 5 members of this family to the hospital, one of us multiple times.
- They arrived in FOUR minutes when my wife called about my heart attack.
- From their web site, read their own words:
Our mission is to provide, “Compassion for people, Excellence in Service.”. Founded in 1968, Forsyth County Emergency Services (FCES) is the exclusive provider of 9-1-1 emergency services in Forsyth County, including the City of Winston-Salem. FCES strives to provide timely, efficient, appropriate and equitable care to all citizens and visitors of Forsyth County. From advanced call taking technology in our 9-1-1 center to our highly trained team of over 160 paramedics and EMTs, FCES provides advanced level care to all of our patients.


So, please, if you have found any value in what I have written in the last 11 months, help me say thank you to the Forsyth County EMS.


Well, that's it....that's my big pitch, my one ask. Thanks for your patience, and your love.


Good night & God bless.