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April 7, 2008
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Looking for comment to "Heart to Heart", A New Book about Twelve Heart Attack Survivors
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Looking for comment to "Heart to Heart", A New Book about Twelve Heart Attack Survivors
http://www.aarp.org/community/groups/displayTopic.bt?groupId=79&topicId=4884362
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cbrucejohnson said:
on October 17, 2009 02:28 PM ET
edited on October 17, 2009 02:59 PM ET Hello, I'm C. Bruce Johnson and I'm looking for comments to my first ever book--"Heart to Heart". Its about twelve people who survived heart attacks and discovered much different and often better lives . The book reads like a novel, lots of personal inventory is taken here and there is good advice from people who have been there on how to avoid heart attacks and how to get through the ordeal should it hit you or someone you know and love. Anxious for comments. |
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Post #11
cbrucejohnson
replied to
GeeGee's
Post #10
:
on November 17, 2009 01:13 PM ET
GeeGee, Thanks for taking the time to read Heart to Heart and especially for passing it on--The response is really great from all over. Bruce
Reply to Post
Post #10
on November 13, 2009 02:23 PM ET
Well, I finally finished reading “Heart to Heart”. The book is both enlightening and inspirational and it reconfirms what most of us already know, that life is filled with high lights and dark shadows, straight paths and thrown curves.
While I could relate to many of the feelings expressed by the survivors, I was most impressed with the conviction of Larry Harris whose statement “Even if you live a healthy lifestyle and do everything possible to take care of your body, there are things . . . that you can’t control.” This is a truth that many of us instinctively know, but some unfortunately learn the hard way. The only unalterable guarantee that any of us have in life is that eventually we will die. So, it behooves us to try to live a righteous life and to make the best use of the time that we have here. Thank you, Mr. Johnson, for writing such an excellent and insightful book. I am already recommending it to my friends and acquaintances.
Post #9
cbrucejohnson
replied to
GeeGee's
Post #8
:
on November 9, 2009 01:53 PM ET
Thanks GeeGee, I appreciate your comments- I'm quite impressed with your workouts--if I get four days in a week I feel blessed----stay in touch Bruce
Post #8
on November 8, 2009 11:56 AM ET
Hello Bruce
I have two chapters remaining to be read in "Heart to Heart" which I hope to finish today. I know that I should have been finished by now. Your book is a fast read, and my tardiness in reading it has nothing to do with the content, which are very intriguing, as much as it has to do with my multi-tasking lifestyle and trying to do so many things (including trying to read three books) at once.
The thing that strikes me most in “Heart to heart” is that many of the heart attack victims in your book, like Evan, were in their thirties. I found it particularly interesting that doctors initially could not say what caused his heart attack and suggested that it may have been stress (as was also the case with Rev. Loves).
Like the people in your book who lived the healthier lifestyle, I did not and do not smoke or drink and I try to eat healthily and keep my weight down.
When I had the heart attack and catheterization in August of ‘07, doctors at GWU Hospital found no blockage or clogged arteries and surmised that my mild heart attack may have been caused by stress (job related, what else?). Twelve hours after I walked into the hospital, I was released and went home. I still recall that doctors were surprised to learn my age, since physically I appear to be much younger than I am. I attribute that to daily exercise which I have done for over 20 years.
When I left the hospital, I was advised to see a cardiologist and weeks following the attack I did. He gave me an EKG which he said looked fine, and two prescriptions, and asked me to follow-up with him some weeks later. As I recall, he said that one prescription was nitroglycerin and that I should put it under my tongue if I felt chest pain, but both unfilled prescriptions remain tucked away in a drawer in my home. Call it craziness, but I never felt that I would need them so I never filled the prescriptions.
One thing with me is that unlike some of the people in your book who felt the “elephant” on their chest; I never had that kind of pain. I had only a strange tightening feeling in my chest, but it was not painful. Although I told the doctor’s at GW this, they kept asking me about pain. I know my body and knew that the feeling was something unusual, but it was not pain. Anyway, aside from various vitamins and minerals the only other med that I take regularly is an 81gm aspirin daily.
I continue exercising 5 to 7 days a week, doing yoga and cardio and light weight lifting. Since I was laid off from my job several months ago, I have a lot less stress than I did before, although trying to find another job in this economy is a full-time, stressful job in itself. Still I am an upbeat positive person and glad to be alive. And as you can tell from my response, I am long-winded too.
Post #7
cbrucejohnson
replied to
GeeGee's
Post #5
:
on November 7, 2009 09:00 PM ET
Hello, GeeGee. Did you finish the book, any final comments? How is your health, I am especially interested in how you are getting by-- not taking your medications---Bruce Johnson
Post #6
cbrucejohnson
replied to
GeeGee's
Post #5
:
on October 27, 2009 08:12 AM ET
Gee Gee, thanks for your comments. Your are another inspiration to me. I really appreciate your comments about "Heart to Heart". The people featured in the book are remarkable and trying to save some lives. Please reccomend our book to others and lets stay in touch. All the best, Bruce Johnson
Post #5
GeeGee
said:
on October 26, 2009 05:06 PM ET
Hi Bruce,
I am about two-thirds through Heart to Heart and I am truly enjoying and learning from your book. I just wish that time would allow me to read it much faster (but my life keeps interrupting). I was very impressed with your determination two weeks after your heart attack to jump right back into exercising, watching your diet, and reclaiming your life.
I suffered a mild heart attack after arriving for work one day in August of 2007. I was the first to arrive and the only one in the office at the time. I did not have the chest pain, but just had a strange tightening in my chest which I had also experienced the evening before. For years, prior to my attack I had been walking 5 miles weekly and doing yoga every morning before going to work. Like you, I was determined that I would not let the attack curtail my activities and stifle my life. Two weeks after my attack I was not only back to my long-distance walking exercise (although I started with 2 miles, then worked back up to 5), and doing daily yoga, but by the fourth week had added cardio exercises as well. It has been two years, and I am still doing all of those activities and feel great. Like another one of the people mentioned in your book, I too refused to be saddled down with taking medication and never filled the prescription given me by my cardiologist. Some people might think that sounds foolish, like I am playing roulette with my life. Not so, I just believe that God is the only medication I need and It is working for me.
Your were a young man when you had your heart attack, but I was truly surprised to read in one of the chapters of your book about thirty-nine year old Erin’s heart attack. I am much older than she, and it is mind boggling to me to think that someone that young and active as she was could have a heart attack.
Your book is truly a page-turner, and excellent read, and I can hardly wait to get back to it.
Post #4
babyross
said:
on October 24, 2009 04:43 PM ET
Oh, please place review in subject so it won't get deleted.
