Gratitude for getting a second chance
For 63 years I’ve marked the date of my birth in May, but Feb. 24 is when I celebrate my second chance birthday. Today’s the day 10 years ago that coronary stents were placed in two coronary arteries that were nearly 100 percent blocked. I dodged the heart attack bullet by maybe a day or a week or a month. Without the intervention of the Kootenai Heart Center, I would have had a heart attack that I may or may not have survived.
I did have a heart attack two years later on Jan. 17, 2008, but getting to the emergency room at the outset allowed the trained medical professionals to place two more stents and permanent damage was prevented.
When I speak to groups about heart health I emphasize trusting your gut feeling that something is wrong. Even if it’s difficult to articulate the abstract like a sense of impending doom, keep trying until someone listens. In women especially, chest pains are not the norm. Debilitating fatigue was one of my most pronounced symptoms.
Coronary heart disease is America’s No. 1 killer, claiming twice as many people as all forms of cancer combined. It is not just a man’s disease or an old person’s disease. It’s an equal opportunity disease that’s been particularly prevalent in my Baby Boomer generation. We’re not dumb, we’re in denial.
Being proactive and assertive where medical care is concerned is vital. I continue to be grateful and humbled by the knowledge that for whatever reason I’ve been given not one but two second chances at life. Every day is a blessing. Life is good. www.heart.org.
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The start of spring is less than a month away and it sure looks like March is going to come in like a lamb with 50 degrees and sunshine forecast for next Tuesday. If experience teaches us anything, it’s that we’ll see some lion-like weather before the end of March.
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I tease my husband about being one of the few people in the world who still use a flip phone but am happy to report there may be a few others who eschew smart phone ownership. After the Gonzaga game on Saturday night Christine Woeller was texting on her flip phone outside the arena when a fellow commented on her “cool phone.” She laughed when he pulled out his own flip phone to show her. Then she did a double take when she realized that it was none other than John Stockton, former ZAG and NBA star. I guess Bert’s in good company after all.
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Happy Birthday today to Ingrid Allen, Sheila Wooley, Betty Leonard, Tamara Booth and Barb Koerner and tomorrow to Nathan McLeod, Barb Dietrick, Rosalie True and Jimmy Conrow.
On Friday Daisy Huggins, Brad Medlock, Tina Hough, Jeremy McComb, Carolyn Peterson, Clara Hester, Ivy Fox, Sherry Wallis, Sunny Day (30!) and Ron Gonzales will celebrate. John Darlas, Karen Cocoran, David Sheridan, Tawny Brown, Camille Hutchison, Steve Lux, Eddie Jerome, Hailey Pierce and Mary Herrick (50!) are blowing out the birthday candles on Saturday.
Don Pischner, Bridgette Lowry, Dave Brubaker, Gary Dagastine, Bob Flowers, Bill Reese, Al Telles, Maurie Bruce, Dean Walsmith, Allison Gerzina and Robin Gerzina celebrate their birthdays on Feb. 28.
Leap Year comes every four years and while it’s the year we elect a president, for these folks it’s also the chance to celebrate a birthday on the actual date of their birth (Feb. 29); not to be confused with the number of years they’ve been alive. Here’s some of our local Leap Year “babies”: Boston Smock, 16- 4th birthday, Kris Helstrom, 44- 11th birthday, Dean Walsmith, 48- 12th birthday, Dr. Jim Anderson, 56- 14th birthday, Lana Johnson Fensky, 64- Sweet 16th birthday, Nancy DiGiammarco, 68- 17th birthday and Charlet Hannon, 88, 22nd birthday.
On March 1 Faye Griffiths, June Goecke, Marina Otter, Lisa Tucker, Connie Chalich, Bud Kobs, Megan Aker, Karen Welts and John Billetz will enjoy another trip around the sun.
Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.