Health & Wellness

Have a Laugh to Help Your Heart

jbloustein — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:51:30 -0500

Healthy eating may not be the only way to improve your cholesterol levels—try setting aside some time for a good laugh, scientists suggest.

Researchers from Loma Linda University in California found that adults with type II diabetes who let themselves laugh at "self-selected" humor for a half-hour each day boosted their health as a result.

The laughter group saw their levels of good cholesterol rise by 26 percent, while their levels of harmful C-reactive proteins dropped by 66 percent.

Heart Transplant Recipient to Compete in Ironman

batch — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:05:17 -0500

In October, Kyle Garlett plans to achieve a goal that is impressive by any standards: finishing the grueling Kona Ironman competition in less than 17 hours.

But what makes Garlett's quest one of the more inspiring stories at the event is that he spent years battling and living with cancer...and underwent a heart transplant three years ago.

At Her Peak

admin — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:19:00 -0500

Kelly Perkins never met a mountain she didn't want to climb. Among the peaks she and her husband, Craig, have conquered: Yosemite National Park's El Capitan, Mount Fuji, Mount Kilimanjaro, the Matterhorn and the never-before-scaled Reflection Mountain in Argentina. The amazing thing is Kelly reached all those summits with a transplanted heart.

The Healing Power of Art

batch — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:05:12 -0500

Mark Milroy has enjoyed painting for pretty much his entire life as he attended the Art Institute of Chicago, after beginning his studies in his native Ontario with Duncan de Kergommeaux.

He was particularly inspired by the ocean and its power, and often enjoyed using watercolors to capture it, the East Hampton Press reports.

However, Milroy reportedly sank into quite a debilitating depression after suffering two heart attacks, the second strong enough to require him to have a tube inserted into his artery to keep it from collapsing.

Three of a Kind

admin — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 10:11:00 -0600

Six days in the hospital after open-heart surgery, and I was finally coming home. My neighbor drove me in her car up my street. A million thoughts clattered through my head. How was I going to manage? No more nurses and doctors monitoring me 24 hours a day. The stitches keeping my chest closed up caused pain if I tried to lie down. How would I get to sleep at night in an upright position? What would happen if I tripped or fell on the way to the kitchen or the bathroom?

Intensive Care

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 18:11:40 -0600

The thing that scared me most was the anesthesia. The fear was so overwhelming I couldn’t sleep the night before my surgery. I lay there in my room on the cardiac ward with the lights off, trying not to keep checking the clock on the wall. But I couldn’t help it. Every time I looked, only a minute or two had gone by. It seemed like morning would never come. I could accept that a surgeon would do the repair work my heart needed, but being “put under”? That sounded unsettling, close to being “put down,” what you’d do for a pet that was beyond help.

Memory Keeper

admin — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 11:30:00 -0600

Linda Sattgast's idea came to her in the middle of the night. "My husband and I had just gotten a large, expensive photo printer so we could print from our digital cameras," she said.

The buyer's remorse was creeping in—until a revelation literally woke her with a start. "I realized I could use the printer for scrapbooking." She'd always been the family archivist.

I Can Feel the Sun Again

admin — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:28:02 -0600

On Saturday morning, February 9, 1991, I checked into Alachua General Hospital in Gainesville, Florida, after being bothered by chest pains for several hours.

That afternoon, as I lay in my hospital bed awaiting tests, with my wife sitting anxiously beside me, I suffered a heart attack. It was the beginning of a set of dreaded experiences that a lot of other people, including some of my friends and relatives, have endured but which I never thought I would have to face.

Choose to Live!

admin — Sat, 01 May 2004 13:27:00 -0500

Not again! My husband, Tom, in his usual spot—on his La-Z-Boy, remote control and a can of Coke at his side and a big bowl of ice cream resting on his belly. Even though it was December, he still ate ice cream. Did I say ice cream? That doesn't do the concoction justice. There must have been a pint of chocolate syrup, a shovel's worth of whipped cream and half a dozen maraschino cherries staining the whole mess a nearly fluorescent red.

Winter Fruit Salad

admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 11:49:00 -0600

The beauty of this salad lies in the fact that you can prepare the fruit mixture ahead, then assemble the salad quickly at the last minute. The juices of the cooked fruit mingle with the vinegar for a simple, sensational dressing.

Ingredients

2 medium Granny Smith or Gala apples, thinly sliced

2 medium Bosc or Bartlett pears, thinly sliced