Hoops for Heart Campaign

Smarts Donation Page

Good morning everyone! I’m sorry for being so distant the last couple of days, with not posting or commenting. I have been busy researching the Hoops for Heart Campaign Drive that Smarts and I are participating in. We are both so excited to do this in honor of my Dad, her “Pops”. Cute little story really quick…

When I was little my oldest brother and I used to annoy the heck out of my Dad by calling him Pops, it made him feel old and he hated it. When my daughter began to talk, I taught her that his name was Pops just for a little bit of annoyance (funny annoyance, not pissy) and he took right to it. He said my children can call him anything as long as they call him. So now he’s Pops and loves the name.

Anyway, I want to let everyone know that drinking to excess can kill your heart. Alcoholism doesn’t just strike at your liver, it can kill every organ in your body, including your brain. We mostly refer to alcoholism as killing your liver because cancer of the liver is the most common illness associated with alcoholism. There is no rhyme or reason to how alcoholism effects our body, this killer disease doesn’t just want to be your drinking buddy, it wants to kill you and if given enough strength; it will kill you.

Some Warning Signs of a Heart Attack include:

* Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of the chest that last more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back.
* Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
* Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
* Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.

List compiled by the AHA and can be found on there website.

I am in no way shape or form have a PhD and I certainly do not play a doctor on TV, so please if in doubt talk with a doctor as soon as possible.

If you are an alcoholic or just “think” you have a drinking problem I can direct you to help if you would like it, just shoot me a comment and I’ll get back with you ASAP.
And I also need to make a note here, that names (atleast mine and my family’s) are anonymous so if you do go to the Hoops for Heart Donation page and decide to post here, please do not use my daughter’s real name…on this blog we refer to her as Smarts. You can get to her page by clicking on the Hoops For Heart image in my sidebar or by clicking here.

Number 35

Today I have been alive for 35 years!  Happy Birthday to me.   I’ve got nothing else for ya, other than that.  hehe.

I Heart My Dad

I spoke with my Dad a couple times this week. Each time I spoke with him the conversation turns to him wanting his kids to understand that they don’t have to die like him. Heart disease is something that runs rabid in his family, his Dad died at 45 of it so for him to go out like this is taking an emotional toll on him. I try to just listen with openness and sincerity. “Bats, I’ve already defined my life. This is the way I’m going out, I’m dying but you and your brothers don’t have to.” In our family I’m probably the most healthiest and well I’m an alcoholic, Bipolar, and addicted to everything under the sun, so what does that tell you? “Bats, I’m feeling weaker everyday. Everyday I feel it but I’m trying.” I always remember these little blurbs my Dad says as I talk with him, each one holds it’s meaning so defined in it.

He’s in the final stages of his disease and he’s thinking maybe another 6 months. I know I need to be figuring out my goodbye to him but I just don’t know how. I mean how do you say goodbye to someone who has been there for you for 34 years? How do you say goodbye to someone whom has loved you unconditionally for 34 years? How do define that last moment?

On another note this morning my daughter brought home paperwork from her school of a fund drive they are doing with The American Heart Association for Heart Disease. (Irony at it’s best again, you think?) We are very excited to campaign for this wonderful cause. It’s called Hoops for Hearts and I haven’t done any research on it yet so haven’t posted a link here but definately be looking for it in the weeks to come. We are excited to raise money for a cause so people like my Dad don’t have to die of this disease. It is a horrible slow death and I can’t wait to get a plan going on how we are going to tackle this. It’s definately going to be some posting about it on here.

The Flu?

Trying to keep my family healthy I had signed us up for a flu vaccine, H1N1 kind.  It took a long time to get and a lot of work was involved to get it.  And what happens….I now am sick.  Blah.  I need more coffee but it’s going to have to be the cold kind because I am dripping wet with fever, this just sucks.

New Social Vibe Widget

Just a quick post this morning while I enjoy a nice warm cup of joe.  I want to point everyone to my new social vibe widget, I felt the need to change it yesterday as images of Haiti filled my TV screen, mind, and heart.  I don’t think any one of us can understand the amount of destruction that has happened to that wonderful, beautiful place and even with a mom like I have and the emotional and physical abuse I had to endure because of that, I can’t understand the destruction of the lives of the people that call Haiti their homeland, their soil, their heart and souls.  Think of your favorite city and imagine walking through it with 50,000 dead people lying in the streets.  I think anyone of us would call a place like that uninhabitable;  terror and horror would fill our minds and hearts.

So I went searching for a new Social Vibe widget and found one that will donate trees to Haiti, which isn’t anything that they need right now but hopefully someday, they will need it.  So please have fun with it!