Ballenxj wrote:
And you're sticking to that story of shoveling snow causing a heart attack?
Only in terms of other people. The cardiologist (best in the north Pacific) couldn't find any physical reason for the heart attack. After an in-depth discussion with me, he determined it was due primarily to excess stress.
To be perfectly honest and up front, the heart attack was a suicide attempt. Due to my mental condition and things happening in my life at the time, I deliberately let stress build up to the point where it triggered the heart attack.
I knew what was happening at the time and deliberately didn't anything to reduce the internal stress I was experiencing. I was aware, for several hours, that I was experiencing a heart attack that was steadily growing in intensity and ignored it. When it reached the point where I was experiencing severe pain in my limbs, I spent quite a bit of time debating whether I should get help or just let it happen. At that time, I was in the Rural Alaska Honors Institute (RAHI) dormitory and the fact my body might be discovered by one of the young people attending RAHI is the only thing that caused me to get help. (I was serving as a volunteer tutor for RAHI.)
I have been suffering from chronic depression and fighting suicidal urges since my early teens. It started when my first girlfriend's parents made her break up with me. Unlike many teen breakups, it wasn't puppy love ... I honestly and genuinely loved her because our relationship was based on close friendship. (The physical aspect of our relationship never progress pass kissing, although she expressed in interest in taking things further.)
Several weeks following that breakup, I received word that my father was missing and presumed drowned. (He was on a moose=hunting trip in Ontario at the time.) It was over three long, traumatic weeks before his body was found and recovered.
Those two back-to-back events, combined with what I experienced as a six-year-old when my younger brother died, caused one of my mental heath therapists to determine a form of PTSD is a significant part of my chronic depression.
It's worth noting that many people are surprised to learn I am suffering from, and receiving treatment for, chronic depression. This is because I've learned to do a very good job of concealing my condition. Concealment is not unusual among people suffering from depression, primarily because they don't want to let their condition affect those around them and because they want avoid the stigma attached to adverse mental health conditions. This is why many cases of suicide are such a shock to people around them when they happen.
The cardiologist did perform angioplasty and installed two cardiac stents. However, an extended period of mental health therapy is the reason I haven't suffered a recurrence in the decade and a half since that first heart attack. Frequent counseling sessions are the primary reason I've been able to get my condition under control and manage its ongoing effects. I have also been taking medication but it has a much smaller, less effective role in my therapy.
I tend to be very up front about my condition, in the right settings, to tell people what they're experiencing is not uncommon, is nothing to be ashamed of, and to demonstrate that they should seek treatment instead of quietly suffering from its effects.
The fact that various events during my military career aggravated my depression is why the VA "granted" me a rating of 30% service-connected disability for chronic depression. This rating is based on the presumption that, on average, three out of every ten days are shot to hell due to my condition.
The VA is required, by law, to provide treatment for recognized service-connected disabilities. Unfortunately, their "treatment" has been mostly limited to prescribing medications, which has proven to be only marginally effective, mostly serving only to limit the symptoms rather than actually treating the condition. For real treatment, I've had to rely primarily on the much more effective mental health counseling provide by non-profit organizations not connected to the VA.
Equally unfortunate is the fact actions by VA bureaucrats and pencil-pushers have actually seriously aggravated my condition, far in excess of the marginal treatment the VA has begrudged me.
Likewise, VA disability compensation, in my case, is a joke. The amount of compensation I supposedly receive for service-connected disabilities is taken, dollar for dollar, out of my military retirement pay. To the annoyance of many people, I refer to this as the "Military Retirees Disability Penalty clause" because I feel like I'm being penalized for expecting compensation for disabilities incurred or aggravated while serving in the military.
Enough depressing information ...
I have pointed out to my wife that sex is a well-known means of relieving stress and would go a long ways towards preventing another heart attack. She doesn't buy it. So, I have to resort to old fashion means, such as cuddling, to encourage her participation. (In spite of over 38 years of marriage to an often impossible spouse, she's not adverse to intimacy ... she just doesn't buy the stress relief justification.)
Ballenxj wrote:
Break out the squirrel cage, squirrels, and V belt. I'll bet you can come up with something.
If I was really concerned about power outages, I'd get the 4.8 kilowatt generator I have sitting in the yard running again. Instead, I just find some other productive activity, that doesn't involve electricity, to keep me busy until power comes back on.
Ballenxj wrote:
About the good folks in Congress, please don't get me started, as I for one think all professional politicians should serve two terms. One in office, and one in prison.
Sorry, I cannot agree with term limits, although I do appreciate your suggestion for a second term for some of the people serving in Congress.
Assume you're the owner or manager of a business. Would you consider firing someone who's been doing good (or, arguably, excellent) work just because they'd been with the company for a certain period? It wouldn't make very good business sense.
We, the voters, hire and employ the people in Congress. We need to retain the productive ones and get rid of (vote out of the office) the dead-weights and obstructionists, without consideration for how long they've been in office. On this basis, I have to believe term limits could very well be more detrimental than productive.
