By Assunta Ng
Northwest Asia Weekly
Recently a nurse gave me a surprise. It’s about my heart, this is the thing I don’t expect the most.
Heart and emotion are connected. My inner emotions are great-always full of empathy, generosity, gratitude and openness. But my physical heart is worrying. It has a noise, and I am born with this noise.
Years ago, my dentist told me to take two aspirin before any dental appointments in case the operation is not going well.
“It might make your heart bleed, and you don’t want this to happen,” he said.
After changing dentists in recent years, I have forgotten the noise. Then, my health insurance company sent a nurse to visit for a comprehensive health check.
I think this is part of having medical insurance.
This is a typical procedure with questions like, “Have you fallen recently? Do you need to go to the bathroom often at night? Do you have hearing problems? Do you have hearing aids? Do you have tinnitus? Do you have memory problems? You Is there exercise?”
After half an hour, I received a great health report card. He gave me four “good jobs” at the end of the interview. This rating is used to measure blood pressure, body mass index, and left and right foot circulation screening to detect any vascular disease and heart rate. I was not surprised by the results, because I only had the annual physical examination with my family doctor in March last year. The results are equally wonderful.
“Do you (any part of your body) have any pain?” he asked.
I tapped on the wooden desktop in response to indicate that I did not. I’m very lucky. Many elderly people experience all kinds of pain, from arthritis to muscle pain, from foot to joint pain, from finger to back pain, from headache to chest pain. Three years ago, my feet and back hurt. After several meetings with a physical therapist and a diligent exercise program, the pain disappeared before the pandemic.
Towards the end, he casually asked: “How is your heart?”
“There is a noise in my heart,” I told him. “I was born with it.” My two sons inherited my heart disease.
He got up from the chair, walked towards me, and put the stethoscope on my shoulder.
After a few seconds, he replied: “I heard nothing. The noise disappeared.”
“What!” This “whispering” has been in my heart since I can remember. Even if I did not provide information voluntarily, the doctor kept telling me in my 40s and 50s that there was a murmur in my heart. My family doctor never told me that the murmur was gone.
“The’murmur’ is the sound of blood flowing,” according to webmd.com. “For example, it may be passing through an abnormal heart valve. Or it may be something that makes your heart beat faster and forces your heart to process more blood faster than normal.”
If someone is overweight or has other health problems, a heart murmur may have a negative effect. Or, if the person is constantly under stress, it will affect his or her heart.
Now, my heart health is in good condition. Wow, this needs to be celebrated. I’m curious.
“How and why did it happen?”
How did it happen
All I can say is that for 19 months after the pandemic, I have been taking care of myself.
As the commitment decreases, my stress level will definitely drop. What I have learned in the past few months is not overcommitment. Compared with before COVID, my sleep is much better. My diet is very healthy. Exercise is part of my daily life.
The lesson is that if you take care of your health, you may be able to change some negative genetic physical characteristics.
Unexpectedly, the noise in my heart was completely eliminated. The news is like walking in a rose garden and accidentally discovering a beautiful blooming species. I have been planting it for the past 19 months.
What also contributes to my overall health is that I don’t just take good care of myself, I have been researching various health topics, including nutrition and disease.
The difference between knowing and doing
Most people know how to stay healthy. But how many people really adhere to a healthy lifestyle?
The temptation attacks us all the time. I often hear people say, “How can I refuse free travel (even if I’m exhausted and should take a break)? Free drinks (even if you are almost drunk)? Free ice cream (even if you are overweight)?”
The challenge is that you must stick to a healthy daily routine, not just occasionally, but every day. The longer you stick to a healthy routine, the less likely it is to deviate from healthy habits.
What happens is that you feel so great mentally and physically that you don’t want to go back to your bad habits and old habits. Getting sick is not an interesting thing, especially if you are now infected with COVID. The side effects of COVID not only severely damage your overall health, but also cause specific life-long health problems from the brain to the feet.
Early detection
My friend over 95 makes sense.
“If you think something is wrong, even if it is a small matter, you should see a doctor immediately.”
I don’t necessarily go to the doctor every time I feel “nauseous”. However, I will take some vitamin C immediately and rest. Usually, it works. If not, I google my symptoms or call my doctor.
Goals during the pandemic
A friend said that he changed his mind about retirement after the pandemic.
“If I retire, I won’t be able to find anything I can do.”
Another friend who retired last year said: “I made the mistake of retiring prematurely.”
Some people have retired before the age of 65 and are thinking about traveling. With the new coronavirus, travel is not so feasible. Now they are boring.
Some people postpone their retirement due to the new crown pneumonia. My 70-year-old staff member said she decided not to retire. She is very grateful that she can work for the Seattle Chinese Post.
My husband and I are happy that we can still work during the pandemic and let our employees continue to work. Since our office closed in March 2020, the Seattle Chinese Post team met in the office to discuss content changes for the first time. Our party was held in September. Remote work has not affected the quality of Northwest Asia Weekly and China Post at all. Everyone looks relaxed. Their happiness, the satisfaction of working at home, and their hard work prompted me not to reopen our office. At that time we made the right decision to close the office. We will continue to close our office temporarily.
This must excite me. Our production process and successful teamwork have brought us closer together as a team, even if we did not meet face to face. No wonder my heart health is very good.
In surviving these challenging times, discipline not only grows in my heart, it is also ingrained in my brain. When our heart and brain are in sync with each other, they can support us to live better, happier, and calmer lives.
Even in the worst case, each of us is blessed, whether you admit it or not. What is the best gift you have received after the epidemic?
Assunta can be reached assunta@nwasianweekly.com.
