It Is Heart Month

It is getting closer to Valentine’s Day.  Will Cupid finally hit you with his arrow?  That arrow has more than love in it; it has information in it as well.  Valentine’s month is also Heart month. 

Cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death among diabetics.  Chronic high blood sugar readings can cause a narrowing of the arteries.  Couple that with high cholesterol which adds fatty deposits to the arteries and that is a formula for disaster.  A heart attack may be just around the corner.  Coronary Artery Disease restricts blood flow to the heart,

Many with diabetes deny they have this disease for years.  I was one living in denial, and I have been rewarded with a by-pass, seven stents, depression, minor strokes and high blood pressure to name a few.  I am one of the lucky ones so far.  My medical team has worked very hard with me to understand that all my denial was doing was sending me to an early grave.

I need to keep on working to improve my health.  I watch my diet, I need to exercise more, keep my weight down, I lost 63 pounds last year and am keeping it off.

If you have been told you are diabetic, stop the denial.  If you stay on top of this nasty disease you can have a much easier time keeping it in check.  You will not beat diabetes if you ignore it. It will not go away, and you cannot cure yourself by wishing it away.  You need to get a team together to work on your diabetes.  They cannot do it for you, they can work with you, however if you are not willing to become involved you will pay for it in the future.  It is never too late to accept the fact you are diabetic.  You are fighting for your life.

There are so many tools to help you fight diabetes and prevent heart disease, or stop any further damage.  Websites like the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, dLife and others have a wealth of information to help you and your medical teams formulate a plan for you.

So come on Cupid, hit us with that information arrow now!!

From A Super Game to a Super Flub

I enjoyed the Super Bowl. It was not the outcome I wanted. But the game was good. My Steelers had two things going against them. They made too many mistakes, and had the curse. I am talking about the curse of Fox Sports sideline reporter Chris Meyers. Anytime my old friend reports on a team from a sideline, they lose. NFL teams take notice.

Congratulations to Packer fans. If anyone had to win the Lombardi Trophy, other than my Steelers, going to Green Bay the home of the great Italian American coach Vince Lombardi is something I can deal with. Packer fans showed all of us how to celebrate a win with class, no looting, no overturned cars, no fires, take note Laker fans.

Now to our National Anthem. Shame on you Christina Aguilera!!! There is no need to make the anthem all about you.  Yes you did issue an apology statement.  In the future, just go out there and honor your country by signing it and getting the words right! You interpretation is not important here.  And for those interviewed saying they did not care about our anthem, they just wanted to see the game, I suggest two things 1) question the  education you received, 2 )  go back in history and read The Fall of the Roman Empire. We should all take pride and know our national anthem, and be thankful when we have a change in government leaders we do not have to experience a situation like Egypt is experiencing.  If we continue in this country to care just about “me”, if we continue to be entitled, The Fall of the Roman Empire will eventually repeat itself in the United States of America. Today it would be called a remake, putting in movies terms.

Back to the game, I am proud of myself. Statistics show an increase in heart attacks when your team loses in the Super Bowl. Dealing with my pulmonary embolism kept me from getting too emotional making sure I did not aggravate my condition.  (Note: it will take about two months for my body to absorb the blood clot).   My friends watching the game with me saw a calm, but vocal, Vince, I did not rant and rave like I normally do.   After the game all I could think, ok it is time for pitchers and catchers!! I did not pay much attention to the commercials, all of the pre game hype about them took the surprise away, and I don’t see a VW for me in the future.

My favorite food this year; a tie between homemade chicken soup and a Fresh and Easy “pizza” made with chicken, spices and blue cheese. I don’t call it a “pizza” because the grease floating on top was missing, SIGH!   This pizza was much healthier and really tasty.  The good news, there was no spike to my blood sugar later in the evening.  

OK football is over, Let’s Go Yankees!!!

Thoughts To Wrap Up A Super Week

Sunday is the day; the Super Bowl will finally be played in Dallas, where the fans will not see part of the pre game show, a military flyover.  The roof will be closed!!!  Who thought Dallas would be more like Pittsburgh or Green Bay weather-wise?

The media trying to make a big deal of Steelers quarterback Big Ben taking his teammates out to a gentleman’s bar.  I guess when the Steelers sang the Billy Joel song “The Piano Man,” it brought fear into the eyes of everyone there.  As much as these guys need to work in preparation for the game, they deserve a night out at the beginning of the week.

I believe this will be a great Super Bowl.  When the playoffs began I was hoping the Steelers would get there, but I also thought the AFC would prevail whoever got in.

Also on Sunday we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of Ronald Reagan.  Most American’s believe he was the best president of our times, and such an anniversary should be honored by all of us.  Let us put politics aside and honor him, read about him, and though recordings listen to him.  I actually think it is great when both sides of the isle try to compare what they are doing to him.

The unemployment rate dropped to 9%.  I do not think we need to celebrate this fact, I wish the numbers would tell us how many people have just dropped out of the job market and have just given up and are no longer part of the statistics.  Only 36,000 jobs were created last month, and the spin doctors are blaming the weather.

A tip of the hat to Mark Kelly the husband of representative Gabrielle Giffords.  He will man the last space station mission.  We should listen to what this man says about his decision

Finally, back to the Super Bowl.  If you are throwing a party here is a diabetic friendly recipe thanks to the website dlife, and one of my favorites:

Apple-Goat Cheese Bruschetta

Source: dLife  Sweet apples combined with tart goat cheese served on top of French bread make for a delicious appetizer.  Rating:      Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Difficulty: EASY

Nutrition Facts Makes 8 servings Serving Size: 1 piece Amount Per Serving Calories 202.9 Total Carbs 39.1 g Dietary Fiber 2.2 g Sugars 3.7 g Total Fat 1.8 g Saturated Fat 0.7 g Unsaturated Fat 1 g Potassium 87.4 mg Protein 8 g Sodium 426.4 mg Dietary Exchanges 2 1/4 Starch See the Detailed Nutritional Analysis Powered by ESHA

 Ingredients

16 piece Bread, French, small slice
1 medium apples , chopped (Fuji preferred)
2 oz goat cheese , crumbled
3/4 tsp fresh thyme , minced
1/2 tsp ground oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper , coarsely ground 

Directions

1 Preheat broiler. 
2 Arrange bread on baking sheet and place under broiler for 1 to 2 minutes or until lightly golden. 
3 Mix together apple, goat cheese, thyme, oregano, and pepper and spread evenly onto bread. Place under broiler for 1 more minute. 

Enjoy your weekend, and enjoy the Super Bowl. 

Super Week Continues

The road to the Super Bowl is here this Sunday in Dallas the Steelers and Packers will go at it.  Now I am a diehard Steelers fan, getting set for a Super Bowl feast while cheering my team on to victory.  Anyone who knows me can tell you my mood will change with the ebb and flow of the game.  Now I find out this is not good for you or me.  A new report out saying too much stress on Super Sunday can lead to heart attacks.  In 1980 when the Steelers beat the then Los Angeles Rams, the incidents in heart attacks went up, so chill out Packer fans when you lose.

The Steelers hit the Big D with a bang, going to a gentleman’s club dancing with the strippers there.  I hope they got all of that out of their system, I do not think Big Ben was there thankfully.  Hey guys one day of partying great but,  concentrate on the game

Bill Maher had to check in on the Super Bowl, it appears he knows not much about the game or this country.  Maher claims the NFL’s success is based on socialism because they share things like television revenues.  Hey Bill stay away from sports, raising money through TV revenue is good ole’ capitalism.

According to a poll in the Hollywood Reporter, 78% of America will be tuned into the Super Bowl to watch the Steelers beat the Packers.  The other 22% I guess will be watching anything but MSNBC.

Here in LALA Land Farmers Insurance bought the naming rights to an NFL Stadium, without a team and yet to be built.  It is a 700 million dollar deal.  Now, a Super Bowl would work in L.A. because it would be an event, however someone at Farmers should have really looked at past NFL teams that could not wait to leave Los Angeles, because Sunday’s were a no show by the people here.

It is off now to my favorite Fresh & Easy food store to plan my Super Feast for Sunday.  I find this store one of the most Diabetic friendly around so here I go!!! And GO STEELERS!!!!

It Is A Super Week

Some of my favorite times in my career are of covering the Super Bowl.  Long hours, lots of parties and being on the field.  I am already missing not being in Dallas this year.  There is something very special about the Super Bowl.  It touches sports fans and those mildly interested.

How many of you will throw a party this year?  How many are more interested in the commercials than the game?  Betty White’s commercial last year put her back to the top once again.

For me, my Super Bowl coverage went to a different level when I was the news director and senior anchor at Fox Sports Radio.  FSR’s general manager, the late Andrew Ashwood decided to bring every show on the network to the Super Bowl.  It was a daunting task manning radio row during Super Week, and he and the staff pulled it off.  Producers lined up greats guests, editors back in Los Angeles got us outstanding sound bites to use in my updates, and the parties, well what goes on at the Super Bowl…

It was also reunion time for me, especially when the Steelers were in the game.  I worked in Pittsburgh for ten years, so when the local Pittsburgh media came to town, it was like attending a reunion for me, seeing friends and former colleagues I had not seen for years. 

Being on the field after the game brought chills to me, the feeling of standing there is indescribable, but I made sure I took pictures.  The only other time I had this feeling was when I stepped onto the field at Yankee Stadium, a place my dad and I spent countless weekends while growing up.

This year, I will be watching the Super Bowl on TV, rooting for my Steelers, a team I had the privilege of doing the pre and post game shows live from all of the tailgate parties.  It will not be like being there working 18 hour days (ok that includes the nightly parties), but I look forward to this Sunday.

I will have to rely on my Direct-TV service to watch the game.   Sunday night while watching the SAG Awards my box went out.  After trying to get through the maddening computer answering system I finally found a human to speak with after ten minutes.  I told them I wanted a new box post haste!!  After a small um debate they promised to get me a new box this week.  Let us see if they are true to their word.  I have found Direct-TV customer service to be maybe the worst in the business, but they have the best sports programming so I deal with it.

Time to end this, so I can figure out what food to plan for Super Sunday, and all to say now is GO STEELERS!!!!  

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My Mind Is Full

Sitting in the hospital for ten days made a lot go into my head, very little went out.  I was glad to get out of Cedars on Wednesday so Charlie Sheen could have my bed early Thursday morning.  Amazing how ABC News makes this a huge news story.  Charlie kicks their butt every Monday night, and they would love him to go away.  In limited contact with the Sheen family, all I can say is they were good to me.  My son did a movie with dad Martin, and Charlie and I met at the Charlie Sheen Room at a sports restaurant in New York City.  Martin remembered my son years later and Charlie very gracious doing an interview when he had nothing to promote.  My best to Charlie.

25 years ago was the explosion of the Challenger.  I remember it well being at the news desk at WTAE     in Pittsburgh, I was reminded how I was looking to buy a new TV in downtown Pittsburgh when the incident happened, an eerie quiet throughout the story and I was off to work.  The same memories of Three Mile Island, looking for a TV when my station broke in with a special report, I was at WTPA (now WHTM)      post haste.

To the Los Angeles School police officer who staged his shooting and kept thousands of kids locked down for hours, they cannot throw the key far enough away.  They need to teach this joker a lesson.

My hats off to Fresh and Easy food stores for introducing no sugar added products.  As a diabetic I thank you.  It would be nice to see other food stores jump on this band wagon. Fresh and Easy also keeps the price down, so diabetics are not charged more because they have a disease and must limit sugar.

Finally today, my tongue is in my cheek, thanks to all of the law makers who shoved this healthcare bill into law.  It was suppose to save me money.  Due to my disability I was put on Medicare.  So now my insurance premium is 270 more than I was paying for private insurance and my drug co-pays are now 47 dollars as oppose to 25 with my private insurance.  Thank goodness for the pharmacy at Ralphs Grocery store who allow me not to pay7 dollars for a generic, but 10 bucks for three months.  Now that’s a savings!!

I’m Back…..

It has been a tough ten days for me; I spent it at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills California.  It all began with a trip to my cardiologist’s office.  I was suffering from chest discomfort for a few days, and I thought it was just a case of angina, but it became worse.  So it was off to the ER.  The place was jammed and the receptionist asked if I needed to see a doctor, I told her of my chest pain, and bang I was in a room.

I have an awesome team of doctors who made me feel as comfortable as possible with my chest pain.  It was going to be a trip to the Cath Lab.  I assumed I probably needed another stent.  The pain was just like pre stent visits in the past, after my angiogram I was told everything looked great, the double by-pass was open and flowing as were my seven stents.

Ok, what was going on?  Was this all in my head?  My doc said no and ordered a CAT Scan of my aorta.   That is when they found the culprit, a pulmonary embolism in my lung.  So it was on meds and education on how to deal with my new meds for life.  Not to let my nurses just have an easy time I also had a T.I.A., a minor stroke, which resolved itself in about 5 hours, but more education for me.  A wonderful visit from the Stroke Team Nurse for a little class time to keep me stimulated.

Late Wednesday afternoon my doctor told me my medicine was therapeutic, in other words my blood was good and thin.

So now it is doctors’ visits, a change in life style, and a positive attitude.

Thank all of you who sent their prayers and well wishes, what could have been a disaster turned into something I will learn to deal with.  All of your comments gave me the fight I needed to deal with this.

See everyone tomorrow on this blog where I am sure I will again upset someone.


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