Joseph C. Piscatella - Positive Mind, Healthy Heart: Take Charge of Your Cardiac Health, One Day at a Time

Also by Joseph C. Piscatella

Dont Eat Your Heart Out Cookbook

Choices for a Healthy Heart

Controlling Your Fat Tooth

The Fat-Gram Counter

The Fat-Gram Guide to Restaurant Food

Fat-Proof Your Child

Take a Load Off Your Heart

The Healthy Heart Cookbook

The Road to a Healthy Heart Runs

Through the Kitchen

Take Charge of Your Cardiac Health, One Day at a Time

JOSEPH C. PISCATELLA

WORKMAN PUBLISHING NEW YORK

As always, to my wife Bernie, with love and gratitude.
Sharing a lifetime with you has been my main motivation.

Copyright 2010 by Joseph C. Piscatella
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced
mechanically, electronically, or by any other means, including photocopyingwithout written permission of the publisher. Published
simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
eISBN 9780761158295

We are grateful for permission to reprint material from the
following sources: The Word for Today by Bob Gass (United Christian Broadcasters); Rebuilding the Front Porch of America by Patrick Overton (Columbia College, Columbia, MO, 1997); and Footprints: Images and Reflections of Gods Presence in Our Lives by Margaret Fishback Powers
(Harper Collins Canada, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, 2002).

Workman books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk for premiums and sales promotions as well as for fund-raising or educational use. Special editions or book excerpts also can be created to specification. For details, contact the Special Sales Director at the address below.

Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
225 Varick Street
New York, NY 10014-4381
www.workman.com

Foreword
by Bernie Piscatella

Building on the Foundation:
Six Principles for Success

My husband, Joe, has written 10 books about cardiac health and lifestyle habits. I contributed all the recipes (more than a thousand of them!) and lots of constructive criticism, but Joe is definitely the author. So why am I, the authors wife, writing the foreword to his most recent book? Simply put: Joe feels awkward telling you the details of the story himself. And he certainly doesnt want to brag about the mental attitude that has allowed him to stick with a heart-healthy plan for more than three decades. Im going to do it for him.

Heres the story: In 1977, at age 32, we went through coronary bypass surgery. Joe had the actual surgery, but I felt as if I were right there with him on the operating table, sharing each step of that terrifying procedure. Through his recovery and the decades since, it has always felt like our surgery.

We lived in Tacoma, Washington, and had two wonderful childrenAnne, age six, and Joe, age four. A consciously healthy lifestyle had taken a backseat to other priorities like school, carpool, volunteering and supporting Joes work. Besides, we had always been in good health. Serious diseases such as heart disease and cancer happened to other people. Sure, we knew that Joes cholesterol was too high, that we both could stand to lose a few pounds, that our exercise regimen was sporadic and that, like most Americans, we lived with a chronic stress caused by never having enough time. We talked about living healthier, but doing something about itthat was for tomorrow. Then I found out that you cant have a tomorrow if you dont have a today.

For about a month, Joe had been complaining about shortness of breath and a pain in his chest that came on when he warmed up to play tennis. He described the pain as dull, more like a feeling of fullness or pressure, and it would usually disappear by the end of the warm-up. He ignored it, hoping it would just go away. Then one day it stayed with him through two hours of play. I made him call our family doctor, who said he should come in right away. Neither of us was worried, because Joe had had an annual physical four months earlier and the results were excellent.

Joes exam indicated that his lungs were just fine. But as long as youre here, the doctor said, lets do an electrocardiogram. The EKG indicated a very serious heart problem: an obstruction of a coronary artery. I want you to see a cardiologist right now, today, said the doctor. In fact, Ill drive you. I dont want you behind the wheel of a car. Now, that got Joes attention. He spent the next hour undergoing a thorough cardiac workup that included an exercise stress test. The results were not good; the cardiologist recommended an immediate coronary angiography, an X-ray of the coronary arteries.

At that point, Joe called home. He danced around the topic, trying not to alarm me, but he finally had to get to the point. They want to look at my coronary arteries, he said. I dont think its any big deal, but you might want to drop the kids off at your moms and come on down to the hospital.

I got there just as Joe was being wheeled into the catheterization lab. We met up again in the recovery room. Joe has coronary heart disease, a buildup of blockages in three coronary arteries, the cardiologist told us. It looks pretty aggressive. He has two blockages better than 50%, and one that has closed about 95% of the artery. This is life-threatening. I recommend bypass surgery within the next few days. Hes a heart attack waiting to happen.

Joe tried to be calm and logical (for my benefit, Im sure) as we discussed the options, but I was gripped by pure, stomach-churning fear. Old age was something Id looked forward to sharing with Joe. What would happen to the kids and me if he wasnt around? I had to face the fact that his death not only could happen in the near future, but probably would happen as a result of the time bomb inside his chest. Over the next hour, the doctor explained how coronary heart disease progresses, what would happen in the surgery, how the heart-lung machine works and the risks involved. With all that information in our heads, we made the hard decision: Joe would undergo bypass surgery in two days.

On the drive home, we tried to shore up each other by focusing on mundane issues. You call the insurance agent. Ill check with our attorney about the will and power of attorney. Who will call our parents? What do we tell the children? But when we got home, and all through the night, we clung to each other.

The next day was a kind of sleepwalk as we took care of lifes details, reassured the kids and placed them with relatives. One thing sticks out in my memory, though. Joe and I had a running joke about how expensive dentistry had become. I got my teeth cleaned four times a year, but two times was the max for Joe. Im too frugal, hed say. Well, he kept a dental appointment that hed made for that day, and when he returned I voiced my fear: Do you think you wont make it through the surgery? His answer was pure Joe: Do you think Id waste money getting my teeth cleaned if I thought I was going to die tomorrow? Nothing could have given me more confidence.

We headed to the hospital in the afternoon, since the surgery was scheduled for six oclock the next morning. Joe settled into his room and had all his tests done. Then, after an orderly shaved his chest, we had nothing to do but wait. Luckily, it was the night of the major league All-Star baseball game, so we put the TV on. Before we knew it, people started to arrive. Friends, family, neighbors... soon the room was overflowing with laughter and friendship as everyone watched the game.