December, 2004

Serious as a Heart Attack

It's all a mystery.

Eight years ago, I had a heart attack, and all of a sudden the phrase "serious as a heart attack" had new meaning for me.

I've tried to live my life, since that time, in such a manner that I would leave as little unresolved as I can. I tell my family and friends that I love them, try to address issues quickly (still a challenge), and be clear in my communications.

I incorporate the lessons I learned into my speaking and my personal life, and have felt that I was doing pretty well.

This week, I find that I have a lipoma (fatty tumor) in my hand. It's almost certainly benign, and just needs to come out because it's sitting on the arteries and nerves in my hand. Not such a big deal, but still - going under a general anesthetic and having surgery always has some risk.

And then I find that I have elevated prostate specific antigen (PSA), which indicates that I either have a prostate infection or prostate cancer.

Is that scary? Yes. Not terrifying or paralyzing, but scary.

And it's all ironic.

Two years ago - October, 2002 - I had hernia repair surgery. Everything went fine.

Last year - October, 2003 - I had knee surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus. Everything went fine.

But I got tired of having surgery in October every year, so swore that no matter what was going on, I was not having surgery this year in October. The lump in my hand started to appear in - you guessed it - October. But I didn't get in to see the doctor until late November, and the hand surgeon just this week.

The irony? Since I skipped October, I have to have TWO procedures done in December (or later). Is that someone's idea of a sense of humor? NOT funny!

Anyway, I'm taking this as a reminder to check and make sure that everything is in order.

My relationships.

My business.

My legal documents.

My life, as much as possible.

How's yours?

Blog Notice

I decided to start blogging. If you're not familiar with the term, it's a contraction of "web log" and is sort of a journal. I've been looking at it for a while, and finally decided to get consistent about it. The piece above is from my latest blog entry. Take a look, and comment on some of the entries, should the urge arise.

Wishing you health, wealth, and happiness,

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Steven works with entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals who want to clarify their communications and concepts so that they can dramatically increase their business profitability.

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