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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=edwincooney@sbcglobal.net href="mailto:edwincooney@sbcglobal.net">Edwin
Cooney</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=Undisclosed-Recipient:;
href="mailto:Undisclosed-Recipient:;">Undisclosed-Recipient:;</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Monday, January 12, 2009 9:28 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> sometimes it's personal</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Hi All,</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Writing can be very
therapudic. This has been.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I still haven't made the decision
to give up smoking but I've done very very little in the six days it's been
since I saw Dr. x. I finished my last cigar and I had a bag of cherry pipe
tobacco that wasn't particularly good, but I finished it. The hardest part
is that I like puffing while reading or listening to something. If there
was a device shaped say like a cigarette holder which one could puff a mint
vaper through and thus recieve that same sensation in the lungs, that might do
the trick. But I haven't found anything like that--but then, I have yet to
ask my pharmacist.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Anyway, I hope you get something
out of what's below because surely we all, at one time or another, need to be
told--just as we all need to be acknowledged, heard and yes, loved!</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Thanks for being a reader.
As readers, I love you all!</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Warm Regards,</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">E.C.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">MONDAY, JANUARY 12<SUP>TH</SUP>,
2009</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">THE GUY WHO GOT TOLD!</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">BY EDWIN COONEY</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I don’t know about you, but I
don’t like doctors.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Okay, okay!
They’re solid enough citizens.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>What
I really mean is that I don’t like going to doctors -- so, I don’t.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Occasionally, however, the
knowledge of the state of my physiology, its history, and its effect on the
length of my earthly stay combine to force me suddenly, almost against my will,
into the office of a local physician.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>If it can happen to me, I assure you, it can happen to you, too.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">So there I was on the morning of
Monday, December 8<SUP>th</SUP> in the office of -- I’ll just call him “Dr.
X”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>We had a pleasant chat and then
I had a short and painless physical.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>He sent me to have some blood work done and scheduled a follow-up
appointment for Tuesday, January 6<SUP>th</SUP>.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">One of the chapters of my history
is a slight heart attack on March 21<SUP>st</SUP>, 2002.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was uncomfortable, but hardly life
threatening.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>In fact, I was assured
that there was no significant heart damage.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I weighed a little more than I do now,
about 190 pounds, and I was a constant (if fairly light) cigarette smoker.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>After spending about a week in two
hospitals, I came home, tired, with several prescriptions and with new knowledge
of a heart anomaly.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>(It turns out
that my coronary artery attaches to my heart at an unusual angle—but apparently
that anomaly was not the cause of the attack.)</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Sadly and very reluctantly, I
stopped smoking those delicious non-filtered Camel cigarettes.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Soon, however, I ran into two formidable
obstacles.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">My cardiologist expected me to
spend a lot of money each month on three or four heart pills (an expenditure
that was way more, incidentally, than smoking was costing me!).<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Second, my cardiologist -- let’s call
him “Dr. Y” -- wanted me to get a “primary care” physician.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That meant I’d have to answer to two
doctors rather than just one.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">That was it! I just didn’t want
to keep going to doctors.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Since I
wasn’t going to listen to Dr. Y, I knew I’d be wasting both his time and
mine.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>At the time I made that
decision, I was deliberately living a lifestyle designed to ease the pain of my
romantic heart, even though I knew it wouldn’t help my God-given one.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It was a choice deliberately made for a
possible price I was then willing to pay.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>As to the specifics of that lifestyle, I’ll leave that to your
imagination.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">About five months ago, on August
4<SUP>th</SUP> to be exact, I had grown sufficiently tired of that lifestyle to
start losing weight.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>As of this
writing, I’ve lost over 50 pounds. My weight is fluctuating in the mid to low
180’s and headed downward toward my goal of 150 pounds which I expect to reach
by May.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Life is so good these days
that I was even willing to consult Dr. X.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Then it happened.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">“Mr. Cooney,” Dr. X began, “your
cholesterol is 247 so I’m prescribing these pills. I also want you to take blood
pressure medication because your blood pressure is 140 over 92. By the way,
you’re not still smoking, are you, Mr. Cooney?”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">“Not as I used to,” I assured Dr.
X, but that wasn’t good enough for him.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">“Mr. Cooney,” responded Dr. X,
“you’re in your mid-sixties and you’ve had one heart attack. In the past four
years, you haven’t done anything about it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>It isn’t all your fault. Your liver is depositing junk in your arteries
which we can counter with medication, but smoking triples the problem.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Either quit smoking or you’re gone in
two years.”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">I knew I was going to hear
something like that but I didn’t like it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>In the first place, I’ve always been a bit of a risk taker—especially for
pleasure.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>When I was in third
grade, my teacher used to call me “the darer”.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Back then, I’d jump backward off
railings and frontward down multiple groups of stairs just to see if I could do
it.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>However, I can assure you
I’m not nearly so brave anymore.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Okay!<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I’m not so foolish
anymore -- or maybe, just maybe, I am!!!</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">My problem is that I’ve now
received that proverbial tap tap tap on the shoulder.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I’ve been warned to stop all smoking,
pipe as well as cigar smoking, not just cigarette smoking and I LIKE to
smoke.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yet, I like living,
too.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">The next question is
obvious.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Do I like living as much
as I like smoking?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>That question
puts me in mind of the story FDR liked to tell about the New England farmer who
was warned by his doctor that if he didn’t give up drinking, he’d lose his
hearing.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The old gentleman then
said:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“Doc, I’ve thought it
over.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I like what I’ve been
drinking so much better than what I’ve been hearing, that I reckon I’ll just
keep gettin’ deef.”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">However, this isn’t about hearing
or not hearing, it’s about my future.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Dr. X is more right than he is wrong.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>He’d probably concede that it’s quite
likely that if I smoked very moderately I’d possibly last another decade.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Even more important, however, is what I
am willing to concede.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">One of the most difficult things
in life is when someone tells us something that we need to hear, but don’t want
to hear. We often get our back up, just because we feel cornered.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Doctor X says if I start taking the
medicine, my chances of growing old gently are pretty good.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">So, I’ve been told, not consulted
or advised, but told.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Part of me
concedes, but part of me is in rebellion.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Perhaps I’ll just suspend rather than quit smoking.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Maybe I’ll smoke only occasionally.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Cigars and even my pipes haven’t tasted
all that good lately.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>It’s also
true that doctors are in business to sell medicine.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I wonder how much they get from the
pharmaceutical companies for…never mind!!!</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Guess what I like even better
than smoking?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Yah, that’s it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I like to write.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Just writing about this most unsettling
experience helps.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I like writing
for you.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">Hmmm!<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>I wonder what I’ll be writing about when
I’m ninety!</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">EDWIN COONEY</P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>