Put a little love in your heart

This morning I checked my Twitter feed and saw this message from @MelKettle:

When my mom passed away, my family made the decision to donate her organs.  While going through that process, we learned that many of her organs were not useable (not a surprise considering she was a smoker).  What was a surprise was that the doctors had found evidence of a heart attack.  Apparently when she was younger, my mother experienced a heart attack but was never treated for it (women are statistically more likely to ignore the signs of a heart attack, which are different for women than they are for men).  

 

This is alarming because (1) my paternal grandmother died from a heart defect (she was 30) (2) my maternal grandfather died from a heart attack (he was 50) and (3) my mother died from a cerebral aneurysm (she was 44).  I don't want to be part of the trend of young deaths. 

The American Heart Association has lots of great information about how to be heart healthy and has highlighted a few areas also crossover into the whole weight loss/health gain arena:

Mel was quick to point out that "a basic blood test can tell you a huge amount." And well you need to get your butt to a doctor to get that blood test.  My last physical/blood test was July 2012 (though I did get a pre-operative blood test in Dec. 2012 before my neck surgery, it was incomplete (it didn't include a fasting glucose test)).  So I'm going to go ahead and schedule an appointment. 

Have you gone to the doctor in the past year for a comprehensive physical and blood test?

Have you discussed with your doctor what your results mean?