This year there seems to be a particular focus on women's heart health, judging by the press releases I've been getting.
In my own family, cardiovascular problems...hypertension, stroke, cholesterol...have affected the men and women, but the men seem to die younger from cancer while the women have lingered through more years of, frankly, lousy quality of life.
Something's going to get me in the end, and sometimes I think it's a big cosmic roll of the dice as to what it will be. But I've sat in enough waiting rooms, pushed enough wheelchairs, and looked up enough drug information to make me realize the value of doing what I can now to minimize the risk of dying how my grandmother did...one stroke at a time for eight years.
I know I get preachy when I wear my Public Health hat, so I'll try to be lower-key and just put up some links to some appropriate sites:
♥ The Heart Truth from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at NIH.
♥ Go Red for Women from the American Heart Association.
♥ Sister to Sister: Everyone Has A Heart Foundation, Inc.
♥ The Women's Health Initiative at NIH.
Posted by Nic at February 1, 2004 02:06 PM | TrackBack