Speaking of Hearts

At work they call me the "Queen of Hearts". I even have a crown to prove it, given to me by the person who headed up the coronation. They do this because I'm a cardiac nurse by nature, and am the leader for all things heart-related at the hospital by default - like the Cardiac Care Unit, the Red Dress Concert, etc. etc.

February is a busy month for me. Between the Heart and Health Fair (700 - yes, count 'em - 700 nervous people wanting interpretation of their lipid profiles), the Healthy Hearts Dinner (a very warm, fuzzy reunion of Cardiac Rehab patients), and the Red Dress Concert I am constantly doing something related to heart health. In spite of trying to hide, I usually end up at least once during the month in front of a television camera talking about the risk of heart disease in women.

Which is funny, ironic, and just plain weird. After all, at last check my own cholesterol was over 200. I didn't check it this year. I don't want to know. And, my favorite "wow, I've had a bad day" treat is french fries and a Coca-Cola from McDonald's. People tell me that because I'm skinny I don't need to worry about it. I remind them that it's all going someplace. Just because you can't see where the fat's going on me doesn't mean it's not globbing up something somewhere.

I know it's sickening. My role-modeling friend Becca, organic vegetarian extraordinaire, would weep if she saw what I ate. And, yes, people give me a bad time about it. A cardiologist saw me eating biscuits and gravy one morning and he said, "that's why women have heart attacks, you know". I politely told him to leave me alone. It wasn't going to be his problem anyway since I'd already tagged which cardiologist would do my emergent angioplasty and stent placement and it wasn't him.

So, in honor of heart month I've been trying to eat a little better. I haven't done too badly. For example, today I ate my Campbell's light and healthy soup for lunch. It was gross, but I ate it. I didn't consume any chili cheese fritos mid-afternoon. And I drank water.

By 4:30 I was STARVING.

However, I had to make a church visit at 5:00 so there was no time to go home and grab something healthy after work. I couldn't handle the hunger. So, when I stopped for gas I decided to get a little something to tide me over.

Two pieces of jerky and a bag of Lay's Kettle Potato Chips later.....

As Scarlett O'Hara once famously said, "tomorrow is another day".