Lisa Youngblood-Hall- Affected by Heart Disease

Let me start by saying my father, Robert Youngblood, is simply amazing. A true blessing. He and my mom will be married 57 years on October 27th and have raised eight children together in Maryland. My dad and I spent a lot of time together. I was a daddy's girl. When I was a young teenager, I inherited my brothers' newspaper route and every morning, my dad and I were out there together delivering the newspaper.
A smoker since he was a teenager, my dad had his first heart attack around age 59. He had just retired after his return from living eight years in Seoul, Korea.  Thankfully, he was working part time at a community center at the time, which was located across the street from the fire station. The firefighters knew him because they regularly worked out at the community center, ran across the street and saved his life.  My dad promised to quit smoking.

His second heart attack was only a few years later. I was living in Chicago at the time and took my eldest daughter to D.C. to see him in the hospital. She was just a baby. When I went to see him in the hospital, I told him that I didn't want to tell my daughter about him; I wanted him to live long enough for her to know him. Also, we found out he had not stopped smoking. This time he quit.

Fast forward nearly 20 years, somewhere along the way, my dad and I began talking on the phone every morning. He tells me about the weather and the rest of the family and I tell him how we were doing out here.

This past August, while in Oregon for my youngest daughter, Sophie's, softball tournament, I received a call from my oldest sister.  My mom and dad had only been home for one day from his second ever family reunion when he had a heart attack. Everyone was rushing to the hospital.  I had to tell the girls. Sophie was worried about him. We all were.  He had just been in Seattle for my oldest daughter's high school graduation. I began to wonder if that week with him was my goodbye. Again, my dad was blessed.  At the time of the heart attack, he was sitting in my niece's hospital room where he was just handed his great granddaughter. He turned to my brother, said "Take the baby," and after handing the baby off, he fell to the floor. Again, thankfully, he was on the hospital floor where the urgent response team happened to be getting ready to leave for the day. They raced to the room, determined he was having a heart attack and very quickly got him the necessary care, which included another angioplasty. Doctors also revealed that he had out of control diabetes.

Since that day in early August, my dad has been following doctors’ orders. He has been eating healthy, he's lost 13 pounds and is participating in cardio rehabilitation therapy three days a week. It's funny to have my 79-year old dad tell me he was feeling the burn when he was exercising. My siblings will go and pick up my mom and dad to take them for walks.  A week before his heart attack, I had already stopped my daily, sometimes twice a day latte and pastry habit.  I also decided I need to start exercising again. It is slow going with a busy schedule and getting my eldest off to college, but I'm determined.  Sophie helps me exercise. I recently started doing weekly core workouts with her softball team, and last week, I surprised myself by riding about 13 miles on my bike. We're all eating healthier. I'm blessed that I'm still having my morning phone calls with my dad.


Original Published Link Lisa Youngblood-Hall- Affected by Heart Disease

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