Monday, June 22, 2009

The Soap Box

My friend Frank had a heart attack on Saturday.

Frank used to run with me, and at one point he had a three-year streak of running more than five miles every day.

Then he stopped running, and because Frank (like a lot of us) is extremely digital, he never started running again. Gained weight. Start smoking again.

I told him at least once a year for the last decade that he needed to have an annual physical, and he said every time that he'd been meaning to, but he never went, because he hates doctors.

Here's what not getting an annual physical can do for you:
--a heart attack
--100%, 90%, 80%, and 60% blockage in his coronary arteries
--quadruple bypass surgery
--a total lifestyle change, because if you don't change, you die

All of this could have been avoided if Frank had gone for annual physicals and had listened to his doctors. But he didn't.

Trust me, you don't want to be the guy lying in bed after having a heart attack. You will have to think about things you never wanted to think about, and you will feel a kind of fear that you didn't even know existed.

So I don't give a shit if you're busy. Let me rephrase that: Death doesn't give a shit if you're busy. Pick up the damn phone, call your doctor, and make an appointment for a physical. An annual physical.

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