In the beginning.......

Hi, This is Stephen and Denise and this is our blog expressing our journey to a healthier lifestyle after I, Stephen, hit a major bump in the road over 3 years ago. It’s a long detailed story which we will post sometime, but the short version is that after 15 years of no real exercise, bad eating habits and way too much work, I climbed on a rowing machine at gym and rowed for an hour. As soon as I stopped I immediately felt like I had done something to my chest, injured it in some way, yet being under the usual pressure at work with no real time to have it checked out I consequently continued through life for almost a full week. Till one day in the middle of chaos in the office my body began a loud shout for help in my direction. I sat back in my chair and thought “Oh God, what is this, a heart attack?” I immediately climbed into my car and headed in the direction of my local GP, calling Denise to describe to her the exact symptoms of a heart attack – dry mouth, tight chest, pins and needles – very scary, especially on your own in a car on a highway. As I progressed I found I was battling to breath, let alone talk or continue driving, I thankfully managed to find a cop that was ticketing someone on the side of the road. He passed directions onto a frantic Denise who by this stage was racing her way to my rescue. When she arrived they moved me over to the passenger seat and drove me to the nearest hospital with police escort. Thankful that I was still concious and had so far not seen my life flash before my eyes, or headed down any tunnels with bright, shining lights, I was rushed into the emergency room where I was poked and prodded for a series of tests. Two hours later I was released from hospital with nothing more than a “you’ve had a panic attack, go and see a heart specialist just to be sure, but you'll live” I was left with a sense of "Great news... ummm I think....but now what??" When I queried the frequency of these cases, since I was a newbie to all this, I was told that they treat at least 8-10 a day stating that people are just too stressed......