15 years ago, I was admitted to the Mount Carmel Cardiac center, because I couldn't breathe, and my legs had ballooned up to 5 times their normal size! I was a chain smoker at just over 3 packs a day!
An Alcoholic, and Drug abuser, opiate pain pills were my poison of choice, I was in a horrible marriage and when I was admitted to the cardiac care center, I tipped the scales at 420 lbs.! My Life wasn't in a very hopeful or promising place!
That day in the cardiac unit my diagnosis wasn’t full of hope and promise either, Congestive heart failure, caused by pulmonary edema and a lower aortic heart aneurysm! The Doctors said not only was I so sick I wouldn't ever work again, but my chances of survival were also grim, and at best I would be on Oxygen 24-7 and need a literal bag of medicine to just keep me alive! I was 40 years old! My Health would improve slightly then backslide horribly when I would let my guard down basically when I would stop listening to the medical team trying to keep me alive!
Soon I was back visiting all my old Demons and they remembered me well! Like best friends at a high school reunion, Whiskey Pain pills, and Lots of Junk food! I was already a type 2 Diabetic taking 2 different pills to control my blood sugar, I remember one time going to the Doctor for a monthly check-up after a Night of drinking Whiskey mixed with a few Percocet and getting a blood sugar reading of nearly 400! If you don't know, normal sugar levels are 100 or less! I remember acting shocked telling the Doctor this makes no sense I have been eating healthy and trying to exercise by walking, my acting wasn't so good he wasn't buying my “Bull” I was sent home with a prescription for insulin, and Trulicity both self-injectable medicine's!
My Life was in a Dark and miserable place like I said earlier not much hope!
That was then, this is now! my life is so Very Different now I hardly recognize it!
Drugs and Alcohol Gone!
Cigarettes are long Gone!
Poor Health Gone!
Bad Marriage Oh Yeah! Gone!
This is me now! At 55 I am an Athletic Beast healthier and stronger than most 30-year-old folks!
Best of all that Hopeless feeling is Gone!
My Life Now is Blessed!
My name is Jimmy Roenick
I want to share some of the Steps Truths and wisdom I have found, mostly the hard way on my journey not only to self-improvement but for my very Survival!