Beth_Galvin's Blog

It's the "before" and "after" photos that sold me on Terry and JoAnn Johnson's story.  See them for yourself in the Health Watch section of our website.  Their tranformation is stunning.

Terry and Joann are Carroll County couple, married 33 years,  who got a very rude awakening back in 2005.  Terry went to the doctor's office and, in his words, "She told me I was FAT and OVERWEIGHT!  And I didn't want to hear it.  I just didn't want to hear it!"

But Terry realized the doctor was giving him a gift: the truth. This, he thought, was his wakeup call. He'd lost his dad at 52 to a heart attack.  And now, at 50, he was facing bypass surgery for a blocked artery.

So, after his surgery and his cardiac rehab, Terry and Joann started walking.  They were both over 200 pounds.  At first, it was brutal.  But as they walked, the started seeing the payoff.  The pounds melted away.

Terry and JoAnn started eating better, watching their fat intake.  They felt better. Suddenly, they were more energetic than they'd been in years.

A year and a half later they went back to see the doctor for a follow up visit.  She barely recognized them.  Joann had dropped from a size 20 to a size 4.  Terry had lost over 50 pounds.  Their two daughters have started walking. And, Terry's sister Christine often joins them.  Together, the family has lost nearly 300 pounds! 

 That's enough to get me seriously thinking about following in their footsteps.

    What would it be like to discover at the age of 35 that you had an identical twin?   Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein were hit with that bombshell three years ago.  And they decided to write their story in the new book "Identical Strangers."

   I went to hear them speak the other night  at The Margaret Mitchell house with my sister, Kathleen, who is a twin.

    Schein and Bernstein grew up knowing they were adopted but not knowing they had a twin sister out there somewhere.  Their adoptive families didn't even know.  How could this happen, you ask? 

    Well, the sisters, who were adopted through a now-defunct adoption agency in New York , were part of macabre secret study.  They were among 13 twins and triplets separated as infants by a pair of influential psychiatrist who set out to prove their  badly-flawed premise that children from multiple births are better off raised separately.  The thought the separation was a good thing because twins and triplets were too hard on the mother.  And, the adoption agency told the sisters' adoptive parents only that they were part of an ongoing research project and researchers would need to check in with the families occasionally as the children grew up.

     In "Identical Strangers," the sisters go in search of information about their biological mother and they track down one of the doctors responsible for their separation.   Apparently, to this day he stands by the study and the separations.  The results were never published - and the information is in a sealed archive. Schein and Bernstein will have to wait until their 98 to be allowed access to their files.

   They're still learning how to adjust to being a twin  and looking at a mirror image of themselves.   And they say they've divided their lives into two periods: their lives before... and after they learned the truth about each other and who they really are.

   It sounds almost like a movie, doesn't it?

When I first saw 4 year old Christine Kim a couple of weeks ago,  she was walking down the hall of the Cardiac Stepdown Unit of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston playing a tiny plastic flute.   Her short  curly black hair was pulled back in a little knit headband adorned with a big flower.  She took my breath away.

Christine was the focus of a story we were working on for HeartWalk next week.  She was the youngest... and the smallest.. child ever to receive a cutting-edge heart device called the DeBakey Left Ventricular Assistance Device or L-VAD that would give her failing heart a rest.   Doctors hoped it would buy her the time she needed to finish her chemotherapy before she could be placed on a waiting list for a heart transplant.

Just over a year ago, Christine was diagnosed with Leukemia.  She immediately began chemotherapy, but the drugs damaged her heart.  This spring, after Christine began experiencing stomach pains, she was diagnosed with heart failure.    And, yet again, her parents Kelly and Peter Kim felt their world pulled out from under them.  And, yet again, they clung to their faith and asked friends to pray for Christine's healing.

Christine seemed to rally after she was given the L-VAD this summer.  Her mom says her heart went from pumping at about 5% capacity to about 60%.  Her coloring came back.  She had more energy.  Christine was finally able to leave the ICU and move to the more kid-friendly Stepdown unit, where she quickly became the reigning princess of the floor,  a pink fairy hanging costume just inside her door.  The minute we walked into Children's, staffers  who saw the TV camera started saying, "Are you here for Christine?"

I wish I could tell you Christine's story, and celebrate her survival thanks to a tiny pump nestled against her tiny heart.  I wish more than anything she could be one of the smallest victors in the battle against heart disease.

But last week, Christine was hit one setback after another.  On Friday, she suffered a stroke from which she would not recover.   She died Sunday, surrounded by her family and friends, in the ICU at Children's.   Her funeral was held today.

I can't imagine the loss her parents must feel.  I hope Christine Kim is out there somewhere, playing her flute, no longer suffering.  Godspeed, Christine.

I'll be down at HeartWalk November 3rd looking for great heart-related stories.  If you're planning on walking and have a story to tell, please look for me.  I'd love to talk with you and maybe even share your story with FOX5 viewers.  Over the years, I've talked with dozens of heart disease survivors or people touched by heart disease in one way or another.  Their stories are powerful and moving.

And, even if you don't want to be on TV, stop by the FOX5 tent and say hello.  We'd love to meet you and hear your story.

Most of us go into the hospital expecting to get better.  But a new study shows hospitals and healthcare settings like nursing homes and dialysis clinics are a hotbed for a life-threatening type of staph infection known by the acronym MRSA.

The researchers estimate about 94,000 Americans are infected every year.  19,000 of them die, most of bloodstream infections.   The bug,which lives on our skin,  can gain access to the body through an IV, catheter or surgical wound.

And, the most risky place to be when it comes to MRSA is the hospital.  85% of the infections are picked up in healthcare settings, 15% in the community in crowded places like gyms and lockerrooms and prisons.

Overuse of antibiotics is fueling the problem, and so are healthcare workers who forget to wash their hands in between patients.

The single best way to protect yourself is good, old-fashioned handwashing.    If you or a loved one is in the hospital, you have every right to ask the healthcare workers who come into your room to wash their hands in front of you.  If this study is on target... it just might save your life.

Okay, this is not fair.  After years of making fun of my husband for needing reading glasses, I now need reading glasses.  In a bad way.   I think it's the dreaded Presbyopia.  Isn't that the official name for "I can't see the menu/newspaper/book/fill in the blank?"

I noticed it was getting harder to see the newspaper print when my sister said, "Why are you making that face?"    I guess I was scrunching my brow to see all those little letters moving around on the page.  It's just sad, really, this hitting 40-something.

I know in the bigger picture this is not a big deal.  But reading is one of my favorite things on earth.  And the fact that it's getting harder to read, even with my new drugstore glasses,  is a little depressing.

My long distance vision has always been bad.  But now I'm wearing much stronger contact lens to see far away.  That, according to my optometrist, is making it impossible to see up close.

So, I've stolen my best friends reading glasses, bought some really cheapy one at the store and now I'm trying a more expensive pair that give me a headache.  I don't like any of them.

Have you been through this?  Are the expensive progressive lenses worth the extra money?  Should I just stick with the $15 drugstore glasses?  I'd love to hear your advice...

Turns out a bad relationship can break your heart in more ways that one.

British researchers say the stress and anxiety of being in a volatile relationship can seriously raise both your risk of heart attack and chest pain.

The researchers studied 9,000 British government workers who completed questionaires about their relationships. 

They found those mired in difficult  partnerships or close friendships - who reported having frequent arguments with their partner/friend -  had a 34 %  higher risk of heart attack and chest pain than those in happy partnerships/friendships .

Even when researchers factored in other health risks like obesity, smoking and drinking, and family history, the risk of heart attack for those in unhappy relationships was still 23% higher!

This is probably not big news to anyone who has been caught up in a really unhappy relationship... but it's food for thought. 

Breaking up may be hard to do... but it may be the best way to hold on to a healthy heart.

      I've started running again.  And by "running" I mean "suffering."   I'm kidding.  No I'm not.  Is there anything more humbling than starting to work out again after months of doing nothing. Every cell in your body feels like its screaming "no!" and you feel like you're 115.  Have you been through this?

   But this time, I think my husband and I have found a secret weapon.  It's a program that promises to get ANYONE, even the most sluggish slug, up and running again.  It's called "Couch to 5K."

   I woman I featured in a story earlier this year who  has dropped more than 125 pounds told me she used the program and it changed her life.  So, I figured, maybe it would work for me, too.

    It's genius, really.  You start slowly, with a combination of really short runs and walks.  You only have to commit to doing the program three times a week and you can take it as slowly as you like.  I'm pretty slow.

    The "genius" part is that while you're watching the clock and alternating your running and walking, you lose track of time and forget how uncomfortable you feel.  You start fixating on your watch.  And, you lose track of the actually workout.  How great is that?

   I'm still on phase one.   That means basically I walk "briskly" for 5 minutes to warm up, then run for a minute, then walk for 90 seconds and I repeat the running/walking sequence for about 20 minutes. 

   I have a long way to go, but it feels good to get moving again.  I've missed it.   Have you found a way to get active again.  Was it hard?   Does it get easier?  I'd love to hear about your experience.  Send me a comment or an email at beth.galvin@foxtv.com.   It would be nice to hear from someone who's been in my (running) shoes.

I started reading the Harry Potter series again today.  But this time, I have a partner, and I'm having a lot more fun.  And this time, the boy who took on You-Know-Who has  hooked two fans instead of one.

My reading buddy is Daniel.  He's nine and he laughs in loud, startling shotgun bursts when he reads a line he really likes.   If I'm reading aloud,  he raises his hand and waves it in the air when he wants to say something.  This happens quite often.

I met Daniel last year through a program called Everybody Wins.   It's a non-profit  with a simple mission: match adults who like to read with children who could really benefit from the extra exposure to the world of books.

Daniel and I meet each week for a half-hour at his school. There are lots of adults and kids around us enjoying a "power lunch."   Most of the time, the adults read aloud while the students eat.  But Daniel gulps down his meal so he can take over and read to me.  He's a big ham and a good reader - a nice combination.

After I joined Everybody Wins, I learned a sad reality:  books are out of reach for many children in this country.

Everybody Wins offers up a startling statistic: 

By the time most middle-class first-graders begin school, they've been read aloud to an average of 1,000 to 1,700 hours. 

Compare that to first-graders from lower-income homes, who begin school with an average of just 25 hours of being read aloud to behind them.

In other words, by the time middle class children enter school,  they have more than 40 times the reading experience of their lower income classmates. 

Without reading, these kids are playing catch-up from the moment they enter the classroom.  The playing field in school - and later in life - seems hopelessly tilted against them.

Everybody Wins asks only 30 minutes of my time every week.  I show up, and Daniel and I read together.  It's really nothing.  And yet, I hope, it's everything for a boy who is now laughing his way through the life and times of Harry Potter.

There are hundreds of children like Daniel across metro-Atlanta on waiting lists for Everybody Wins.  All they need is an adult volunteer like you!  Come join us.   You can get all the information you need at www.everybodywins.org.

      I've spent most of the last 24 hours glued to my TV. 

     I feel sad.  I feed nauseous.  I feel confused.  And, I feel like I'm going to be sick.

    So, why can't I stop watching?   Why do I feel drawn to constantly check for new information about a story that disturbs me so deeply?

   In otherwords, how much is too much information?  When is it okay to tune out?

     For some answers, I called Emory School of Medicine Psychiatrist Dr. Charles Raison.   

     Dr. Raison says TV is a tricky business, a little box that is able to get inside our most personal space every day.   It's a window to the best - and the worst - all around us.  And, Dr. Raison believes we underestimate how  much the powerful images we see on TV affect us.

   Remember the searing video of planes crashing into the World Trade Center?   You saw them again and again and again. There was no escape.

   Now, research shows the replay of those 9/11 images seemed to put Americans at risk of  Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD.  

    Dr. Raison says we all have a fear of being ambushed.  And that terror came to life on the  Virginia Tech campus -  and in our living rooms - Monday morning.   The attacks came without warning.  They were unprovoked.  The killings were random. And they left all of us feeling vulnerable.

      If you are feeling overwhelmed or distressed,  Dr. Raison says turn the TV off.  

    Certain people, especially those who have been through a trauma in their lives or who have a drug or alcohol problem, may be more vulnerable to PTSD and should limit their exposure to coverage that can be emotionally disturbing.

     It's hard to understand  and to bear witness to what happened Monday morning at VA Tech.  I think it will haunt us for a long time to come. 

    But when it comes to reliving the painful images,  and the horror and vulnerabilty of those terrible hours,   Dr. Raison says sometimes it's best not to be a moth drawn to the flame.