Journey of My Heart: A MemoirDecember 9, 2003, is a day Mary Ann Sheveland will never forget. With the sun just coming up and a fresh pot of coffee perking in the kitchen, she walked into the bedroom she shared with her husband that early December morning and found him dead. Death had come quickly and silently; he was gone. In Mary Anns memoir, Journey of My Heart, she shares a story written with love, humility, and a great amount of faith. It is an account of emotional courage, determination, and the desire to have the best quality of life in our allotted time. She chronicles the challenges faced when caring for a terminally ill spouse and the love that she and her husband shared during the good and the bad times of their crisis. Journey of My Heart also tells how Mary Ann overcame grief using the tools of music, journaling, travel, and the various social activities she depended upon to put her in a positive frame of mind. She hopes to help illuminate the steps along the slippery road of a progressively worsening medical condition. Gradually, with every day, she became stronger, more independent, and at peace with her new life. She emerged from grief a completely different person; she is a survivor. |
Contents
| 1 | |
Beginning Lifes Journey | 25 |
Troubling Symptoms | 53 |
Crescendo to OpenHeart Surgery | 69 |
Complications | 83 |
Cardiac Rehabilitation | 91 |
Feeling the Impact of the Crisis | 103 |
Preparing for Our Financial Future | 113 |
Dreams Can Come True | 141 |
Living Our Dreams | 149 |
The Journey Back Home | 163 |
The Winds of Change | 185 |
Trying to Regain My LifeAlone | 203 |
Counseling Sessions | 213 |
Suggestions to Help You Cope | 249 |
Journal notes and observations from 2005 | 253 |