HOW I GOT HERE March 9,  2017  9:09am EST

I retired at 65. Eights months later during a routine errand I felt sick, came home and went to bed. My husband checked on me and I told him I just needed rest and he said he'd let me sleep awhile. Our ten-year-old cat curled around my feet and I drifted off. About an hour later said cat woke me up attacking my face! I sat up to straighten him out and realized I couldn't breathe, my cat wasn't attacking, he was trying to save me! Drama, 911, gurney, one silent heart attack, one major heart attack and conjestive heart failure, twenty-eght days in the hospital and a week in a nursing home later I came home for good in November 2015. Before retiring I worked full-time, cared for my aunt and spent a lot of time providing care for my husband, who fought hepc four fourteen and a half years and four rounds of interferon, so I was used to being busy. I looked forward to an active retirement, indulging my love of bicycling, walking, trips to New York and Philadelphia and day trips to the beach. I wanted to save homeless cats and help clean up the nature center and find a fulfilling part-time job. Now I attend cardiac rehab at the local hospital and work one day part-time at the gift shop to defray cost. We're motorcyclists and in warm weather I can still pack and I just love it. I spend time pampering the cat and I'm grateful we're all still here. I need to find new interests and rekindle old ones. I spend time online now and welcome the opportunity to communicate with new people. I still like to read. I'm getting into Youtube and cable tv. I'm trying to develop an interest in cooking but it's not coming naturally. All in all, great to be alive and glad to be here.