One of the beautiful things about having heart disease is that I got to learn how to talk to my heart and listen to it. The surgeons always say that if you’re going to get a chronic disease, the best one to have is the heart.

Heart medicine has changed radically in my lifetime. Even 30 years ago, I’d probably be dead by now, today, open heart bypass surgery is one of the most common surgeries in America and one of the safest.

When you have open-heart surgery, the world’s perception of you changes though, many people understandably think back to the days when doctors told heart patients to take it easy, and everyone waited for them to keel over and die, which so many did.

People are always warning me to go slow and take it easy when I shovel snow or toss some wood around.

What the doctors tell me is to talk to my heart and listen. It will tell me when to stop, and until that happens, do what you can for as long as you can.

Maria, who is fearless about herself, gets worried if I shovel too much snow or toss too much wood. I don’t think she wants to go through heart surgery with me again.

No cardiologist has told me to slow down or take it easy, quite the contrary, they advise me to do as much as I want until I feel uncomfortable, or short of breath, or there is some pain.

I have angina, which comes and goes mysteriously, and which can halt my activity. But I’ve never had it when I shovel snow or help stack firewood. I’ve never needed nitro pills, which I carry around in a silver case inspired by General Dimitry in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy by John Le Carre (Maria had it made for me.)

Today, it was warm and humid and Maria started stacking wood in the woodshed, we almost have enough for the winter. I wanted to help, I love stacking wood with her. She urged me to take it easy. I stacked for about a half an hour until I was sure I had made a real contribution.

The logs were big and heavy, and my back bothered me more than my heart, but soon, as the bugs swirled around me and I started to sweat, I felt it was enough.

I talked to my heart, and I listened to my heart. I did as much as I could, for as long as I could. And then my heart told me to stop. And I did.