On behalf of all the people out there with heart disease, especially men,  I need to write about my understanding of the truth about snow shoveling.

Men, in particular, have strong emotional reactions to heart disease, and they need to know heart trouble does not preclude them from being active and helpful when a storm comes.

I have explored this issue carefully for some years now, through each of the ten winters since I had a heart attack. I’ve shoveled snow during every snowstorm of those years.

I want to speak my truth about what I have learned for the benefit of others. Social media is a violent medium in so many ways; there are lots of experts out there; some of them even know what they are talking about.

A lot don’t.

Buyer beware, brothers and sisters,  you take your life in your hands not necessarily when you shovel show, but when you listen to lay people strangers, well-meaning or otherwise, who tell you what you should and should not do.

Lord, haven’t we learned enough about truth and facts this year? I get help and facts and truth from the right places.

I listen to doctors and cardiologists talk about snow shoveling all the time and I have been for years.

I have yet to meet a single one who has told me it is dangerous to shovel snow in all circumstances or urged me not to do it.

Every one of them said I should be mindful of how much I am shoveling, that I should rest frequently, and if I felt uncomfortable, short of breath, or experienced any one of the dozen heart warning symptoms, I should stop and go inside and rest.

Shoveling in moderation, they say, is very good for most hearts; it’s a kind of cardio exercise that strengthens the heart muscles and can prolong life.

We heart patients are not all alike.

In fact, we are all different, and our hearts are all different, and there is no one single bit of advice that applies to everybody.

Heart patients can be harmed just as easily by failing to exercise their heart muscles as they can by abusing their hearts and overdoing it.

I’m not sure which is harder for me to deal with, the nasty people who send threats and insults or the very nice people who send advice they think is good but often isn’t.

As most of you know, we had a once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) storm event the other night.

In Buffalo and parts of the Northwest and Canada, gargantuan storms are fairly common.

But the Noreaster that hit my town in upstate New York left behind the most snow Maria and I have ever seen.

I wrote about shoveling snow and this triggered many questions and concerns about whether I – who has heart disease, had open-heart surgery, and recently underwent two catheterizations to repair and open important arteries that were blocking the flow of blood to the heart – should shovel snow at all.

People begged me to stop, pleaded with me not to shovel, warned me of almost certain death and disaster if I didn’t stop.

As the Covid-19 specialists like to say, people like me – in their 70’s, with heart disease and diabetes – are at great risk of heart attacks and also from the pandemic itself.

There are lots of good reasons for me to sit inside reading a book while Maria shovels snow outside.

And there are lots of good reasons for me to live my life as fully and safely as I can. In all honesty, I should say that if I were really concerned about my safety, I’d move to a suburb of Boston or New York,  or somewhere in Floria, where lots of people my age flock.

I don’t consider my little down dangerous, but if you live here, you will take some risks – there’s no 911 to speak of, and the town doesn’t take care of your water or snow or animals. The nearest hospital is three heart attacks away.

I accept that there is some risk to just being here.

I got all kinds of warnings and alarms online when I wrote about the storm- I would “pop” the vessels around my heart that the doctors had so laboriously repaired;,I risked almost certain heart attack.

I should be hiring people to shovel, not shoveling, I was risking my life every time I picked up a shovel, I needed to buy snow blowers instantly.

“For God’s sake,” pleaded Anthony. “Hire someone!”

But here is some truth from my perspective. You are welcome to yours. This isn’t the old argument about unwanted advice, it’s about sending a signal to people with heart disease that they don’t need to take in all this gloom and doom.

Life is what you make of it, and so is heart disease.

First off, snowblowers would not have worked on a storm of this magnitude; there were windblown piles of snow over my head and Maria’s. People who think that have not lived in the rural areas of upstate New York.

We have ordered a battery-powered snow blower, but that would not have been helpful in any way for clearing this kind of snow.

The wind was blowing for hours, paths disappeared within minutes of being shoveled.

I also need to say that we have many animals on the farm – sheep, donkeys, barn cats, chickens (and dogs.)

They can’t wait to eat until we find somebody in our remote community who can get out and come to our farm and shovel or dig us out.

Most people were just as blocked-in as we were. And many had elderly relatives and neighbors in need of urgent help must more than us. You can call the Sheriff in a bind, but it could be a good while before he arrives.

Maria is 17 years younger than I am, she has a lot of energy and drive. I knew I had to cede most of the shoveling to her, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t come out of the house to help.

I’m not made to sit inside and watch her clear all that snow by herself. I just couldn’t do it, I know that.

The animals need to eat, just as if it weren’t snowing. That is no excuse for ignoring or starving them. I helped open gates, fill water tubs, widen some paths she had made. And yes, I shoveled.

In this kind of cold and wind, grain and fresh hay are essential. When it snows like t his, we go and dig them out and feed them. Everything else comes later.

I took a full day to shovel out our cars. In between, I came in for tea, lay down to rest, warmed my feet by the fire,  had something to eat, posted photos. I was tired, but not in my heart.

I’ve had serious heart disease since 2014 and probably sooner.

Every year, because I live with harsh winters,  I ask my cardiologists and primary care doctor if it’s okay for me to shovel snow after storms.

I don’t ask psychics or people online or neighbors down the road.

I ask trained, qualified professional heart specialists, and I would urge any of you are reading this to do the same if you have heart disease and want to know the truth about shoveling snow.

These professionals are not afraid to tell us the truth. Men have a hard time facing up to the relentless erosion of aging. But it’s not all one thing or another.

My doctors do caution me against shoveling much wet and heavy snow. They are much less concerned with dry, powdery snow, the kind we got in this Nor-Easter. But still, they say, do what you feel you can do. Then stop.

With wet snow, I shove in concise and brief bursts, resting frequently and stopping when I feel tired or strained.

I feel uneasy about shoveling much in that kind of snow and generally will only do it for a few minutes at a time, and not for long after that.

That’s a lot of strain.

In the past two days, I moved at least a ton of snow away from the farmhouse and our cars. I moved slowly, rested frequently, felt fine. My back and knees are sore, my heart feels strong.

I did about 25 percent of what Maria did, but it was a lot, and I was happy to do it. Getting older is about change, not downsizing my life until it disappears.

There have been no warning signs or symptoms during my shoveling.

If there were, I would stop. I don’t need to go through open-heart surgery again.

Any moderate and thoughtful cardio exercise is good for my heart now, and essential to good heart health.

People who dispense advice about heart disease do not seem to know that all heart attacks are not alike.

When somebody e-mails you to remind you that their Uncle Charlie keeled over and died while shoveling snow, remember it may have no relevance to you at all. You are not Uncle Charlie and your heart is not his, no disrespect intended.

My heart attack in 2014 occurred without any chest pain or other symptoms.

Generally, the warning signs of a heart attack are chest pain,  pain in the arm, sweating, fatigue, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, heart palpitations, and indigestion.

In my case, there was only one symptom – shortness of breath when I walked uphill.

I told my primary physician that day that I thought I had asthma; she ordered an EKG, cursed me out, and sent me to the hospital.

The danger in shoveling snow does not depend on how often you shovel, or even how much.

It depends on how you feel, not on what people tell you in online messages.

Chest pain is perhaps the most common warning of an impending heart attack.  Sometimes people feel a tightness in the chest or a squeezing.

If you don’t feel right, don’t shovel, and if you feel poorly while shoveling, stop immediately and call an ambulance. There is some risk in everything we do, including driving out to get risk.

I will gladly risk shoveling some snow if I know I am being thoughtful about it. Maria agrees with me.

My heart is strong right now; I am exercising almost daily. If I can do 45 minutes on a tread mill, I can shovel some snow.

Maria and I always work together and insight into one another. She reminds me to rest and take it slow. I listen to her. Machismo and testosterone are enemies. I’m not 25 anymore.

I need to be careful.

I’m writing this because men like me have enough trouble coming to terms with heart disease and taking good care of themselves. The women I know with heart disease seem much more accepting than men. As we see from the news testosterone can be a deadly disease.

It is not healthy for men with heart disease to believe that shoveling snow is dangerous and likely to kill them in all circumstances. That is discouraging and defeatist to me.

No stranger has the right to tell them they can’t try to help their families to clear snow from a storm.

Men need to understand that they can contribute to cleaning up after winter storms if they are willing to be thoughtful and careful. And to get the best advice possible, not the worst.

My body is my best advisor in a storm.

It will tell me if I am overdoing it. My wife is not shy about yelling at me to go inside. I listen to both.

At the outset of winter, I get EKG’s and cardio exams to make sure I’m in good shape. I am not reckless or oblivious to the realities of my life.

I am grateful that I can help my wife clean up after a monster storm like this,  and help the animals too. This is all part of learning how to take care of myself. And to feel good about who I am.

Doctors go to school for a long time to understand hearts; they are where I go to make good decisions about my health.

No respectable physician will dispense important heart safety information to strangers online.

People who dispense or take that advice may have worse problems than a bum heart.

That’s my truth; about shoveling I hope it is helpful. I have no desire to live anywhere without a real winter. It makes Spring and summer glow.