I was thrown for a loop this summer by a diagnosis of breast cancer. Here is my story: I felt a lump in my breast, it was surgically removed. When  we got the pathology report back it showed that I  had a form  of cancer called  Ductal Carcioma In Situ (DCIS) which means the cancer is contained in ducts in the breast. Just the  word cancer scares everyone. And in a split second, I  had to make the decision about starting radiation therapy immediately. When  my mind started to spin, I knew from my past lupus diagnosis experience with green space – that I  needed the help of nature to ease the ruminations of “what if” and “if only.” My boys said “read your book mom.” Since I know that time in green space goes right to our physiology, mentally and physically, I knew I was not only helping myself to think clearly, but I was putting my entire body into a less stressed state. Green space not only  calmed  the landscape in my mind, but allowed me to reach out to others immediately  who helped me feel comfortable with my treatment decision. I opted not to have radiation at this  time and instead use “active surveillance”  option to see if the cancer was spreading. In November 2021, my mammogram was all clear of cancer. Relief for me and my loved  ones, but I became doubly aware of the  profound  impact of a cancer diagnosis on the person, their loved ones,  and  their community. 

As I planned I did spend the summer with my loved ones outside swimming, walking, cycling, golfing, and gardening – and we enjoyed the black bears that passed through and sometimes stayed for days in my back yard in Pine Falls, Manitoba. It was a wonderful summer in  spite of the cancer uncertainty.

I am so excited to share with you a synopsis of my up coming book. It has been part of my life for a long time – 3 years now. It is about my friend who I love, who died suddenly. Their were a lot of challenges in writing this book: I struggled with the fact that the love of Leslie’s life Bill would be reading it, that her family and friends who also loved her, all live in our small town of Pine Falls, Manitoba.I worried that Leslie was hiding something from us – maybe she knew something we didn’t about her heart and her health? I had no access to Leslie’s medical records, but I did know all I had to know: Leslie was on no heart medication, (so no heart dx) and was not referred out to a heart specialist (so nothing wrong with her heart that would warrant a specialist referral). So in writing this I had to get the balance right between the love of my friend and the peer reviewed science of heart and environment. I am so proud of getting it  done, especially in light of these challenges. The book is close to finished and will  be out in the New  Year.

This is how I am describing my new book with the working title, Optimize Your Heart Rate With Green Space. 

Here goes: When my life long  friend Leslie died of a sudden cardiac arrest on day three of her road trip to Texas, I was shocked/devastated. How could this happen to Leslie, who was strong and healthy the day she left northern Ontario? Because her father had had a heart attack, Leslie was aware that she needed  diagnostic tests for heart problems. She always followed her GPs advice.  Leslie was not overweight. She had a healthy diet, and she got outside into her yard and the forest around where she lived in Fort Francis, Ontario. Before she left for her final road trip, Leslie had had a bout of a common stomach infection, H Pylori. Leslie completed the treatment and eradicated the bacteria from her system before she left Fort Francis. Her nurse practitioner cleared her for travel. Leslie was good to go. So what happened to Leslie in three short days? A few months after Leslie’s death in 2014, as I was on the cusp of retiring as a nursing professor, I was diagnosed with systemic lupus, a serious autoimmune disease. The direct route to my new health and happiness turned out to be time spent in green space. The impact of trees, shrubs, and plants on my health was so profound that I wrote a book on it. But Leslie died at the age of 64 before I could share this compelling green space science with her.  We might think that diet and exercise are all that we can do to prevent heart problems, but there is another new way to protect your heart. In this book, as a nurse investigator, I work backwards from Leslie’s tragic death using two tools: resting heart rate and heart rate variability. I research the hidden harm in Leslie’s three-day road trip environment. I tell Leslie’s story so that what happened to Leslie does not happen to you. I give you practical ways to avoid these killers and protect your heart, so that you can live your best life possible. By the end of this book, you will have your own heart surveillance and protection plan. You will know exactly how to optimize your heart rate and chose green space to protect your heart and regulate or balance your nervous system. You will be armed with your own personal tools: resting heart rate and heart rate variability so that you can easily notice when your heart is in danger. Discover how to use these two tools and how they can act as your early warning system for many life-threatening conditions, even those not specifically related to heart disease. And because I believe that Leslie did not know she was having a heart  attack, I give you examples of other people like comedian Rosie O’Donnell  and a retired cardiac care nurse,  Robin Oliveria,  who did not recognize their own heart attacks.  And based on my experience as a nurse – should the worst happen to you — I give you the exact words to say to 911 that will place you in the right emergency category, so that you can get to the hospital as quickly as possible. By the end of this book you will have more control that you ever thought you could over your own heart health and your own survival. Leslie would say that you need to know this. I can hear her now  saying “I’m  glad you wrote this book, maybe it will save one person’s life, and hey check out that butterfly.” I started out thinking this book would be a personal story about Leslie, but by the end I realized that it about all of us. It is about you, your heart rate, and your world around you. If you are on  my  email  list, thank you for  helping me chose the title for my  upcoming book. The title is “Optimize Your Heart Rate With Green Space.”

If you are not on my email list and would like to be, please go to my website treesmendus.com where you will also get information to  help you get outside in green  space.  Until next time, check out my last book Take Back Your Outside Mindset: Live Longer, Stress  Less, and Control Your  Chronic Illness.

Book: Take Back Your Outside Mindset

Podcast Introduction

This is Verla Fortier of your Outside Mindset Show where I shine a light on aging adults who  may have a chronic  illness and are taking back their outside mindsets by looking   or going  outside to   spend time  close  to trees, shrubs and  plants. I started this podcast  for 3 reasons: #1)I  want to  help people to recognize that going outside is not just a  nice thing to do, but it can save your life. # 2) I want to give you  practical tips to  live longer,  stress  less, control your chronic illness if you have one.# 3) I want give you easy ways to protect your treasured green  spaces.