A Story of the Power of Gratitude

I did not learn the real power of gratitude until I met Mary. In October 2002 I received a phone call from a woman who lived about 150 miles away. She was looking for a cardiologist who incorporated integrative medicine in his practice. She called me to ask what I could do for her. When she explained her situation, it was very complex. She was 62 years old and had congestive heart failure. She had been on the heart transplant list for the last three years. She was in the hospital every 2 to 3 months with recurrent heart failure. At one point her physicians felt that she might benefit from a special type of pacemaker. She was against having anything artificial implanted in her body and she refused the pacemaker. She continued to have bouts of heart failure requiring recurrent hospitalizations. Her physician kept on her to get the pacemaker. Her family also felt that this was a good idea. In a moment of exasperation when she was a quite ill in the hospital she agreed to have the pacemaker inserted. She reluctantly agreed, however she was never happy with the idea. Following the implantation of the pacemaker her symptoms worsened. Her heart failure symptoms increased and she was now hospitalized every few weeks. She could walk only about 50 to 100 feet before becoming completely short of breath. This worsened over the four or five months since receiving the pacemaker. She was completely demoralized and depressed about with her condition. She called wanting to know if there was anything natural that could be done for her. As I listened to her I could hear the tension and exasperation in her voice. I told her that the situation was very complicated and I could not make any recommendations over the phone. I would have to see go over her records in order to give her my thoughts about her medications and possible supplements she might benefit from.

I did tell her however, that it seemed to me as though she had a tremendous amount of anger and disdain toward the pacemaker which had been implanted. She said that she hated the device and wanted it taken out and asked if I knew anyone that could take it out. I told her that it could be taken out but maybe her strong negative emotion toward the pacemaker might not be allowing the pacemaker to do what it was supposed to. I told her she needed to try to appreciate the pacemaker and be grateful for it. She said she hated it and wanted out. How could she appreciate it what she hated so much? I told her that she didn’t have to like it, just appreciate it. She asked me how that was possible.I told her through a gratitude.

I explained the gratitude journaling process to her. I recommended that she sit down and do it 10 to 15 minutes every day. I also told her that she wanted specific recommendations regarding her condition she should make an appointment to see me in the office and we would go over her records and medications and see if I had any other further ideas. I did not see her until March of the following year. When I first met her in person she looked much better than I thought she would. She was able to walk from the lobby to the examination room without any difficulty. I was somewhat surprised. I asked her how she was doing and she explained that she was doing great. I assumed that she had received her heart transplant. She said no she was still on the transplant list. I figured they must have changed her medication around. She said that she was still on the same medication. She also related to me that she had not been in the hospital since we spoke on the phone and she had worked up to walking 2 miles a day. At this point I was quite confused. I asked her what she had done that improved her symptoms so dramatically. She said that she had been doing her gratitude journaling process religiously. She felt a sense of improvement very early on and loved the process. She had not made any other changes. She found the gratitude journal to be easy and natural for her to do. I remained confused and wondered if there was something else that she was doing. We went ahead and did her echocardiogram which showed her ejection fraction, which is a measurement of heart function to be in the range of 30 to 35%. According to her records, this had previously been the range of 15 to 20%. Normal is considered to be 50 to 60%. She was far from normal but much improved. More importantly she felt 1000 times better and has not required any further hospitalizations.