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Contributed by Garth Matthes
Dear Jennie,
I received these letters from a long-time member of our
Kansas City Training Program. Naomi and I have known Garth
Matthes since 1979. The letter is in reference to a check-up
Garth had with his cardiologist after having had a heart
attack about three years ago. The first letter is from the
cardiologist to Garth. The second is Garth's response to
his cardiologist. Garth has given us permission to put both
of the letters on our website to describe how the therapy
has helped him in his life.
Let me know if you need any other information about Garth
or the letters.
Stuart
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I recently received a letter from my cardiologist that read
as follows:
January
23, 2001
Dear
Garth,
I left a message on your answering machine but the connection
was poor. I wanted to drop you this note to let you know
that your stress thallium scan of 1/8/01 looks fine. There
is no evidence of coronary blockage. Your ejection fraction
is normal at 61 %. This indicates a very good outlook with
minimal evidence of residual damage in the area of your
heart attack from 1998. It is surprising that the evidence
of infarct that we saw in the past has resolved. I can't
explain this but I believe it is a favorable finding. Please
keep in touch regarding your status as you switch from Atenolol
to Altace. Our major concern with Altace is that of a cough,
although light headedness, rash and "altered taste"
as you eat can also develop.
Sincerely,
Charles B. Porter, M.D.
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To which I responded:
04 February, 2001
Dr.
Charles Porter
4321 Washington, Suite 4000
Kansas City, MO 64111
Dear
Dr. Porter,
Thank you for your letter re: my thallium scan of January
8th. (I am enclosing a copy).
I was extremely pleased about the findings, of course. I
was also appreciative of your candor regarding your reaction
to the findings. In particular, I would like to fill in
some blanks for you in response to your statement: "It
is surprising that the evidence of infarct that we saw in
the past has resolved. I canÕt explain this but I
believe it is a positive finding."
In
addition to several "allopathic" practices, i.e.
smoking cessation, reduction of fat in diet, very moderate
exercise (inconsistent for past year), and daily atenolol,
there are other things that I have been doing that I am
certain have had a very important role in my recovery. I
want to make you aware of these things, because too often
they are not stressed or even suggested as necessary or
beneficial adjuncts to "standard treatment."
One,
that I consider the most important, is psychotherapy. I
am a psychologist, and I am also a client in Body Centered
Gestalt Therapy on a regular basis, and have been for about
20 years. My commitment to this kind of therapy has been
for my own personal growth, deepening my awareness of the
human psyche, and for professional integrity and clarity.
A
heart attack is not just a physical event, it has emotional,
psychological and spiritual meaning as well, i.e. it means
something about a person's damage to their heart in all
the meanings of "heart." So, I have done a lot
of emotional work and healing of my heart. My heart gave
me a relatively gentle, but scary, jolt on April 6, 1998,
to let me know about the need for work to be done on feeling
past and unconscious heartbreaks. This work has enabled
me to have more heart for my self. The medical establishment
has a euphemism for all of this called "stress."
It is a totally inadequate term.
The
second is Chi Gong, which is a physical exercise and meditative
practice of drawing in chi energy (life force, positive
energy, etc. whatever you want to call it) and using the
chi energy to heal one's body. I did this practice once
a day for most of last year. Have lapsed for the past few
months.
Last,
but not least, is prayer. I am on a prayer list called St.
Paul's Mass enrollment. Since March of 2000 (shortly after
my last thallium scan) I have been prayed for every day
in these masses. I also pray for myself occasionally, and
I know other people pray for me as well. I've heard of much
research, from Larry Dossey, MD, and others to substantiate
the scientific validity of prayer, so I am including this
as a possible reason for the healing as well.
I
hope this helps your understanding of my "spontaneous
recovery" or "healing." It certainly helps
mine.
Warmly,
Garth Matthes
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