I Am Not Ready

was feeling a little strange, not sure what exactly was happening, but I know my body well enough to know when something is off. So, I decided to make an appointment to do routine blood work and hoped it was just my busy work and personal schedule taking a toll on me. I was not really anticipating any crazy results back, because a little over a year ago I had complete blood work done for a life insurance policy. Those results came back stating that I was among the top 5% of the healthiest people in the country.

Moving forward a year, I go back to my doctor’s office to get the results from the routine check-up and to my surprise, according to the MD reading my results, I am on the verge of dying of a heart attack! I couldn’t believe my ears, he said I was pre-diabetic, possibly had a tumor in my kidney since there were traces of blood in my urine, and

By Ivis Mateos

Imy cholesterol was so high I was on the verge of a heart attack.

When you are told you are about to die, suddenly it puts life into perspective. I am not ready to go. I haven’t done everything I need to do. I haven’t said the things I need to say to the people that matter most to me. I want my children to be older before it’s time for me to go. I want them to be adults, married, with children. I want to meet my grandchildren. I want to be there for most of their milestones. I want to make sure they have a happy life before I go. So many things went through my mind, while I sat staring at the doctor’s face while he spoke.

Life is unpredictable and you never know if you will have time to take care of all the things you need to take care of. But, when you think you are about to die, you realize that you need to start moving, start planning and preparing for that moment when you will no longer be around to take care of your children. Think about a will, life insurance, important documents and information your family might need in order to proceed if you are not around. Do all the things you need to do and say all things you want to say before it's too late.

Luckily for me, my doctor actually gave me the wrong information. I almost did literally die of a heart of attack right in front of his face! Needless to say, I re-tested a week later with another doctor and all I had was a little cholesterol that a change in my diet could fix. Take care of yourself so that you can be the best that you can be for your children and take a moment reflect on the important things that need to get done.

▸ Ivis Mateos is a mother of two boys and has more than 22 years combined experience in educational consulting and management. In addition to earning her National Administrator Credential, Mateos has lead workshops on curriculum development, teacher development and parenting. She has been the General Manager at Tiny Planet Preschool and an Educational Consultant for Graven International Group for the past three years. For more information, call 954384-4884.