Rosetta: Prior to going into the emergency room—
you know, I'm a type A personality—I'm constantly
being pulled in so many different directions. I'm
not thinking of self. And so I brought my Blackberry in, I had a cord set up, I'm good to go—still
going, "Okay; when are we gonna have the surgery?" We had a project that was going on. I was
still in denial and not taking it as seriously as I
should have been. Then the surgeon came in and
said, "You need to put your Blackberry down. You
have to make some decisions." And from there I
think everything really turned around.
Rosetta, suspecting that she had a different issue,
spent two days in the hospital, undergoing tests,
and doctors found that she had contracted an
infection called bacterial endocarditis. Two of her
heart valves had been damaged beyond repair.
Katrena: What was your immediate reaction when
you found out you had heart disease?
Rosetta: That's one thing I wasn't expecting.
When I heard that, I still didn't understand that it
was heart disease.
I'm thinking, "Bacterial
endocarditis—we're going to get this fixed."
With professional women, or even women with a lot
of things going on (they don’t have to be a career
driven woman, but we all take on a lot of extra baggage)—we take on everybody else’s problems.
We’re fixers, you know, and we don’t take care of
ourselves. What this lesson taught me was that I
had to learn to begin to say, “No.” I had to learn
that it was okay to say, “No,” and that I didn’t have
to have an excuse for saying, “No.” Instead of
taking on everything and doing everything for
everyone else, you have to love yourself first—not
in a selfish way, but in a way that will benefit those
around you; because you’re sick...you can’t help
anyone. What good are you to your family, or your
job? Your health is very critical, and it is part of
you.
So at that time I think I was still in denial.
Katrena: What was the eye opener for you? What
got you out of denial?
Rosetta: What really shook me out of my denial
was when I was released from the hospital; a week
later I was back in because of congestive heart failure.
Now that's when I knew something was
wrong, because I woke up and I couldn't breathe.
And this was one situation that I thought would
pass....but it wasn't passing.
I'm praying like,
please go away. Please go away. That's when I
really knew something was not right.
Katrena: You said…when you heard "heart failure,"
for a moment you wondered if you might die, but
then you decided that was not an option. Where
did that determination come from?
So, when I came back after this incident, I was very
focused. Now, I concentrate on things that are a
priority. I take time for myself. I’ve learned to
handle stress. Definitely learned how to delegate
and follow up. I have to trust a little bit more that
there are people out there that can get things done.
Rosetta: For a minute, I started thinking all of the
negative stuff—all of the consequences of what was
going to happen, my family. I wondered, What's
going to happen to them? Then I had to snap out
of it. The same time I was in the hospital, my
brother passed away. My mom had all nine of her
kids and we were all still alive. In 2012, I'm in the
hospital and my brother gets murdered. I had to
snap out of it from them telling me, "You have congestive heart failure," and I'm thinking, Oh ok...this
is really bad. My thoughts really went back to my
mom, because there was no way I was going to
have her attend two funerals in sixty days. And so
THAT wasn't an option. That was not an option.
I find that within my circles of women that we just
have a tendency to overdo things, and it’s not
necessary. You don’t have to prove yourself at the
expense of your health.
Katrena: Did you question why this happened to
you? What do you think the purpose was?
Rosetta: I questioned why this happened to me—
not in a negative sense of the word, because I’ve
always been more positive in the outlook of things.
I questioned, especially with the death of my
brother who was the youngest; and, he had two
small kids and a wife. I’ve lived my life and when it
came to, Okay, why me and not him that survived,
Katrena: You are the Deputy Managing Director for
the City of Philadelphia. What was the immediate
effect on your work, your life, and on your relationships?
(Continued on page 24)
April 2014
14
WWW.EXCEEDMAGONLINE.COM