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Terry Foster: 'I'm A New Man'

By: Terry Foster
@terryfoster971

Ok. Let's get this out the way.

My radio co-host Mike Valenti did not cause me to have a stroke.

Valenti is not my enemy. Sodium is.

I return to work today on the Valenti and Foster Show after a four month rehabilitation from the complications of two minor strokes.

Here is the good news. A full recovery is expected and I am taking this health scare very seriously. My blood sugars are low and more importantly my blood pressure is under control because of healthy eating and four to five days a week of grinding it out in the gym.

I have lost 32 pounds and plan to lose 10 more.

I want to resume my show, put my family's fears at ease and I want to help others not have to go through what I did. There were a lot of dark days but I never lost hope in part because so many people embraced me and wished me well. Even the jerks on twitter backed off and rooted for me.

The people at Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield took great care of me and they continue to do so.

My philosophy was "I believe in tomorrow." In other words no matter what a terrible time I was having I knew tomorrow would be better and put me one step closer to recovery.

I am a new man that embraces medicine and doctors, not one that runs from it. I got into this predicament because of processed foods and going five years without going to the doctor. That will never happen again.

I thought I could take care of myself alone. We all need a little help from our friends and doctors.

My story is not unique. Men do not go to the doctor because we feel good and we feel like Super Man. Did I have any warning signs before my stroke? No. There were no headaches, no tingling. Nothing. I felt fine and healthy. But a concoction of chemicals caused by bad eating habits were working inside my body.

One day I woke up, bounced out of bed and thought everything was fine. I went to my basement office and could not type. My fine motor skills in my right hand were compromised. I tried to do my radio show and my speech was slurred.

I did not know I had suffered a stroke. I thought I had the flu and tried to gut it out. I discovered that there are thousands of Americans who are walking around with minor strokes trying to gut it out. They believe their symptoms will disappear. But they don't.

They only get worse.

The day Drew "Boodini" Sharp died completely freaked me out. I woke up that day feeling like a dark cloud had been lifted. A couple hours later Vince Ellis of the Free Press called and told me Drew died earlier that morning.

I felt that could have been me and every day after that is a bonus day for me. Drew blew a clot and it killed him. I did not have a total clot. A vein inside my brain became "sluggish" and my life was saved.

It simply was not my time.

Later that afternoon a voice mail from Drew popped onto my phone: "Hey Boodini here. I just want you to know that I am thinking of you. Listen to the doctors and (wife) Abs and everything is going to be fine."

I cried.

Abs said the reason I felt better that day is because Boodini sprinkled some magic dust from heaven before departing.

Any way I am back and it feels great to resume my life with my radio brothers Sully, Hatchet, Roberto and Mike, along with the listeners that showed so much love while I was gone.

And Mike did not cause this. I swear.

But I still carry some of that magic dust from Drew in my back pocket just to be safe.

WATCH TODAY'S SHOW LIVE HERE ON THE VALENTI AND FOSTER PAGE.

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