More Heart Fun

On "Bad Friday", I had some plastic surgery to remove a couple of questionable skin blemishes - one on my forehead and one inside my ear. I don't know at this point if they were bad or not - I'll find out in a week or so.

During the prep for the surgery, the standard instruction was to lay off the Plavix, as it can lead to more bleeding during and after surgery. Given that I have stents, I couldn't do that. So I stayed on aspirin and Plavix.

The first couple of days after the surgery were a bit tough, but I'm getting back on my feet. I do have a couple of nasty looking scars that will scare the children for a few weeks.

I've also adapted to the change from Coreg to Atenolol, and I am happy to say I have most of my energy back. I have been getting some armchair exercise from our new Wii, but I intend to hit the treadmill soon to start working on getting some aerobic fitness back. I'd like to give myself a nice run outside for Christmas.

I Heart These Things

I am thankful for many things:

- Bruce, my guardian angel, who saved my sorry ass 6 weeks ago
- The EMT's and ER people who did their jobs very well
- The Cardiac specialists who also did their jobs well
- My family for their incredible support
- My friends and co-workers who provided great support during my recovery
- My church family who continually remind me that prayer is good for us
- My new PCP, cardiologist and others in the medical community who keep my sorry ass healthy
- The members of the HCHS Marching band family who offered their support during my recovery
- And for me just being here this fall. It might not have turned out that way had any one thing been different.

I have a bit of non-cardiac surgery tomorrow...should be even better after that.

Cheers,

John

Heart Doctor

This past Monday I had my first visit with my cardiologist. They took another EKG which still showed some residual damage from the heart attack. The cardiologist mentioned that the damage may reduce over time, but there may be some permanent damage. It will be more obvious in 3 or more months.

I also described my fatigue and he indicated the Coreg may be causing that. I'll be changing from that to Atenolol, another Beta Blocker, this week.

And, the cardiologist released me to start walking, and phasing into running again. I'll start with brisk walking once I can get my energy level back.

I'm staying pretty close to the diet, but I did travel this week and had some trouble getting completely healthy food whilst eating out. I did manage to have more salads than other food, and avoided the fried stuff.

So, recovery is under way and hopefully I'll be my normal bubbly self before too long!

Smoothie Operator

I got pretty "anal" on my last post about fiber (har). It's one of the key parameters I'm trying to balance in my new diet: Fiber, salt, fat. The rest will fall into place.

There are lots of good bread options loaded with fiber. Sandwich rounds are great. I'm staying away from plain pasta or white bread. The whole grain stuff has lots more flavor.

I'm also going heavy on the fruit, and decided to try out fruit smoothies. I never got into them because I thought the name was stupid. But they are a great way to get calcium and fruit.

I make them like this: Toss about a cup and a half of fresh and/or frozen fruit in the blender. If fresh, add some ice cubes. Add about a cup of skim milk and 1/4 cup or so of fat free vanilla yogurt.

Blend like hell for a minute or so and pour into a cup. Tastes really good. You get a lot of fiber and vitamins from the fruit and some calcium to boot.

Doctor Update!

I have an appointment tomorrow with my Primary Care Physician and a Cardiologist appointment on the 16th of November. Thanks to all for helping me get these under way!