from the heart

Today marks a year since my heart surgery. Last night I read through a lot of the blog and was thankful to have it all be behind me, to have had such great supportive husband, family and friends and a FAITHFUL God. I wish I could say that I'm not feeling any pain today. I knew going into this that the healing process would be long; but, I don't think I could have wrapped my mind around the concept of enduring chronic pain. Internally, I'm great - better of course because of the surgery. However, because they had to go through my back, my muscles are still weak and recovering. I'm constantly praying for strength and relief from the pain. For the past couple weeks I went to physical therapy, hoping to find relief. I decided to continue the therapy at home (and not pay to have someone watch me do my exercises.) My plan is to dedicate myself to consistently do the exercises that aim to build my muscles back, which will intern cause the spasms to stop. I'll be r...

Back to the doctor. This time it was a trip to my cardiologist... to the doctor who made my initial diagnosis - finding the narrowing of my aorta and high cholesterol. Two weeks ago, I did some extensive blood work, called the Berkeley Blood test again and I was going to hear the results of the test. Since the first test in August, I have started the Berkeley Heart Diet and have started taking fish oil every day. I was curious what the results would be, as I didn't feel I had been as diligent with the diet as I could have been. But, was happy to find that all levels had improved! There are still two levels that need to improve further, but he thinks I'm too young to start medication and would rather see me continue with the diet, start exercising and increase my fish oil intake. I'm excited to know that all the changes and effort that I've made in my diet has made a difference. I was also pleased to announce to Peter, who also has had to eat most the things on my diet,...

Somehow it's taken me a whole month+ to sit down and write again. Yesterday I had a Doppler test done and it revealed that I have had an increase in blood flow/pressure to my legs as a result of the surgery. It is not at a perfectly normal level, but my surgeon says that it may take a year or two before that happens. He has seen patients recover to normal levels in their legs. I was pleased to have that good news, especially because I really haven't been feeling that great pain-wise. The first week in January I felt 99% better--- had more energy than I have in years and was so excited for a fresh start, but since that week, I've been experience more soreness and pain. At my appointment yesterday, the Dr. informed me that it could be 1-2 years of intermittent pain, soreness and nerve sensitivity. AH! I'm fighting the idea of a longer recovery... I don't want to whine... but, I just want to be well again. I'm finding that it is hard to share with people what I...