Heart attacks are no fun


NeuroTypical
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5 hours ago, unixknight said:

@NeuroTypical I'll add my sentiments to the others'... Glad you're still with us.  I'd miss you if you were gone from the boards, truly. 

It occurs to me that for most of us, if something happened the rest of the fine folks on this forum wouldn't have a way of knowing what happened.  Hmmm  Maybe that's something we can address.  

 

Not to be morbid, but, I have an email group set up and it's titled "Death." I've told my husband he is to use that to let others know about my death. Our own @pam is on that list. And @NeuroTypical some of our people on that other place are on the list too.

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On 7/31/2019 at 9:35 AM, NeuroTypical said:

So on Sunday, I had a big honkin' heart attack,

Everyone is telling me the best thing that happened that day were those 4 baby aspirin in the first 30 minutes. 

I'm sorry to here this, and happy you are here, too. For those who don't think about it, one of the best things you can do is to have regular aspirin in your purse or whatever guys carry. Keep them at home, and now that I think about, maybe in the kitchen/living room and wherever else you keep your meds in the house.  I retired last week and turned 66 yesterday - these things are on my mind. :D

 True story - our research center was hosting an international conference. The dean of our program came by to welcome the attendees, and ended by saying he needed to get home to watch the election. This guy is a New Yorker and hyped up on his slow days. Anyway, I guess George Bush winning a 2nd term got to him :D, 'cause he had a heart attack. He had to step down as dean, but like you, was home soon. He taught and reduced his administrative work, got more exercise, and "made the necessary changes" until he retired a few years later. He is still enjoying an active retirement from what I see on FB.  I always think of that - there's no reason to get over excited by stuff - you don't want to give yourself a heart attack. 

Stay well, Neuro.

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Today was my initial "Cardiac rehab" visit.  I like what I'm seeing.   They also told me it's quite common to tinker with medications after they're first issued, based on people's symptoms.  That's good news, because I've been lightheadded, short of breath, and having a slight daily headache since they released me.  I'll talk with the surgeon on Friday.

Has anyone heard about the Ornish program?  Part exercise/PT, part learning to cook, part support/stress management.  Basically, one person to yell at me in the gym, one person to argue with in the kitchen, and a support group.  I can do that.

 

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On 8/2/2019 at 9:52 PM, beefche said:

Why do you need to eat bananas? There are other things you can eat to get the nutrients. What's the deal with bananas?

As a father of daughters, he wants the daily opportunity to say "I'm BANANAS for bananas!" ...

And it will never get old....

No matter how much they tell him it is...

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13 hours ago, The Folk Prophet said:

I cannot begin to express how paranoid this thread has made me.

Well, take heart.  (pun intended.)  And calm yourself - I'm discovering that stress is tied for the top two reasons this happened to me.   Possibly the top reason.  Very much a common story as I'm discovering.   The diet and exercise changes will probably not be as difficult to enact, than the stress lowering stuff.    

Learning about sodium and saturated fat isn't as dire as I thought.   I always lacked the motivation to make these changes stick, now I have the motivation.  If you can use my cautionary tale as a motivation booster for you, then we're both ahead of the game. 

Image result for purpose in life is to be a cautionary tale to others

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28 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Well, take heart.  (pun intended.)  And calm yourself

It's the shortness of breath I've been having lately and the pain in my chest and left shoulder the other day that I wrote off as heartburn. (To be fair...I'm almost certain it was...but.......now I'm paranoid.)

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 Something like that is absolutely worth scheduling an appointment with your doctor. 2% chance of it being the same thing as bad as a heart  attack? It is worth checking out. No paranoia necessary. 

I am on the medical response team at my work. Probably about five times in the last several years people have come to the nurses station because they’re having  some sort of chest thing that probably isn’t anything but they thought they’d check. One or two of them discovered something they needed to know.

Edited by NeuroTypical
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  • 4 weeks later...

Week five. 

Diet update:   I've lost 20 lbs, mostly due to just dumping fast food.   I want to joke that it's because I've given up food, but going 80% plant-based vegan really isn't all that bad.   Soy milk on my cereal tastes just fine.  I already liked brussles sprouts, now I have an excuse to eat them.  My cardiac rehab program pushes vegan.  But the dietitians there are happy with my more-than-modest gains, and are ok with my plan to have meat 1-3 times a week, and a cheat day every 60 days.  I am able to keep my diet soda, watching the sodium and caffeine.  

Exercise: Was doing ok with this before, doing ok with it now.

Stress & support & stuff: The third tripod leg of recovering from and living with heart disease.   This one is bigger and more difficult than I thought, but I have a good bishop, good buddies, good support in my rehab program.   Maybe more on this later. 

I feel fine (except for my first head cold in a year or two).  One of the medications gives me occasional shortness of breath, I've lost some endurance, but I'm gaining it back.

Sunsets are prettier.  Grass is greener.  Life is precious.  Gaining focus on planning for the future - I most likely have 25-30 years left, and good chances of making them good years.  Good odds of living longer than my male ancestors.  Like anyone else, I never seriously grappled with a reality like that before.  Now I'm dealing with it.

 

I've become an advocate for being over-cautious when it comes to heart issues.  Ain't no problem in going to a doctor just because something doesn't feel quite right.  Discuss symptoms, do the dang blood work - it won't kill ya.

 

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36 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Diet update:   I've lost 20 lbs, mostly due to just dumping fast food. 

No fair.  I don't do fast food so I dumped rice and didn't lose a pound, let alone 20.  It's looking like I have to dump food!

 

36 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

 I want to joke that it's because I've given up food, but going 80% plant-based vegan really isn't all that bad. 

I'm a fan of Taina licciardo-toivola on youtube.  She's a minimalist mom of 10 who lives a plant-based lifestyle.  She shows stuff on her channel like what she feeds her family, what groceries they buy, etc. etc.  It looks and sounds very yum and fun.

 

36 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Soy milk on my cereal tastes just fine.

We don't do soy milk.  I'm just not fond of the plant-based estrogen content on my family with young boys.  It's not something the pediatrician discouraged (my son is allergic to dairy so the need to find cow milk substitute), it's just something in my logical brain that doesn't compute for my kids.  So, we do Almond or Cashew milk.  But what I found was the kids prefer the taste of Almond or Cashew to Soy Milk!  Silk brand, unsweetened.  Not the vanilla version either.  For a while there, Silk brand was the only one that did not have carrageenan so that was the only one I bought.  But they prefer Soy Milk to Coconut Milk.  

 

36 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

My cardiac rehab program pushes vegan.  But the dietitians there are happy with my more-than-modest gains, and are ok with my plan to have meat 1-3 times a week, and a cheat day every 60 days.   

Have you tried Seitan?   How about Textured Vegetable Protein?

I've had TVP growing up which is a meat substitute made out of soy.  My mom used to put 1 part real meat to 3 parts TVP when we're in a financial bind to make our meat stretch for a few weeks.  The TVP would absorb the taste of the meat and we couldn't tell the difference which is TVP and which is real meat.  I'm not fond of substituting stuff with soy stuff so I didn't do TVP with my boys.  But Taina the youtuber uses Seitan instead of TVP.  Seitan is made out of the protein (gluten) part of wheat.  I tried that using the 1 to 3 mix that my mom used to do and like the TVP, Seitan absorbed the taste of the meat.  But Taina - being plant-based - don't mix hers with real meat, but she cooks it like she would real meat.

Anyway, I've always avoided storing wheat in food storage because I just don't know what to do with the stuff.  Now, I'm waiting for a wheat sale at the cannery so I can add it to my storage.

So, there are probably better "how to make Seitan" videos out there but I like Taina so... this is the one I'm gonna share with you.

 

 

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15 hours ago, Vort said:

food-drink-oxymoron-associations-contrad

So, the latest on Taina... her oldest son got married and moved out and her youngest son started walking... so she sold their 3-floor house in Finland (Taina's homeland) and everything in it and moved all 11 members of the family left in the roost into a class C RV and are now driving around Europe to see what they read about in their books.  They've been traveling for a month, I think, and has been through 5 countries so far.  They'll do this for at least 6 months and then re-assess if they're going to continue travelling or get a house in the dad's hometown in Australia.  11 people, 3 of them under 5 years old, sleeping, dining, bathrooming in an RV.  The world is their school and playground.  The ultimate in home schooling.  What do they do for money, you ask?  Income from ads and voluntary contributions on their youtube videos.  She's gotten quite a following.  :)

 

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  • 1 month later...
Guest Gallant Pioneer

I know I'm not a regular fixture on here as I spend most my time on here reading The archives for questions I have that have been asked a million times. 

But I am glad to hear you survived your event. My own father took a massive attack in his sleep over a weekend about 6 months ago. Strangely, he woke up due to hearing my mother shouting on him ( my mother has been dead 10 years) it was his startle that woke me up to hear him shortly have his attack. 

 

Whilst in the hospital he went into cardiac arrest and so I prayed. A very strange sensation pinged in the back of my head as I prayed followed by a strong sense of peace. 

Shortly after the doctors informed us he had survived and was being prepped to be transported to the best heart people in the country. 

 

Scariest yet most reaffirming weekend of my life. My father is sitting across from me as I type this, he has since gone vegetarian and is all up in those bananas. 

As a sign of support I'm upping my diet. Which is how I came across this thread as I wanted to ask about D and C dietary advice. 

 

Glad you are well, stay strong. 

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1 hour ago, Gallant Pioneer said:

My father is sitting across from me as I type this, he has since gone vegetarian and is all up in those bananas. 

Tell him I absolutely empathize.  I find I have nothing in common with most other vegans, only those who have adopted the lifestyle because of medical issues.  

Things that keep me sane: Black bean burgers, Safeway Select diet soda (no caffeine, almost no sodium), a cheat day once a month (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas).

 

Update on me: I'm continuing to bounce back stronger.  Down 30+ lbs, I think I hit my high school weight.  And I drug myself kicking and screaming up the Manitou Incline.  2700 steps, 2000 ft elevation increase.  I was always the out of breath kid who had to push his bike up the smallest hill.  Never thought I had it in me.

2019ManitouIncline6.thumb.JPG.457b8e573b11e895a08857e0a2968699.JPG

Yes, I yelled "TAKE THAT HEART DISEASE!" when I made it to the top.

Not everyone gets to bounce back stronger from something like this, but I've been blessed with the chance, so I'm hitting it as hard as I can.

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