kjpabl's Journal

crazy days
Jul 07 2009 13:26

Yesterday I went to Central Washington Hospital to have a heart cath done.  Despite my elevated cholesterol count I have no plaque build up in my arteries.  A big thank you to God for that.  Unfortunately, I do have a disease called constrictive pericarditus.  I will have to have open chest surgery to have the diseased pericardium stripped from the heart muscle.  I am nervous about the surgery -- it seems to be a rare condition and I don't think there are alot of surgeons who have experience doing the procedure.   I will be contacting an old friend from church who works for Spokane Cardiology.  Hopefully, she will know of someone who has done this procedure before. I'm not really looking forward to being anyone's "first".  This is such an unknown territory for me.  I'm not sure how it will go -- what is it like on a heart/lungbypass machine? How long will I be in the hospital?  How much time will I need to recuperate and what can I do or not do during recuperation?   I have so many questions and I'm scared but I'm the strong one -- I don't want my husband or daughter to worry about my frame of mind in addition to their concern about my health.  I promised the lord I would try to give the worries to him, so I've written them down now and the rest I will give into his hands.  If you read this I would appreciate a prayer. God Bless everyone.

Day 2
Jul 04 2009 07:17

So here I am again, day two of my count.  I had a huge breakfast  -- cheerios with 1/2 cup 1% milk with blueberries, and a whole banana, 1/4 of a large cantaloupe and a small peach.  Made potato salad for tonight's 4th celebration.  I am using the Best Foods Canola mayo as I like the flavor better than the light mayo.  We're having a steak (split between the two of us - about 4oz. each) with carmelized onions & sauted mushrooms, grilled asparagus, the potato salad and  blueberry and peach shortcakes.  I'm having everything except I'll simply spoon the fruit over slow churned vanilla ice cream.   I'm not a huge fan of the sponge cakes my husband prefers for shortcake.  I have to say I really miss bread.  Usually I serve a nice french bread with butter along side dinner, however I am trying to change this habit.  Weekends seem to work well for me because I do a late breakfast/brunch and then an early dinner.  Only two meals to divy up the calories. 

karen's journel
Jul 03 2009 14:11

Hi first post here at calorie count. It seems my sedentary lifestyle is finally coming back to haunt me.  I actually began "dieting"  about a month ago to get into the my 'Mother of the Bride' dress.  I began a small walking program and cutback to 1200 calories and dropped 20 pounds.  Yeah!  However I did gain about 5 of it back during the rehearsal dinner, reception and taking my family out to dinner again and again.   The exercise was curtailed some too, although we did do some touristy things in Seattle which helped.  I have just been diagnosed with constrictive pericarditis  and while it doesn't seem to be caused by my weight,  the extra pounds certainly are not helping my heart.  Still, I find it difficult to hold to a 1200 calorie diet.  I have decided to gradually increase my activity level and try to stay within a 1600 calorie range.  Primarily I want to increase the amount of fish and poultry I consume and reduce my use of beef.  I am also eating alot of fresh fruit and vegtables.  This is killing my meat and potatoes husband -but I am dragging him along for the ride.  His cholesteral is high also and I would like both of us to be around to see our grandchildren when our daughter is ready for them.  I wish anyone who is also trying to reduce their calories the best.  I count every day and writing everything I eat down is truly eyeopening.  I put down a Dove ice cream bar the other day and took a strawberry ice pop because I was not willing to give up a whole meal (340 calories)just to indulge my chocolate craving.  I was willing to spend 32 calories for a single piece of Bliss from a bar and will have another piece when I choose.  That's the important part for me-- I am choosing to change and prethinking what I am putting into my body.  Now if I could just find the will power to walk that little bit more.  Good luck to me and everyone else out there.