May You Have a Healthy Heart
I am two years old even though my real age is 51. I had quadruple bypass four days before my 49th birthday. The hospital discharged me on my birthday. You would think I would have been happy to leave the hospital but in fact I was more miserable being at home. In the hospital, I would be comfortable. They would manage my pain and I had a comfortable bed.
After surgery, I was in a lot of pain. Every time I coughed, the worst pain imaginable would stab in in the chest. I refused oxycodone because in the past it made my heart race so fast that it felt like I was having a heart attack. I would rather feel pain that to have that experience again. I would just tell the hospital that I was allergic to oxycodone so they wouldn’t prescribe it to me. The name of the alternative pain killer escapes me but it was useless anyway. I still felt excruciating pain around the ribs from coughing.
With the pain, I could not sleep. If I did manage to sleep it was for 2 or 3 hours. It took six weeks before I could sleep normal again. I've tried some meds that could help me sleep but they did not work.
My pain and misery has subsided now, but I am still not out of the woods. Maintaining my health is a constant battle because even with blood pressure medication, my blood pressure can still go 20 to 40 points higher than normal. The normal blood pressure measurement is 120/80. The top number is called systolic, the force of the heart pushing blood to the arteries. The bottom number is called diastolic, the pressure when the heart is getting blood filled. My diastolic can still elevate 10 to 20 points.
The things I do to maintain a good blood pressure is exercise and dieting. If I am not exercising, I try to constantly move and not sit down too much. The dieting part has the biggest impact on my blood pressure. Before my heart surgery, I used to eat foods high in sodium, fat and sugar. I did not consider myself a big junk food eater but after taking a seminar on dieting, I realized that just about all processed foods I was eating are high in sodium, fats and sugar. Processed foods are foods that are frozen, canned, baked or dried. The purpose for this is to make the food taste good and last longer.
The key to dieting is to consume the freshest foods that you can eat. For example, the apple picked from a tree is fresher than the apple slices cut and packaged. The carrots plucked from the ground is fresher than those cut frozen carrots packaged in a store. The meats from the butcher is fresher than when it gets chopped up and mixed with other ingredients and chemicals to produce a sausage.
The dieting part is absolutely simple. Just eat more fresh fruits and vegetables to maintain your health, especially heart health. The problem with this is following through. I have been eating a lot less meats and eating more vegetables and fruits. But many times I revert to my old self and gorge on a little (but not a lot) of comfort foods like pizza, chips, ice creams, pot pies, and hot dogs. I don’t really gorge on my past favorites like steaks and hamburgers. Even if I gorge just a little bit, my blood pressure can elevate. My doctor thinks I’m salt sensitive and he may be right.
Another factor in maintaining blood pressure is stress. I have a wife and three kids. My children are all teen agers now. Oldest daughter started college. I work full time and it has been getting more stressful lately. More work has picked up and I am not a boss. I have no one to delegate work to and other coworkers are in the same situation. It is really difficult to say no to work when other people are working harder than you.
My biggest motivation to stay healthy is my family. I imagine their life without me sometimes. That is usually enough to keep my dieting in line. The other motivation is my new hobby. I love golf now. I have played it on and off in the 90’s. After that, I got married and maybe touched a golf club about three times within 15 years or so. After my surgery, I was still feeling pain and some kinds of symptoms that made me feel like I was dying. However, I still played maybe ten rounds of 9 holes the year after surgery. Last year, I played almost every week between May and November.
I am still terrible at golf and I still can’t escape my job. My quest to stay healthy goes on. I have desires to be less dependent on my blood pressure medications so that someday I can be free of meds. I’m not even close.
May this article inspire you to be healthy and to take care of your heart.
