The cath procedure is a funny thing. It is as non invasive as you can be considering they are sticking metal tubes in the arteries surrounding your heart for the sole purpose of keeping you alive. For both of my surgeries, they made an incision at the top of my right leg in the groin area in the femoral artery. This is the main artery in the lower portion of your body. They thread up a little wire and put the stent in. There is no anesthesia other than a little Valium and Versed. This means you get to talk to the doc and nurses while they are saving your life. Odd phenomenon really. When they are done, you have some fabulous accommodations in the ICU or CCU.
Once they are done and you are in your room, you have to lay absolutely flat. This is because they have made an incision in the femoral artery and they really, really do not want this to break open. You bleed to death very quickly if the femoral artery incision should it happen to break open. I have never done any research on how often this actually happens, but they scare the hell out of you in the hospital about it. Here you have survived heart issues and everyone you come in contact with is telling you not to move certain ways so you don't break that incision open.
When you get discharged from the hospital, they send you home with an immense fear of moving the wrong way. They give you a whole list of things not to do: Don't drive, don't lift, don't go up and down stairs, don't strain going to the bathroom and on and on. More than anything, I left the hospital afraid of this. I really wasn't afraid of anything cardiac. Perhaps the scare tactic is an effective tool for them to avoid a high instance of this. I know for sure that this was the scariest thing about either one of my surgeries--I didn't want to bleed to death.
On a different note, I have totally tanked my diet the last two weeks. I have eaten vegetarian, but not the no added oil plant strong diet. I had some dairy and oil over the last two weeks. First was my company conference that we put on for our clients and then was my 25 year high school reunion for the high school I did not attend. I went K-8 with them. I found myself in situations that I just had to eat so I picked the best vegetarian options they had. The other thing about these functions was they took up my entire weekends which meant taking up my grocery shopping and food prep time. I now know for sure that if I don't take the time to do this, then I can't follow the way of eating I would like. As a result of this, I have gained five pounds back and my psoriasis is coming back. So, either the oil or the dairy are the root cause of my psoriasis.
This morning, I have refocused. Here is breakfast:
I had a blast at the 25 year reunion and it felt so good to be thinner when I attended. I saw some very long time dear friends. Here are my friends Beth and Brian with me. The first pic is in seventh grade and in the front from left to right is Beth, Brian and myself. The second pic is from last weekend, thirty (yikes!!) years later. I am so thankful that I get the chance to hang out with my good friends still!
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