Heart Attack----Not!

Look who has been visiting my feeder.

I’ve been in a bit of a blog funk lately, mainly because I am still not completely back to normal health wise. I hate colds because it always stirs up my asthma and that slows the whole getting well process down. Seems there is always a cough to deal with for several weeks. The last couple days have been better so I think I may kick this thing yet.

John has recovered from his cold but this week will have an umbilical hernia repaired. This showed up a couple months ago and at his physical they decided now is the time to deal with this so off to the surgeon for the consult he went. Everything else on his physical was great. His BP is good and his cholesterol etc. is also very good. However, because of his age the surgeon wanted a pre-surgical EKG.  The next day we get a call that the EKG indicates John has had a heart attack at some point and they want him to return to his doc to check it out. What??? John’s has never had any symptoms, his blood  work is great (cholesterol  only 170) so this just doesn’t sound right. Back to his doc, who looks at the EKG and has to really study it to find what we later found out the computer spit out. John does have a strong family history of heart disease, his father had 2 bypass surgeries so I agree that just to be safe lets have a consult with the cardiologist. Since the surgery was already scheduled they got him right in. John figured he was in for a stress test so dressed ready for a work out. The cardiologist comes in asks lots of questions about family history, any symptoms etc and has a listen. Then he looks at John and he says,  guess what? You are healthy and and the EKG is a  variation within normal limits and there is really no indication he has had a heart attack. Good, now just to get the hernia fixed. 
John playing with his bug zapper

I think this whole episode was just a reminder to the both of us that we are getting older and that there likely will be some blips along the way. Our goal however is to stay as healthy as possible for as long as possible. We know that this winter we both kind of slipped on that goal and gained some weight and were not as active as we had been. This was the kick in the but to get back to a more healthy lifestyle. I’ve been walking again and working on some strength training and as soon as John gets passed this surgery he plans on doing the same. We also want to get back on our bikes and get some good rides in.

The weather here in Iowa has remained on the wet side. Many areas saw significant flooding earlier this month and now with more rain up north, other areas are experiencing flooding. I know our friends Evelyn and Kevin (RV Khronicles of Kevelyn) have had lots of rain in Wisconsin too. We are going to be visiting them in a couple weeks so we hope it dries out a little. I was listening to the forecast today and it said this week would still be wet but after that its looking like it may dry out for awhile---here’s hoping they’re right!
She's starting to smile!

Flowers from Evie
We’ve been babysitting a lot and its such a delight. Evie is getting more active and stays awake more and beginning to smile too. This grandparent gig is great. For the first time in my life the girls in the family out number the boys ( its 4-3 now!). What’s great about having girls around is they are a little more in tune with things. They help the guys remember birthdays. For the first time in quite a few years my kids gave me a birthday party and it was so sweet. I love my boys but this is not something they would think to do on their own so I have the wonderful women (Melissa and Emily) to thank for that. The guys did do some of  the cooking. They had some of my favorite things, burgers on the grill and mac ‘n cheese (its been my fav since I was little but I rarely indulge in it anymore), and a chocolate birthday cake complete with candles. Evie gave me flowers and so did Gabe and Melissa and together they gave me a gift card for John and I to go out to Hotel Kirkwood for dinner. I have to say its the nicest party with my family that I’ve had in a few years. So thank you Gabe, Melissa, Mitch, Emily and Evie for a wonderful day. I love you all.


Can you believe I almost got them all out.
Good thing they didn't put all 57 on!

I have a couple other things I could write about but this is getting a little long so I will save it for later. Hope summer is treating everyone well. Until later.....

Happy Trails.............................

Comments

  1. Chuck and Anneke's RV travelsJune 23, 2013 at 9:51 PM

    In the end -good news. I often have issues with EKG's due to my extreme reaction to being in a medical environment. Luckily after more than six plus decades-Iam still functioning:)

    ReplyDelete
  2. owensontheroadJune 23, 2013 at 10:15 PM

    We get on healthy kicks, then our normal lifestyle takes over. We love to eat out and it is hard not to want to do that. We get a lot more exercise in on this workamping gig, so that is good. Think about you guys as we tour around Oregon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. RV Khronicles of KevelynJune 24, 2013 at 7:25 AM

    I'm so glad John didn't actually have a heart attack. That must have been a scary phone call to receive. How wonderful your kids gave you a party. I know what you mean about the girls versus the boys in planning a party. I'm already noticing a difference now that Korey is engaged. There is a great bike path near here, but you have to drive to get to it. If you guys bring your bikes, we could go riding. Also, there is a disc golf course nearby. We only have two discs. If you have any, we could maybe do that too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RickJune 24, 2013 at 11:22 AM

    Great news about John NOT having had a heart attack. The initial news might have been enough to GIVE me a heart attack.

    Great smiley face pic of Evie. Can't wait for our little guy's (Mason) first big smile!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tom and Donna ClaphamJune 25, 2013 at 12:03 AM

    I have had much of the same on the EKG and tread mill read outs. Scares the heck out of ya. Now I have a heart murmur stage 2 out of 10. They say no big deal. I've also had the umbilica hernia. Do it early and it' much better, some folks wait too long and then it becomes a major deal! Good luck my friend. And Happy Birthday to you Ms. Janie! Happy Trails, Tom and Donna

    ReplyDelete

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