Friday, April 8, 2011

Life After Bypass Surgery

Found this article about life after open heart bypass surgery.  Found it very interesting and topics seemed relevant to me.  What I will do is rate myself on the topics, which are:

Cardiac Rehabilitation
Daily Exercise
Keeping Your Arteries Clear
Smoking
High Blood Pressure
Diabetes
Elevated Cholesterol
Sedentary Lifestyle
Stress
Diet


Cardiac Rehabilitation - Grade A-
I have been very faithful with my cardiac rehab!  The only reason I did not give myself an A+ is the fact that I have been kicked out 3 times because of my PVC's!  But I keep going back & try my best at rehab.  I love working out & must stay faithful when rehab is over - I have completed 31 of 36 sessions.

Daily Exercise - Grade B-
This is now more difficult.  I wake up at 5:30 AM and get to school by 6:30 AM.  I never enjoyed morning exercise and my schedule in the morning is tight.  And, now that I am coaching, the exercise must happen after supper time.  In my job, I do move around all day & coaching is also a constant movement - so that must help my exercise to some degree.  Weekends will help & I must plan to get the exercise when possible.


Keeping Your Arteries Clear - Grade A-
My last blood test was great - Total Cholesterol - 126 - LDL 73 - HDL - 35.  What I really need to work on is the HDL - my goal is 50.  Mor e exercise & lose 10 more pounds!

Smoking - Grade A+
This is simple - I do not smoke! (Except an occasional victory cigar!)

High Blood Pressure - Grade A+
This is also simple - my blood pressure is normal.  Today before rehab it was 120/72

Diabetes - Grade A+
My blood sugar is normal - no diabetic problems.

Elevated Cholesterol - Grade A+
See above!

Sedentary Lifestyle - Grade A
I do not sit around, except at night or football, baseball & John Wayne movies!

Stress - Grade B-
This is a tricky one.  I think I'm pretty good at this.  The only problem I have is my schedule & that should get better in 2 months when I retire!  I need to be careful and not say YES to too many things!

Diet - Grade B-
Need to better job on portion size and eating after 6 PM.  I have stayed with a heart healthy diet.  My treats are cereal (Cheerioes), popcorn, and angel food cake.  Need to watch my portion sized and little things like lunch time sandwiches (white bread to wheat).  Going out to eat I usually order salads, fish & chicken.

So overall I give myself an A- - What do you think?

1 comment:

  1. The surgeon takes a piece of blood vessel from the chest or leg of the patient and grafts it onto the aorta, the artery which leaves the heart, and then he grafts the other end to the coronary artery beneath the block, thus creating a detour around the arterial blockage. The number of bypasses - single, double, triple, quadruple - refer to how many coronary arteries are bypassed in the operation, which depends upon the number of blocked coronary arteries. A triple bypass Illinois means that three coronary arteries are bypassed. In some bypass operations a heart lung machine is employed to maintain the flow of blood and oxygen to the heart during the procedure. List of hospitals in Thailand for Heart bypass

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