Gird your Loins

Enough food to feed a small army

One holiday down and another to go!  I cannot believe tomorrow is the last day of November! And one of my closest friends birthdays. This end of the month starts what I feel like the most festive part of the year but, also the most stressful.

I'm already making mental lists of all the stuff I have to get done and that list just keeps on expanding. Finding a time to be healthy might be difficult. However, I'm going to keep on trying to eat healthy and exercise. At the very least, my dad and me will still be finding a time every day to walk. As much as I'm a twenty something year old girl, I think I will be acting as a senior citizen when taking my dad to the mall during the really cold days.

Ya never know what you'll find on your walks.

 In between avoiding or at the very least, not eating as many holiday treats, I'll be trying to eat healthy. One recipe that I made is easy, fast, tasty, filling, and even healthy! It's a chicken wrap and while that might not sound so appealing, it really isn't bad.

Get some whole wheat pita bread, lettuce, tomato, spinach leaves, white meat chicken, and some baba ganoush. You would think that the baba ganoush has too much sodium but, the trick is just to put a little on. It gives it a great bite and it's simple to make when you're on the go.

As the holiday madness begins, I say to especially those who are going black Friday shopping - Gird your Loins!

Not really sure if this stuff works, but it's interesting to see anywhere you look, something is always advertising a healthy heart!

♡

Jess

Battling Biopsy Wait

Official 2nd biopsy for my dad happened on Monday and boy was it a long day! We got to the hospital around 1030 AM and stayed until 5 PM. It wasn't even the biopsy that took that amount of time, rather, it was the amount of patients that were ahead of my dad. We also can't forget that the staff need to eat lunch.

I have no problem with them eating, however, it would have been nice for these doctors or any of the medical staff for that matter, to give us a better estimate on time. They say it could be a six hour day but the sad part of that is, we certainly weren't actually doing anything for majority of it. As much as that sounds simple,  both of us were exhausted by the end of it.

I'm happy to say though, he's at a 1 A status, which is the highest he can have for the biopsy. 1 A means he's not rejecting the heart and while we can breathe a little easier this holiday week, rejection can happen at anytime. That's why he's checked for the first 6 weeks, every week. After that, it becomes every other week. Then, every month. Eventually it will become every three months.

Forget about bringing a book to read, my dad bought thank you chocolate for what seemed like the entire hospital! I think for me, that was the most exhausting part of the day. I had so many pounds of chocolate to carry, I should have had a shopping cart! I was the mini-chocolate santa clause for the hospital staff.

But it's people like those nurses and doctors and any medical staff that helped my dad, that really make grateful this holiday season. Every penny they make, they certainly earn it. My fathers surgeon Dr. Camacho and my surgeon Dr. Bacha, make me eternally thankful for people who sacrifice so much for their patients. For every nurse and doctor who put in more time then they should, I really don't know how these miracle workers can ever be repaid.

While my dad and I were waiting for his biopsy, we met so many other patients of the same status, that is, having biopsies on their transplants as well. As I sat in this tiny waiting room that looked rather like a mishmash of furniture from all over the hospital, we were surrounded with other living proof people who have survived hardship and overcome it.

A woman who was had an LVAT put in for over a year, finally was given a heart a few few short days after my dad. Another gentleman and his newlywed wife sat with a similar story to my dad's of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. They didn't even get to enjoy their first year together and this upcoming year, they can finally celebrate and be a true testimony of the vows through sickness and in health.

Another man who I think I will ultimately remember the most, seemed almost like a scrooge. He didn't speak much, but his personal nurse did. Didn't really get much of his personal story other than he's quite rich. Aside from his personal nurse, he has a personal physical therapist, and three physicians at his beck and call. Extremely private and seemingly snobbish, I felt as though he wasn't as grateful for the miracle he had been given sitting with his nose held high. However, after he came back from his biopsy, he agreed with the conversation everyone was saying, which was every person in that room had a lot to be thankful for. He wished everyone a happy thanksgiving and I could finally start to believe that he did have a transplanted heart. And a heart in general.

While we remember being thankful this holiday season though, I'm also hoping for those who still haven't received their hearts yet. The last couple I met while my dad was in his biopsy, is why I'm even more grateful this season for the gift my family has been given. This couple is still waiting for a heart and the man has been put into ventricular fibrillation a few times now. He seems to be constantly shocked by his defibrillator. He's finally being admitted to the hospital which will bump him up on the list, but goodness,  for his sake, I really hope he has the transplant soon. I could see the grayish coloring in his skin that my dad once had. Watching my dad for months keep slipping faster and faster into an inevitable near death state, this other man is on the same path. I can only hope that this man and his wife will keep on fighting and believing that life will get better.

I can't help but keep on being thankful for all that my dad and my family as a whole, has been through and overcome.

Life certainly has never felt so sweet.

Happy Thanksgiving and keep on being thankful for even the little things in life.

The Indiana Jones of our family, finding the holy grail of life, a New HEART!

♡

Jess

Gobble Up Some Healthy Treats

With the holiday's and winter temperatures approaching, it seems like just the right time to start making some good food and enjoying time with family and friends. As always, life is never dull with recovering heart transplant patient.

The preparation work for food with a heart transplant patient is even more tedious compared to a regular diet. While I was at Columbia Presbyterian after my own surgery, I talked to an older man who had been through so much in his life with his heart. He had bypass surgery, a transplant, and was in the hospital recovering from his second transplant!

At the time, it wasn't even a thought that my dad would need a full on transplant. The December before he had been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure but, to me, my dad was superman. His health might have changed, but he never complained.

This man in the hospital that I had only met for what seems like a brief moment in time, has stuck with me since. I remember him telling me how he some how got a second chance at life with this heart. He severely screwed up the first transplant with poor diet and lack of exercise.

I look at my dad who just by chance, was given a heart and a completely new lease on life. How could one person not take care of this second chance?  And still receive a third chance after that? He must either be really blessed or have amazing connections.

Though my dad may be pushing himself too much, I certainly feel like he's embracing this gift to the best of his ability. Life only gives us so many chances and we ultimately choose the way it's lived. For the sake of the man in the hospital, I really hope he stays true to his word and starts taking advantage of living a healthy lifestyle.

In his defense though,  I can certainly understand the frustration there is with a low sodium diet and needing the extra preparation time for anything with vegetables or fruits. If you know of anybody with a heart transplant or maybe even transplants in general, (not sure if it's a rule of thumb) you have to wash each individual piece of vegetables or fruit in vinegar water. Now this might be an extra step and not that big of a deal, however, take a head of lettuce and it makes this a little more tedious.

While I was recovering,  I was lucky enough to have my sister or mom who would prepare my food for me.  Until my dad was out of the hospital,  I really haven't put my full effort into learning healthy cooking habits. That takes time and practice. I now have both and a greater need to learn.

This week I did a number of different healthy meals that were pretty tasty. They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day; well, the breakfast I made was pretty good.

Egg whites, which if you get them in shop rite or buy in bulk at Costco, Sams Club, or BJ's it's not as much money.

Cheese is wonderful. Pizza, pasta, anything Italian and it will be made in my house regularly.  However, the sodium levels are pretty high, so pick your cheese wisely!
The good cheese for you:
- swiss
- low fat cottage cheese
- mozzarella
- low fat ricotta

High sodium Cheese:
- feta
- blue
- parmesan The MSG of Cheese for Italian food
- gouda

Mix egg whites, some swiss, and spinach,  you've got one really good  breakfast.

Being in a holiday mood, I also decided to go a little turkey cupcake crazy. I did it with two kinds of mixes. Both were a Halloween ready made cakes and all you needed to add were a few ingredients. One was with oil, water, and eggs, the other with seltzer water. Seltzer water is supposed be healthier and less calories. Although, what I added to decorate, didn't exactly fulfill that healthy standard, they were very festive.

The ones with seltzer water ultimately tasted like cake batter. Yes, they were cooked. Just didn't have that golden color to tell that they were finished.

For the healthiest choices in decorations, I would say buy dark chocolate kisses and sugar free frosting. Add food coloring and you're in business! Those circular candies you see are actually reese's pieces. Get them at five below or target and they're pretty cheap. If you are diabetic or simply trying to watch weight, aren't we all, I would say make them and give these treats away asap! I certainly did. I do have some for myself, but it's only a treat for every once in a while.

In between baking and filling my dining room table to full capacity of decorations and cupcakes, I also made potato leek soup. Since my dad and I are both trying to maintain that low sodium diet, we used low sodium chicken broth. It's a pretty easy recipe you can find which was in the Joy of Cooking book but, added in with a healthier twist. 

As I said earlier, the cleaning process of any fruit or vegetable takes a little longer however, it needs to be done. I cut up the leeks and scrubbed them in vinegar water. I then added them into unsalted butter and let it turn into a translucent color. After I added the rest of the peeled potato's (washed of course) and the broth. Brought it to a boil and then to a simmer. After I pureed it and we have soup galore! For those who need a little more salt, add some saltine crackers.

Cooking is fun.. and sometimes a little messy!

 If you make any of these recipes, Enjoy! Everything was tasty! 

I'll end with this quote

It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years!

Make it count!

<3

Jess

Living a Healthy Life

I decided to restart this blog, and I mean, really restart it. I haven't written since May and now its about to be December. I have accomplished so much and feel I will keep on doing so in the future. I have walked nine miles on the Appalachian trail and hiked many other trails since. I have eaten healthy ... and not so healthy. I'm still within the range of which I weighed before surgery but the muscle I once had, is no longer muscle. Sadly, it's now flabby and I'll be working on that! Either to maintain or hopefully lose it. Fingers crossed. (the holidays maybe jolly however, it certainly puts a damper on my waistline! HAVE TO LEARN HOW TO SAY NO!)

As I suspect for many of my fellow heart patients, or even those who are non-heart disease patients, keeping and maintaining, or even starting a balanced diet and exercise routine is extremely hard to do! And if you don't have the energy or time to put effort in your health, your health loses. In the battle between life and health, regretfully, many of our priorities have become everything but our health. As the holiday season approaches, money and time, especially makes it hard for some of us to put our health first. Plenty of us wait until the New Year to make our annual resolutions, many of which are the same from the year previously.

For many of us who do have heart disease, it's rough to actually bring ourselves to even begin the process of gaining a healthy lifestyle. Even after heart surgery, (the big time surgery!) staying motivated while life steps in, isn't always easy. It takes an eye opening awareness of what life can be if you're healthy. 

For one family member, that awareness just turned into reality.

In previous posts, I always mentioned another family member had suffered from the heart disease Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. That family member is my father. He has been diagnosed for twenty something years with this same disease. My grandmother, his mother, and my uncle, his brother, died of this disease. It's a disease that is unstoppable and only using beta blockers to slow the heart, is there any slight relief from this disease. Let me refresh you on this disease. The heart becomes enlarged and in doing so, it does not allow the heart to pump as easily. By treating it with beta-blockers, slowing the heart beat allows the heart to not work as hard.  This can also be treated with a defibrillator, which eventually will be my next step in treatment for my own heart health. (Hopefully not anytime soon, I'm good without having any more surgery for a long, long, long time) Three of my cousins, all male, have HCM and another male cousin has a heart murmur.  (Can we say hereditary problems?)

My father's health over the past year or so has declined at a rapid pace to say the least. He constantly had water weight and regardless of taking lasix, it was a constant struggle to get rid of the water. He was on a low sodium diet and anytime he ate even the slightest food high in sodium, the water would gain to an outrageous level. When I had my own surgery in March, he just started the process of joining a Congestive Heart Failure group associated with Newark Beth Israel Hospital. He was put on plavix in the early fall. It was a constant IV drip to prevent heart attack, stroke, and any other related heart problems. About a month or so ago, he stopped taking it for a teeth cleaning, (this medicine is a blood thinner) and in the day and a half time period he stopped the medication, he had went in ventricular fibrillation and was already in constant atrial fibrillation. The doctors were going to manually shock his heart back into rhythm only to find many, and I mean many, blood clots all in aorta. The doctor who was about to shock him was fearful of what he just saw, much less my dad! He was given a blood thinner medicine to make the blood clots disappear but, both his body and the medicine he was given, could only take so much more.

Finally in September, he was added to the transplant list and got the scariest phone call he'd ever received on Halloween. He got a heart! I wasn't even at home when he got the call! It was incredible. Only two months after being put on the list, he was already getting a heart. When this disease takes over, it really takes a quick turn and I don't think anything or anyone can stop it. Earlier that day, the doctors increased his plavix and it certainly made a difference on the list I'm pretty sure. He became as close to a 1A (inpatient) as he could being a 1B priority level on the transplant list.

That was the longest night of my families life. It was interesting to be on the other side of it, rather, not the one under the knife. When I walked in, I felt more prepared compared to my dad, that's for sure! I walked in kind of being the cheery, light hearted one of my group. My mom and sister were crying and I was kinda in la la land going into my surgery. Looking back, I'm glad I went in with a smile on my face.

In my dad's case too, I tried to be the upbeat one. So many things could have gone wrong, and while the rest of my family was crying and sobbing, I tried to make it into a joke, telling my dad before he went into the OR, "Soon enough, you'll have the same scar as me!"

It wasn't until after the surgery, when we got the phone call in the waiting room that he was out, did I finally let the tears flow.  I just needed one big cry, and I finally let it all sink in.

Three weeks today, and he's out of the hospital and walking close to a mile a day! He's pushing himself, no doubt about it. I'm trying to tell him to take it easy, but it's like talking to a brick wall. I will admit, the steroids have certainly changed him too. His mood can snap any second. One minute he's completely happy, and the next, pissed. It's a little scary taking care of him but, I know the real him is in there somewhere.

For those who celebrate Thanksgiving, or even for those who don't, remember to be thankful for the things you do have and not harp on the things you don't have. I have a lot to be grateful for this year, with my health, and hopefully a progressively good health of my father. I have a roof over my head, food in my belly, and family and friends who have stuck with me through the hardest times.

Remember to take a minute everyday, and just be grateful for something, anything in your life. Sometimes life is hard, no one can argue that. However, we all have something to be thankful for, we just need a reminder to see our problems, whether big or small, life can always be worse.

I'll leave you with this comic. If you never read comics, or you're just boring and read the political cartoons, you don't know what you're missing out on!

I'd say this Pickles cartoon hit it pretty damn close.

Until next time,

<3

Jess