Adventure in Juicing: First Time

I gingerly uncrated my new Breville 600 watt juice fountain. Folks, I read the instructions, I removed all packing materials, I practiced the moves, then I took it to the kitchen. I was ever so careful with the plug and started juicing strawberries, an apple, celery, pineapple and carrots, then noticed a beautiful pool of creamy yellowy and pinky red liquid flowing out the back: I forgot to put the pitcher under the spout. What a mess! Our counter top is old science table top with a crack between each slab so I opened the drawer and marvelled at how much juice I had made, all over my smallish kitchen tools. Clean up in the produce aisle! I had to clean up the drawer and the machine, then started again. Larry and I were able to share some truly delicious and pretty juice. He said since I intended to stick around a while (live) he would, too and is willing to drink his fruits and veggies which he is not too keen on eating. We are no where near the 5 servings a day or whatever it is now. I can't get that much in my WLS pouch, and he just doesn't care much for them. This machine is remarkably easy to clean and I will learn to use the fibrous leftover for something nutritious and delicious.

Getting Stronger Every Day

DH is making so much progress, it is hard to realize the trauma he has been through. He is totally independent except he is supposed to stay out of the cold and not drive for 6 weeks. This morning he was still asleep when I left to meet friends for breakfast, and I think that is better than him getting up at 5:00a.m. I crashed before he did last night, I think that is emotional exhaustion on my part. Do not worry dear reader, I gave the dog fresh water and another pan of dog food this morning. She eats more in this cold than usual, so if it is empty tonight, more food for her. And DH, if you are perusing my writing, I did get a big bar of chocolate this morning at the Cracker Barrel, and another new outfit for Quinn.

8 Hours of Sleep

8 hours of sleep in a night is an event worth celebrating. I have had broken sleep for years, though there have been improvements from the weight loss. The past 2 weeks with Dh's heart attack and subsequent quintuple bypass have really brought back the chopped up nights of waking hourly, and exhaustion sets in. Last night while a phone call was interfering with my enjoyment of modern family, I fell asleep just at 9p.m. and woke up to my first alarm at 5:15a.m. and I do not remember a single awakening! Yay! Today I feel invigorated, talkative and happy. DH also had a really good night's sleep, I didn't hear any coughing and nothing woke me up. He said he slept well. Hooray for both of us.

Yesterday I got my body fat level read at a local fitness center on their new big money machine, and after all this weight loss, I am at 32% body fat, just 4% above the top ideal for women. (14 to 28%) I thought with as little weight training as I had done since surgery, the numbers would be worse. Yay me! This is part of a program our principal asked out PE teacher to do for staff, and since her family owns a fitness center, they graciously let us have this reading, and it is a detailed reading, for free before we start our school exercise program. It turns out that many of the supplements and protein products I have needed and searched for are sold in their center. They carry Isopure and a shake called OhYeah! and is OhYeah! ever tasty. I also bought their high protein pancake mix and will try it for both of us. They also carry every good oil you have ever read or heard about.

HOME!

I got DH home last evening and went through quite a bit of frustration organizing the new meds and figuring out what old meds were still to be used and which ones were not to be used. Most of his are generic and the list from the hospital was mostly in brand names. Finally I just went online and got the names of the 4 that I could not figure out, but the process was daunting for me. We both had a good night's sleep and this morning seems strangely normal. It is extremely cold here, so he is not to go out. He'll take his walks in the house for a while.

Today is

Today is supposed to be the day DH gets out of hospital. I had to run an errand for him so I didn't go up at lunch as I usually do and I am waiting for the call that tells me he is in his wheelchair ready to go to the car. I am working, that keeps me on an even keel, rather than waiting, waiting, waiting. This is an experience where I have had the desire to eat in an old way. I haven't done it, I physically can't do it, but the urge was strong! Everyone knows how hospital time is so if you are getting out right away, it is at least 2 or 3 hours. I may finish this day of teaching and not get a call. We had a 2 hour delay for ice and blowing snow so I sat in his room for an extra long time this morning. We are supposed to be on time to work on a delay day, and I was on time, I am usually really really early. After seeing how well he walks now and how strong he is, I am not worried about him being home. The man is really snapping back.

Hellacious Fortnight

I think a fortnight is two weeks. Two weeks ago tomorrow my dear one went into the hospital having a small heart attack and dodging the really big one. He had a heart cath which showed 5 blockages, one complete on the front of the heart. He stabilized in the hospital for a couple of days then was sent home to rest and wait for Tuesday morning op0en heart surgery. I am sure it was annoying to him as I would creep in the room during the day just to listen for breathing. He was to do nothing and he stick to that. On Tuesday he had a quintuple bypass (CABG). He donated lots of good veins to himself and the two small arteries were big enough to be bypassed so he had all five done. This is a point in my life where watching the discovery channels may not have been the best as you have an image of one you love flayed open on a table and it is hard to shake. His recovery has been nothing short of amazing, His color was good well before he regained consciousness, the swelling from the IV fluids left quickly and this morning he says he feels normal. He looks normal, too. The final chest tube will come out today and then he will be home in 24 hours.
This past weekend while my husband is in the hospital, my 5 month old grandson had to be admitted to a different hospital 2 1/2 hours away with RSV, bronchitis, and a double ear infection. He has had to stay 48 hours and my poor daughter is exhausted. They are being released this morning. It just killed me to not be able to go to them. Mrschicken went, though, and I thank her. Son-in-law has the 5 year old during this unnerving event. I do not remember RSV from the days I was parenting, nor do I remember so many babies having to go in the hospital. Maybe it is that there was no social media and I was a stay at home mom in those years with little contact with the outside world. I cannot imagine that it is a new disease. By the time my children were in a school setting they were over 2, which I understand now RSV simply seems to be a cold after the age of 2.

My husband's wounds have no staples or stitches on the outside. isn't that interesting? Glue, I suppose and the incisions are healing so fast!. I have had support from the interwebs and from everyone I know and many people I don't know. It has been so helpful and I am so grateful to not have that isolation of the early years with children. Thank all of you who might read here. We have had prayers from the nearest and farthest reaches of the earth and Larry really was amazed by that.

Here's for you Katie

Some Pics and Maybe a Word

A few more photos

Kinda Weight Loss

This week has been a hectic round of walking the new hospital wings, dropping off and picking up Larry, being the carrier and the hiker and I realized today that a year ago even one of those trips down those long halls would have been difficult for me. I have been all over the new and expanded hospital keeping up with gurneys, climbing new slanted hills in halls that lead from old to new and most of it quickly and easily. Hmm. I have lost 124 lbs since last Feb's surgery and it has certainly made me physically markedly pain free..almost. I finally had a weight training workout this week, but due to my husband's heart attack, I couldn't go to the second workout. My arms were sore all week and are still sore today if I straighten them. The workout was Monday and this is Friday. I also could lift way way less than I could last year, I simply must rebuild my muscle strangth! Right now I need my mental strength to get through the days ahead with DH having open heart surgery and possibly needing 5 bypasses. He was at a regular doctor's appointment and his seeming minor complaint turned out to be an MI. He dodged a much bigger one by getting in so quickly. more later.

Husband Ill

Larry had some chest pains, not the kind he had with his first heart attack. (foreshadowing) As it turned out, he was having a heart attack, though the discomfort was very minor and didn't run down the arm or up the neck. He thought he pulled a muscle and he works very hard physical labor. This morning he had a heart catheterization which revealed that every major artery was blocked. When the effects of the blood thinners he had to take for the heart cath wear off, he will have bypass surgery, not sure of the number, is 4 maximum? The heart attack itself was caught so early we consider it fortunate and a blessing. He is pissed as this does not fit into his neat calendar of events for the near future. As of today, he still has a near future to complain about. L is resting comfortably in the hospital waiting for time and day, but for the blood thinners it would have been today, and thankfully he was not presenting with a massive heart attack. That was building.

I personally am exhausted from sleeping so fitfully last night in the fear Iw ould oversleep which I never do! I did not oversleep this morning, either. I shall crash early tonight and pack a few things to knit and to read for tomorrow. I will also check in at school and hopefully get a chance totalk to my sub in person and see how she feels about the art assignments as she is not an art teacher, but she IS a real teacher. More later family.

In the Cold

The last 2 days of school were cancelled for the weather. I find that the longer I hole up in the cold, the longer I want to hole up. It will be good to get back to school and back on schedule. I shock myself by how quickly I can become a hermit. I have done a lot of reading, "The Tall Book", came out of that feeling a little freer, a little prouder, but in the world of the tall and super tall, 6ft is really not that much. Felt shorter just reading it! I admit I like to be in Indy during the women's b-ball championship seeing the crowds of tall girls walking around the circle center mall, I stand up really straight and enjoy seeing them. I read "The Plague of Doves," one of Louise Erdrich's well-drawn masterpieces that retains a mystery until the very last page. I am trying to finish "American Wife", loosely based on Laura Bush. It is making me like her though I always wanted her (in real life) to stand up for teachers against the insanity going on in education today. It is a book I pick up, read a bit, put down and read a whole other book before I come back to it.

I took a little trip to my favorite store today, just to get out of the house, only to find my car dead, not quite as a doornail, but not turning over. I had not turned off the XM radio so it was draining the battery in the sub-zero temperatures. grrrr, but better to find it today thatn in the sub zero morning to come! I spent some money on absolutely non-essential items like lovely scented candles and another pair of exercise pants for my workout, tomorrow I should have both a workout AND a haircut.