Sunday, July 24, 2011:
- DH complains of breathing difficulty and finally agrees to see a doctor.
- Take DH to one of those 24 hour treatment centers since my doctor does not work on Sundays.
- DH is rushed to the hospital via ambulance. Initial tests point towards Atrial Fibrillation, excessive fluids in lungs, feet and ankles with increased heart rate.... All the makings for Congestive Heart Failure.
- DD freaks and demands to go home, DH screaming he needs help, and I am reaming out the ER doctor with demands that a Cardiologist gets called in and sits vigil at DH's bedside while I take DD home and seek out a sitter. (Stress level excessively high)
- I get a call shortly after getting home from the ER doctor that DH did not suffer a heart attack and still has issues becoming stable so he was sent to the cardiac ICU and will get the attention that I demanded he gets.
- DH remains in ICU. Tests being taken and no answers offered to me. DH asks doctors to keep me "in the dark" and to only tell him what is going on.
- Late Tuesday morning, DH gets moved to a room in the cardiac wing. He is stable, but his heart beat is irregular and his pulse rate is too high. More tests taken.
- Tests, tests and more tests. Still being kept in the dark about it all except I am sneaky enough to demand to get answers from his nurse off his chart.
- DH gets a roommate Wednesday night. Screamer the whole night and was revived from the brink of death in the morning... Just before I get to the hospital. DH is a bit concerned and wants to come home.
- Decision was made to do 2 procedures on Thursday morning. One was to check for clots and faulty valves of his heart. If all looks good... DH gets a shock to the heart to restore regular, controlled heart beats and pulse rate. DH goes through both procedures like a champ.
- DH gets okay to be released .
- DH is home by dinner time. New diet in place and some serious changes are underway. Pile of new medicines to manage and a calendar filling up with various doctor appointments.
I knew that I had to change my diet. I know that I have to think more about my health and quit smoking. Just being told to do both at the same time is not what I wanted to do. Being overweight, emotionally unbalanced from nicotine withdrawal, and try to lose weight when it is widely known that weight gain is going to happen when you quit smoking is a little more than I was ready to take on after last week's events. I have full intentions of achieving both (losing weight and quitting smoking), but my original plan was to lose weight first, then quit smoking. Less stress on my mind to do it that way, and with the weight gain that I know is going to happen no matter how hard I try, I at least would have some clue how to manage my diet better if I can see some weight come off first and the weight gain would not be as big of a deal as it will become now. Last time I quit smoking for a year and a half, I gained 40 pounds that I can't seem to take off even when I fell off the wagon and lit up again.
Already stepped on the scale after doing some major cutting back on the cigarettes and changing my diet. 4 days in and I already gained 2 pounds. Not real happy about that. Just gonna keep trying. DH is required to quit smoking, too. He also is required to stop drinking, cut out high fat foods, salt and butter. I am trying to be supportive by following his required diet and quit smoking with him. This is a lot harder than I remember, but I know that once we both quit.... It will be easier to stay smoke free. I think that is what made it easier for me to fall off the wagon last time because we both did not quit... only me. I know that there is an "upside" to all of this, but seeing me gain in the past 4 days really is making it hard to focus on the "big picture". I just sure hope I do not fail....
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