Support for people (like me) facing heart surgery
Got my cholesterol numbers back from the lab and their better than I expected.
My LDL (the good cholesterol) is only .9 and I’d like to have seen it over 1 but it is what it is.
The good news is my HDL (the bad cholesterol) was only 3.2 and I thought it might have been higher.
nevertheless, I’m back on Lipitor (at just 10 milligrams) so in a couple of weeks we’ll see if my numbers are down.
At my cardio-rehab class this morning and one of our new guys showed up with his wife.
This is not the common practice but I think it was a really great idea.
First of all, after a close call, everyone in the family has heart disease and not just the patient. It’s a positive step in my opinion for this guy’s wife to see how her partner is recovering.
It’s my story that the new guy is a type A personality and may not be sharing his own fears with his wife. She looked half scared to death and he looks like somebody newly out of heart surgery (pale, angry, scared, weak…).
Wished I had thought to ask my wife to support me by viewing one of my classes.
Well it’s been six months 
I’ll soon be discharged from cardio-rehab and be back on my own two feet. I feel great and a lot of this has to do with the nurses and volunteers at the YMCA which hosts the hospital-run program.
Now it’s time at last to get back to work.
I’ll be offering my coaching services: http://solutionfocuscoach.wordpress.com
and my public relations services: http://peterwest.wordpress.com
in addition to my teaching of photography: http://peterwestphoto.wordpress.com
so look out world…here I come again.
It’s been an amazing time and I thank all of you for journeying with me during the last six months.
Blessings and love.
It’s been awhile but now I feel like getting back to work. And, guess what? The offers are starting to flow in. I’ve already secured a great gig teaching photography at Henry’s School of Imaging. Now I’ve got some nibbles from some colleagues I worked with before my surgery.
It was six months ago that I had my open-heart surgery. Overall I’m in great shape. I still can fatigue when I push the envelope but my overall physical health is really good.
Yes the weight and maybe the wait too. Seems my weight has returned and is now exceeding my cutoff point of 180 pounds.
I’ve never been heavy with the exception of the last five years when I peaked at 200 pounds. In my 20s and 30s I was never more than 150 pounds.
Time to take the pledge and make some lifestyle changes. Dieting doesn’t work. Portion control does as does more exercise.
After all this recovery I intend on living a long, long time and I don’t want any part of being heavy.
The Globe and Mail has an article today that says that 25 per cent of heart attack sufferers don’t take their meds afterward.
I’m as guilty as the next. While I didn’t have a heart attack and what was done was mainly repairs to some defective parts, the surgeons did do a small bypass.
A small bypass means I’ve got heart disease.
Heart disease should compel me to take my doctor’s advice (which is to go on Lipitor).
I’ll call my doctor today and book an appointment.
If you need a copy of the article I can send you a PDF if you send me a request via email to peter at peterwest.ca (I write it this way to avoid email spam).
I’m feeling as good as I’ve ever felt. Nevertheless there are days when I long to be more active. I have taken a part-time teaching role with a camera store’s school of photography. It’s good money and I get to pick my times which is great.
I’m still working at my other passions of communications, consulting and coaching but teaching photography is such a joy. I love watching people get how to use their new cameras.
By the way, I’m now on Twitter. This after attending PodCamp Toronto on the weekend. Nice to be getting out.
I’m feeling much better at the five month mark. Now it’s time to get back to working on a full-time basis. The nice thing about being off for so long as I can go back and do anything I want.
Right now I’m teaching part-time at Henry’s School of Imaging www.henrys.com/school and if you’re in Ontario and want to learn how to take excellent pictures or video then check out the website.
I also just got back from PodCamp Toronto and my brain is about to explode. There’s so much going on in the area of “social media” that I’m scrambling to figure it all out.
Just an update for those who have been following my progress from open heart surgery last September. I’m feeling terrific. I’m still building my strength but I’m back to giving coaching and business workshops (Did one this week for the HAPPEN group in Mississauga. They had 75 people out and the hour-long workshop took a lot for me to do but I loved being back in front of a crowd.) as well as I maybe teaching some photography courses after this weekend.
All in all, my thoughts are with you in your own recovery. It’s amazing how quickly the body heals.
I would offer to keep noticing your thoughts. I find some moments of low energy can create low thoughts. Read Echart Tolle’s A New Earth (along with the rest of the planet. He’s Opray’s new favourite author). Those of us who have been working with Tolle’s books arent’ surprised. The man is a genius when it comes to creating happiness in our lives.
A 36-year-old first time Edmonton mom can thank her baby for saving her life when doctors discovered her ruptured aorta was causing her chest pains and difficult breathing.
If it hadn’t been for the pregnancy, it’s likely that mother would never had known why she was experiencing symptoms that likely would have lead to her sudden death.
A medical team delivered the baby while a second team performed open heart surgery to repair the artery.
Amazing. Mom and baby are reported doing well.
