Whew! I almost forgot my most important medicine tonight. THAT would have been bad. That medicine is the one that is preventing scarring and blood from clotting around my stent. If a clot or a scar forms around the stent, it would be the equivalent of another blockage at the very site that started this whole mess.

Not sure what happened, I have an alarm on my phone (FOUR alarms to be exact; one for each time I need to take meds in the day). Somehow, I missed the alarm, had dinner, sat around for 3 extra hours & FINALLY noticed that I didn't take the meds. I guess time will tell if that was a big problem or not.  Let's hope 5 weeks of the medicine building up in my system will allow me this one mistake.

This is my life now. I go about my day in 4 hour stretches. The free time between each alarm is where I get to be "normal".

Other than that, today was GREAT. I got to go for my rehab walk outside with the family. We walked around the grounds of a historical home, talking & laughing. It truly was wonderful to have my biggest supporters with me.

Let's get back to the story ...it's time to go home...


Home from the Hospital

Well, I am FINALLY home. Thing is...the kids are not. Our original plans were to go to Raleigh for Thanksgiving. Since Ashley & I knew I needed rest, we decided to send the kids with Gigi & Doodle (Ashley's parents). We wanted them to celebrate a semi-normal Thanksgiving, and I needed them there so I could have a few quiet days at home.

...time for meds...

As much as I adore my children, this was a good decision on our part. It was nice to be able to sleep when I needed, eat when I needed, and not worry about taking care of my 3 ducklings.  I missed them for sure, but the pure solitude of having just Ashley & I here made the initial recuperation much easier and therefore, I am sure, more effective.

...time for meds...

...and so starts a month of doing a whole lotta nothin'.

Ashley & I got to catch up on the Hobbit movies. Weeeeelllllll more correctly, I did. Ashley couldn't have cared less who Bilbo Baggins was, or WHAT Gollum was.

...time for meds...

So there I am, on the couch, watching movies, hanging with Ashley & thinking about what has just happened to me. I am now a heart attack survivor. I "survived". But what did that mean? What do I do with that? Where do I put it and bring it out for use? How long will I be a "survivor" and when will I just become Craig again? And when.....WHEN will I get to have my first piece of pizza?

These are the things that went through my mind each day. Questions about how and when would my life return to normal. In fact, what was going to be "normal" for me from now on?

...time for meds...

So, there is your answer for the near term. Meds take on a good part of the planning for the day.

Eating is a new experience as well. I have been given a goal of less than 1200 milligrams of sodium per day; 300 milligrams per meal and a snack. Want to know how much that is? Want to know how hard that might be? Look at the labels on YOUR food packages. Add up all of the sodium on those labels & you'll know just how hard it is to stay near 300 milligrams for a meal.

Let's see:

• skim milk 170mg; cereal 150-200 mg - DONE for breakfast
• 2 slices bread 250-350 mg (whole wheat); cheese 120-200 mg; lunchmeat - over 100mg- WOOPS too much at lunch
• grilled chicken sandwich 600 mg WOAH....dinner is OVER, forget the fries.

Add that up...whatever it is, I BET it will be over 1200 mg of sodium and I would doubt anyone would think themselves full after eating that list of foods for the day.

There you have it...I am home, I have survived, and I have no idea what will come next. All I DO know; what ever it is the future will not include much salt.

Lesson Learned: Sodium sneaks into everything. Even lunchmeat has plenty of salt as a preservative. Additionally, those labels on the food we buy & eat are priceless. Look them over, cut back on fats, cut back on sodium, and make sure you get a good amount of protein and fiber.

Good night & God bless.