I know I have missed a few days...I was on a campout with my 6 year old.

We got to sleep on an aircraft carrier. It was awesome & more than a few times I thought, "Who would have brought him if Nov. 22 had ended differently?"

My dad is in no shape for it. Ashley would have been watching all 3 kids. Thanks, God, for giving ME this weekend with my son.

Tomorrow,  I hope to tell you about the food situation...it wasn't good.

BUT...on Sunday, I took over 25,000 steps. :)

Good night & God bless.

I am home...
First...the scale in Phoenix was off.

I AM gaining weight, but not nearly as much as that scale said.


My head tells me i am wide awake, but my body says I am exhausted. I can't tell you a)l (or you both depending on how many people actually still REAL this) how happy I am to be home. I can't wait to see my kids tomorrow.

They are sound asleep. See?....

Looking at that you must see why I hate to be away.

Well, gotta be up in 5 hours.
Good night & God bless

God I hope the scale here is wrong.

I have ben in Phoenix since Monday night & if the scale is right, I have been gaining weight since I got here.

I have been weighing in at rehab below 145. Tonight I was about 150 on the scale here. I am getting nervous...

Now, most folks would not think much of 5 pounds, but when you have worked as hard as I have to eat right, maintain a regular exercise routine and successfully lost 30 pounds in order to prevent another heart attack, 5 pounds is a bunch of bad.

It is further proof that travelling and weight management are not good bedfellows. I have been trying to be good, look at every label, look at every nutrition guide, and get a workout in when I can (I did just over 2.5 miles in my 30 minutes today).

And yet...it STILL seems like I am packing on weight at an alarming rate.

I can't wait to get home to my comfort zones; MY food, my rehab workouts, my family, my HOME....all of which are my support mechanisms for keeping healthier than I was.

If anyone is actually still reading this, a word of support and a friendly reminder to get back to my healthy lifestyle would be greatly appreciated.

I would also appreciate some more prayers and good thoughts for my parents. Neither is feeling all that great right now & they could use some help form all of us.

I am going to bed now...this 3 hour time difference is still kicking my but.

Good night & God bless.

...and after dinner last night, I got to my room, started my laptop, navigated to this blog, and...




ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ




I woke up 3 times with laptop in my lap (yep my laptop IN  my LAP, whoda thunk)
So, today SHOULD be a two-fer; assuming I don't fall asleep again.


I actually put in a real workout for the first time since my stress test.


I hit 3.1 miles JUUUUUUST as the timer was hitting 30 minutes.
That made me feel pretty good. Although, I have to tell you, it was harder than it should have been.


I had a good learning experience last night....I can NOT take a couple of week off from my workouts and expect to jump right back into it. I learned that running, and lifting and whatever cardio exercises I do tot help my heart recover HAVE TO be done every day. I can not take more than a few day off at any one time and expect that I won't be hurt by it later.


Not a lesson I wanted, but one I needed.


Have a great day & I hope to talk to you all again later tonight.


Good day & God bless.

It is about 10:45 and I am exhausted.
I am exhausted because it is 10:45 and I am in PHOENIX, AZ.


Yep, had to come here for work for three days. Since AZ doesn't follow daylight savings, it is like it is 2 am for me. After a long plane flight & most of the day at work, I am tired.


..and, honestly, I am not feeling great right now. I feel..."heavy"...I was starting to feel really , really good last week, and now I feel like I am slipping. It is amazing how quickly you can lose your fitness edge when you have not been able to work out for a few days.




I can't wait to get back home to my family, and to my routine which includes my rehab workouts.


Thanks for listening.


Good night & God bless.

Well, well, well...don't look now, but I have been alive for SIX WHOLE MONTHS after my nearly fatal (or more accurately, my temporarily fatal) heart attack. IT ahs been quite the six months too:


I survived a heart attack.
I have moved (well, I live in a new house now...we are slow moving out of the old one).


That's the good news.


The rest of the notable items are not so great....
I lost  Cub Scout from our pack.
I lost a close DEAR friend who was a wonderful man...love you Fr. Angelo.
I have had to watch my mother deteriorate to the point where she can not always recognize me as her son.


Not long before my heart attack, I severed a nerve in my finger, and just about 1 year ago, I was diagnosed with a cataract.


and...in a story that will have to wait for it's own post, I almost lost my father to pancreatitis, and have had to go to Pennsylvania twice because he has been taken to the hospital.


Not the best of years, I gotta tell ya.


Of course, as I have been reminded so many times...I should be glad I was here to experience this last half-year, even if it stunk.


It is hard to believe six months has passed, until I really start to think about it, I can't imagine that I have been dealing with this that long. But then I think about all of the progress physically; I have moved from walking for 10 minutes on my street, to running the equivalent of a 5k race (3.1 miles) 3 times a week. I think about the yearly events; Thanksgiving (my first day home), Christmas, birthday number 47 (or number 1 depending on how you look at it), Easter, and now the beginning of summer...wow.


Maybe it ISN'T so hard to believe six months is gone.


Today also marks the halfway point of the life of this blog.
I hope you have found good things in my messages, I hope you have found value in spending your time with me, and most of all, I hope that I have used my "2nd life" to give more to this word than I have taken away. I hope God is satisfied with what I have done with his gift of SIX MORE MONTHS.


As for the story about my dad, if you want to read it, you'll have to come back tomorrow.


Good night & God bless.

Wow, it HAS been a week, hasn't it?


Folks I am sorry that I have not been back for so long. Let's just say this week has not gone as planned in any way. I'll tell you more about it in my next post.


For tonight suffice to say that I have been away from my exercise regimen longer than I have been away from this blog....and BOY can I tell.


I finally hit a treadmill today & I had all I cold do to hit 2.5 miles in my 30 minute workout. I almost didn't go again, but I knew I NEEDED to. And now I am glad I did. Not only did I get my workout, but I learned how quickly one loses a step if you quit your workouts. I also learned how much I do not like that feeling.


That's it tonight. I will try to be back tomorrow, but I may be off till Sunday.
Anyone know what is special about Sunday?


Think abut it...


Good night & God blass

...and the roller coaster that is illness continues.

SO, today, we went to my rehab team to ask if they knew what the cardiologist saw on my EKG. Theresa, my exercise physiologist shook her head, slapped her cheeks and said, "They CALLED you?"

To make a very long story short, a resident saw a dip in the EKG signal that worried her. Apparently, this is something that can happen a lot when you exercise aggressively. And, apparently, the resident is not used to seeing people exercise aggressively in rehab.

Anyway, if it were up to my PT staff, they would not have called me. In the great majority of cases, this is nothing. It is normal for hard exercise.

Now, I am still going for my stress test. Why? Well, the Donahue's are not known for having things "just work out." I am going to get the test because I want to know FOR SURE that things are okay inside.

Thursday at 10 am we will know. Wish me luck.

Say a prayer for my dad still.

You will  likely not hear from me tomorrow night.
I have GOT to get this certain post our of my head & I will likely need tomorrow night at LEAST to finish it. So, to give me a chance to finally write my post, I am taking tomorrow off from posting and will be back on Thursday night.

Good night & God bless...twice.

Okay, so it is back to the Dr. again.

Apparently, they did not like my last EKG at rehab. They disliked it enough to have me come in f I r a stress test to make sure my heart is still good, and to make sure I don't have another artery clogging up.

Yay. Just when you get to a comfortable place....BAM...oh, hey, remember? YOU had a heart attack.

It is kind of a bummer, but at least I know my Dr is proactively checking on me. That does bring some comfort.

That's about it for today.
Wish me luck Thursday.

Good night and God bless.

Mother's Day was very nice. Not expensive...well...not TOO expensive, not exciting, but nice.
I was able to take Ashley & the kids down to Charlotte to visit friends and their son. Ashley & the woman have been friends for 20 years.


The woman needs to have Ashley come visit periodically so that she can have a few hours to herself. The husband has MS and is all but immobile, so our friend never gets to just sit & relax.


I am telling you about this situation for 2 reasons.
First, I am happy to be here to be able to give this woman some time away from her house. This is one of the little things I get to do that make me feel valuable to someone. This is one of the things that almost stopped happening 5 months ago. I am so glad I will get to do this for a time to come.


Second, these visits remind of how much I DO have even with my situation. Our friend can barely move. Walking has not happened for years. Yet, he keeps a smile in his heart and a good attitude towards God and life. You know that old saying, "Someone always has it worse than you."? Well, I know that someone & he may have it worse, but he sees the good in life every day.


So, do I like to visit our fiends because I can do a good deed, or because I find inspiration in a strong man and a strong woman?


The answer is....Yes.


Good night & God bless.

Sorry gang. I know I have missed 2 days, and I know that you won't be all,to impressed with tonight's post. I have been trying to write a tough one , and I just can not get it dight.

I'll get it soon and hopefully you will forgive my poor showing these last few days.

The only update I have for tonight is a little bit scary.

Got a call from Dr. Kutcher...my cardiologist...

He wants me to get a stress test.
He saw something concerning on my rehab EKG, and wants to check it out.

Yay, so now we are all on edge hoping it is nothing.

Guess I'll have to let you know....when I do.

Here is to being able to sleep.

Good night and God bless.

"It's not a...but..." That is now a part of my vocabulary.


As in..."It's not a heart attack, but..."


Yep, almost 6 months later, I still have to preface every little ache, and uncomfortable feeling with, "It is not a heart attack, but..."


...but I don't feel good.
...but I have a headache.
...but my chest hurts when I breathe.
...but I don't WANNA eat my broccoli....(woops, not sure how that snuck in there)


Yep, my chest CAN hurt without it being a heart attack. Of course, that is the first thing I think is happening,  but so far (other than Nov 22) it has not been the case.


I hope that someday I can tell my beautiful wife that something hurts without needing that little preamble. For now, I just need to be willing to start every sentence with, "It's not a..."


Why not just keep it too myself? Because I promised. Remember? About 95 or 100 posts ago, I told you that I promised Ashley I wouldn't keep anything from her; I wouldn't hide any bad feelings. I need to tell her everything, even now, so that she will continue to trust me.


So...why am I telling you about this now, today?


Well, because I don't feel great right now. I am stuffed up, I have sinus pressure, and I have a burning "pain" in my chest and back. Now...understand..it's not a heart attack. I can tell you from experience that it is not.


I don't know what it is & we are going to watch and see if I feel better tomorrow, but I can assure you, it's not a...


Well...I bet you can fill in the rest.


Keep those prayers coming for my dad. He is doing better, a LITTLE better today. He still needs all of the good mojo he can get.


Good night & God bless.

Tonight's post will be short. I don't have a ton to write about for now.

I am getting into a "comfortable" place with my heart condition. I am in a rhythm and have settled into my new lifestyle.

I am still going to rehab, I am still eating right for the most part, and I am still taking my medicine.
Exercise has become a habit, a way of life more than a "thing to do."

Eating right has also become a habit, but I am getting comfortable with being "close enough." This is a place I still need to get back to being more careful. I mean I still look at every label I can, but we have had to eat out more often lately, and I have been willing to cheat more. Fruit, veggies and low fat....that has to be my goal.

My meds are still my best friends, and I still have my alarms on my phone...I HAVE to have the alarms, otherwise the meds would get missed. As it is, I have almost become deaf to the alarms. They are such a part of my day, I have almost missed the alarms completely due to not hearing them...even though the phone is with me all the time. I need to figure out a way to put the urgency back into the alarms so that I don't miss.

Did any of that make sense? Did I even MAKE a point there? Sometimes I wonder.

The point is....I am glad SOME of my new lifestyle has become mindless habit, and I am scared that OTHER parts have become mindless habit. Mindless habits can be ignored and THESE mindless habits can not be forgotten...for my own good.

As I have asked before....wish me luck.

And, as I have asked before, please say a prayer for my dad. His is still not well & we need some good mojo for him.

Good night & God bless.

Well, I got home & it really wasn't so bad.
Yes, I gained a pound or two, but I was afraid I was going to see myself north of 150.


Fortunately, I was nowhere near that. What does that mean? It means I am able to be by myself in bad situations, but it also means that I need to be even more diligent. I need to KNOW that I can be in unusual situations and still be able to keep my new lifestyle.


Okay, that is it for me tonight.


Tonight I have the most special request so far.


I am going to ask you all to pray for my dad. He is very sick and needs all of the help he can get right now. Worst of all, for me anyway, is that I can not stay there with him. I am 600 miles away while my dad is alone and sick.


He was always the strength of my family, and now he needs help. Anyone who believes in prayer, please pray for him. Anyone, how does not, please just keep good thoughts for him.


Heavy tonight, I know; and a little disjointed maybe but heartfelt and sincere none the less.


Thank you.


Good night & God bless.