One of the forum’s members posted an update on how they were getting on which I thought was lovely as it showed that they had come a long way with their recovery!
When I look back on the last eight months I too have come a long way...I still have a lot to work on but slowly, slowly catch the monkey and all that! 🐒
So here is my update...I hope somebody reads it and gets a bit of hope from it x
Warning - it’s a long post so you might want to look away now! 😀
I am 46, a mum of two beautiful daughters, wife of a very caring husband and a sister, Aunty and friend. I had a HA and two stents eight months ago after losing both my mum and dad to heart disease and watching my twin brother recover from a HA and two stents when we were 38 and my sister living with angina...strong family history!
I have never smoked or drank alcohol, I’m not overweight and I lead an active life with exercise. On discharge I was told I have no modifiable risk factors so I felt a little out of control. If I had been told to stop smoking, cut out alcohol, lose weight or exercise more then I would have had something to control and act on - to be told to keep doing what you are doing to reduce risk just didn’t make sense to me as I’d had a HA doing what I was doing! I did enjoy cake and coffee with my friends but not everyday, usually for someone’s birthday and I enjoyed the occasional takeaway, biscuit and crisps...I miss crisps the most!
I had cut all ‘treats’ to a dangerous level - I lost weight I could not afford to lose because of a feeling of guilt that eating the odd cake, chocolate, biscuit or crisps had nearly lost my children their mum. I was so scared I would block my arteries further I was avoiding occasions with friends and family as I didn’t want them worrying about me refusing the cake and chocolates. My GP actually told me to try to have the odd treat as life is for enjoying and I was now deemed medically underweight. She told me my body needed some fat to absorb the vitamins and minerals I was eating in bucketloads!!!
I took it too far...I lived on fish, veg, fruit and whole grains. My cardiac nurse kept telling me to eat everything, including treats, in moderation. She told me this while picking a biscuit out of a tin the department had been given as a thank you gift! The trouble is no one has ever given a prescription for what moderation is! 😉
I have now actually enjoyed some birthday cake and even the odd chocolate. I’ve introduced cheese and chicken back into my diet and am getting good fats in with oily fish and eggs. I am back to a healthy weight and trying to get on top of my fears. I run 5k on the treadmill twice a week and do a couple of speed walks with my girls a couple of time’s a week too (while the gym is closed my girls are keeping me company as I was doing two circuit training classes a week)
Like most who visit this forum, my fear is born from not being able to see how my arteries are getting on. I very much hope that there will be scan developed to see how our arteries and stents are getting on without being invasive. I just have to trust the meds and my diet and exercise are doing the trick and, in the words of my cardiologist, significantly reducing the risk of further HA’s and slowing future progression of heart disease.
I can now look forward to enjoying all my days with my family and friends and am thankful for them all.
I hope those who are new to this forum who might be struggling can see that it does get better, both mentally and physically. I did have a few visits to A&E in the early days thinking I was having another HA but they turned out to be panic attacks - talking, counselling, meditation were all alien to me but it turns out that they all really did help me...along with walking in the fresh air!
Wishing anyone new to the forum good luck with their recovery and hoping all who visit here, especially the regulars who have very much helped me along the way are keeping well and staying sane...I mean safe! 😉