Wowsers...Where did the time go?

Okay. Busy last few months of 2008, but I am back now and determined to get back on track with everything.

Did I mention that altogether - on the low carb plan - the husband lost thirty pounds (bastard!) the girl lost ten and I lost fifteen?

....However....

In early October, the husband called me upstairs to our bedroom. He was laying on the bed, breathing rapidly and his skin was sweaty and cold. He told me he got dizzy and everything started going black as he came out of the bathroom into the bedroom. He managed to make it to the bed, but was afraid to get up because his heart was racing.

Okay -yeah, so I freaked out and started harping on him to call our doctor (who is a very nice fellow by the way and has been our GP for over fifteen years).

After all, he doesn't have the best family medical history (father died of arteriosclerosis at 50, mother with high blood pressure, etcetera).

He called the doctor, went in for an ECG and an EKG, then our GP sent him to a cardiologist. The following week, the cardiologist set up an appointment for an angiogram.

The conclusion? He needed heart surgery. So we met the cardiac surgeon (while the husband was still waking up from angiogram - they knocked him completely out for the procedure because he was such a nervous wreck) and agreed to schedule the surgery for the following week.

Doctor: I'm not saying it is an emergency, but I wouldn't put it off.
Me: What..? Wait - he's barely coming out of the drugs for the angiogram and you are telling us he needs surgery right away, but it isn't an emergency?
Doctor: Yes, this is not an emergency surgery. I just wouldn't put it off too long.
Me: Well, if you wouldn't put it off, what exactly would constitute an emergency?
Doctor: If he came in with an ambulance, in the middle of a heart attack or without a pulse. Which is a distinct possibility at this point.
Me: Oh.

Now - before all the nay-sayers start in on it being his high protein, low carb diet - it wasn't. He was born with a defective valve - a congenital heart murmur/defect. An aortic valve that was bicuspid instead of tri-cuspid.

There are lots of people with this type of heart murmur - however - there are those who are born with the gene that will cause the valve to harden - or stenosis - which will usually happen in their fortieth year...And guess what? He turned 41 in July of last year. A little late, but almost on time.

Funny that his arteries were pretty darned clean - except for a (I'm quoting here) Teeny, tiny one that doesn't really matter.

THAT is saying something. Especially considering the man was a two pack a day smoker, and needless to say - he no longer smokes.

Anyway, I won't drag it out. He had the valve replaced. A tissue valve instead of a mechanical one because he is so active. Also, because he was in such great shape, they expected the surgery to go well - and it did. It only took four and half hours - four and a half hours of feeling like I was in hell - or at least purgatory - which is nothing compared to what he went through over the following months of recovery.

And now - if he doesn't have his shirt off, you would never know that he ever had heart surgery in October.

I'm glad we caught it.

I'm glad I can be such a rag that he does what I want him to do just to get me to shut up.

*sigh*

I'm ecstatic that he is still here with me because I am not done torturing him yet.

SoOoOo - all this happened in the month of October - then there was recovery in November and December, not to mention holidays...And well, time slipped away from me.

Not only did time slip away from me, but everything else did too. AND because of the STUPID DIET the nutritionist at the hospital put him on - we were all eating that way (no animal fats - lots of whole grains and fiber), and now we have gained back the weight. Which I am sure is not good for him..Nor myself and the girl child either.

So the hubby has asked when we are going back on "my" diet - the one where we lost all that weight and felt good. *grin*

As soon as I clean out the 'healthy' crap from our house and I can get to the grocery store, or in other words, as soon as possible.

You'd think I would know better then to take advice from a barely out of college kid who does her hospital rounds in a pair of yellow stilettos..

Oh well, live and learn - and I have learned that by listening to dietitians that twirl their hair while they talk, you will have to go through induction again.

Okee-dokee. I will chat with you later. I have to catch up on my blog reading and recipe hunting.