It has been one year ago today that I had my heart surgery, and what a difference a year makes. I've gone from getting tired trying to keep up with my wife Dawn on walks, to getting up at 5:30 in the morning (if my daughter Brianna isn't out too late the previous night) and going for a nice run of 2.5 or 3 miles to start the day. Today was one of those days where I got up early, despite not sleeping too well because of the heat and humidity (we should have turned the air on last night). But it was good to get out and run, knowing that a year ago I had to be at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning, and after getting there and getting checked in and prepped, ended up sleeping for 24 hours while the surgeons did their thing and I recovered. A few people at work remembered it was my one year anniversary and sent emails or stopped by my desk, it made me feel good knowing that they remembered as well.
We went out for dinner last night to celebrate, I thought about having a nice steak marbled with fat, but ended up being somewhat good and had a fish sandwich instead. Dawn and Brianna were better than I, and they both had the salad bar. Brianna has completed another year of college, another two to go!
I did get an email from my daughter Brittney today, she remembered as well, and reminded me that I should at least do a post on my anniversary since I've been neglecting it. Brittney has a blog as well, she is better at updating her blog than I am, so if you want to enjoy her writing, visit her blog at http://brittneyanderson.blogspot.com/. Speaking of Brittney and Curt, this past June they moved from Anderson, IN (4 hours away) to Nashville, TN (10 hours away). I guess they wanted to test my heart, and while I'm happy that they are pursuing their dreams, my heart is heavy that they are further away and we won't see them as frequently. Curt has assured me that we'll be more likely to visit them in Nashville because the city has more to offer, I hope he's right.
Many have inquired about my garden, I wish I could tell them it is doing great, but then I'd be lying. I thought that since I have more energy than I've had in a couple of years, it would be looking great because I could be out there more often, but I guess I've been working too much and I'm too busy with other things. I have gotten quite a few green beans, some broccoli, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, peppers and some flowers for Dawn (thanks to Brittney's suggestion), my Mom did take some of the flowers once. So I guess as far as producing vegetables, it has done well, but for appearance, the weeds are winning and I don't get a passing grade there.
So enough for now about my social life, and a little information about my health. I almost miss seeing my doctors like I did last year. After my checkups following my surgery, visits to the doctors have been minimal. I did see my cardiologist once, and he reported that my heart was actually doing better than it was right after my surgery. I guess the heart needs time to recalibrate itself after years of not functioning properly. I'm hoping that when I go again, perhaps in a month or so (every six months), that things are even better. I did opt to go to my family doctor this spring for a physical, and things were very good, he did cut my blood pressure medicine in half as my blood pressure was down and I was get light headed when I was running 5 miles or so he thought I might be over medicating myself. So that was a plus, and having him tell me that he couldn't even hear my heart murmur anymore was a good thing as well. The one thing that I have noticed now that I am more active again, are the aches and pains that go along with getting in shape. My back hurts occasionally, my knees hurt going up stairs when the weather is right, I had some horrible back spasms a couple of weeks ago, and even cramps in my calves once again. But as irritating as they are, I love knowing that I am bringing them on myself because I once again am active, doing things that I couldn't the past two years and as my old cross country coach would say "No pain, no gain". While I would like to lose some weight, I am down from before my surgery, and have lost at least an inch perhaps two from my waist.
So while I continue to wonder what the future has in store for me, I look forward to many fun filled exciting years, I appreciate everything that I've been through, and thank the good Lord for the blessings he has bestowed upon me.
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