Went to our first support group for hubby's surgery

Share how living with this disease can and does impact your relationships. How do you cope? What questions to you have?
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ctravel12
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Went to our first support group for hubby's surgery

Post by ctravel12 »

Denny and I went to our first support group meeting for the Cardiac patients and caregivers. They have them the second Monday of each month. It was very good and informative.

Their talk Monday night was about angiogams and how the procedure works. After the talk, they had an open floor discussion where you could ask questions that concerns you. They had alot of medical staff there and the heart surgeon's assist. was there.

Next month they will be discussing patients coming home after heart by-pass which we are really looking forward to.

This support group really came at the right time as the other day Denny was complaining about just walking around the house so I suggest that he go to WalMart or other stores to walk around. Well my idea did not seem that interesting until we went to the support group meeting and one of the medical staff suggest walking through Wal-Mart, Lowes and other stores as where we live right now it is beastly hot.

Well now he has gone to the stores and enjoyed the walking. Hey if this works, I am not going to complain.

Also at the meeting, the surgeon's assist. gave me some good websites where I could print off some good and simple recipes and also e-mailed me some other recipes.

He is feeling much better and seems to be getting his strength back little by little. I am even try to cook better LOL. He has been gettting out more this week so that is a plus. THANK YOU SUPPORT GROUP.

Just wanted to give you all an update on how he is doing.
Charlene
Taking one day at a time

ViewsAskew
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Post by ViewsAskew »

Charlene, do you not like to cook? Or like to cook stuff that is yummy but not so heart healthy, lol? Changing how we cook is such a difficult task, isn't it?

Glad all is going well.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

ctravel12
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went to our first suport group for hubby's surgery

Post by ctravel12 »

Hi Ann I guess you can say I do not like to cook, but like to eat LOL I can cook but very plain and want to make sure I am cooking healthly. Basically, we do eat healthy but it does not vary too much. I do not sound like I am making alot of sense, but I think that you get the drift.

Changing how to cook is definitely a hard task and am sure that you know that with your dh having celiac. I have a sister, sister-in-law and brother-in-law that have celiac disease and know how the cooking had to change. I guess when you have to then there is no choice.

I am glad that things are going well too. Thanks for your post.
Charlene
Taking one day at a time

becat
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Post by becat »

Hi Charlene,

I hope you do better at that diet thing than I have. Good gosh the whole vitamin K thing is a killer to get around.

I miss veggies, or the mix of veggies. My husband hates not getting to have salad, it's like a food torture for him, :cry: :D ........

I am so glad you went to the meeting and more so that Denny did.

I gotta tell you those heart groups are really great at getting volunteers and keeping it moving forward. Well educated, well organized, and just happy to help.

Every one I met was just a wonder.....the lady that was "in charge" of us, the day my husband had his open heart....she was awesome, 80 something and took over the doc's job...LOL all but the surgery itself. She told us everything to expect, and even got us into ICU before the doc said we could.

Let me know if you find something that taste good to cook! LOL

Love Ya
Lynne

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Post by ViewsAskew »

Lynne, what's the vitamin K thingee???? No salad? No veggies??????
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

ctravel12
Posts: 2125
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 2:02 am
Location: Lake Havasu City, Arizona
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went to our first support group for hubby's surgery

Post by ctravel12 »

Hi Lynne. I was given a good site from the surgeon's asst. and it is www.cook.com Has some good recipes. In fact, I tried one the other night called Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary and Thyme Believe me if it has a lot of ingredients to put in I do not bother. I want something simple and this is and has a great taste.

Another one that he gave me is www.epicurious.com I have not tried anything yet but they look easy and that is definitely for me.

Can your hubby not have any salads? We have everyone night. In fact, I told the assist. what I usually give him for dinner and salads was one of them and he saw nothing wrong with that.

Have a great day and will talk to you later.
Charlene
Taking one day at a time

becat
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Post by becat »

Honestly, I guess we could every so often, but with his medication, the blood thinner, it's just hard to find the right balance, with him at least.

It's been an issue from day one. Heal wonderfully, did great throughout the surgery, and it's the blood thinner that he's never been able to really keep in line.

I guess that is his quirk in life. LOL

Thanks for the websites. I'm going to have to change my diet as well, so I guess I better start looking up everything. UGH! :D

Hugs to ya,
Lynne

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Post by ViewsAskew »

Lynne, how does the blood thinner affect his ability to eat veggies and salad? What happens to him - he can't get the amount of he blood thinner correct?

I am so curious because my family and my friends have been after me to write a cookbook for people on special diets. I'm dairy and corn free, hubby is gluten free. I also cook sugar free and diabetic friendly for my MIL and BIL. I have neighbors who have had special diets and I've helped them, etc. But, in this cookbook, if I do it, I'd also focus on people who need eat for a heathly heart, are intolerant of other foods, hve conditions that mean they have to eliminate foods, etc.

I've not heard this about the veggies and the blood thinner and it seems really important for me to know if I undertake this endeavor.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

becat
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Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 11:41 pm

Post by becat »

Hi Ann,
I doubt that my hubby's case could help you very much, as his heart problem was a life long or birth defect.

His body was used to making his blood work around the problem he had with his aortic valve. It's a matter of teaching his body to do something it's not done all of his life. It's not always an easy thing to regulate blood thinners for many people, his has been ongoing since his surgery......

Vitamin K is important because it helps our blood clot. In a normal body this would be it's role and a great thing. In the body that needs thin blood, like with an aortic valve replacement, clots are dangerous.

Also, the Vitamin K can be made by bacteria in the GI tract, so our bodies really can do this on it's own, even without eating vegetables.

Vitamin K can decrease or even neutralize the effects of the blood thinner (his is Warfarin), so a big salad for lunch and cabbage for dinner might mean that his blood is not thinned at all, even with his med......just canceled it all out.

There is Vitamin K in a variety of veggies, not all, but most are green leafy veggies.
The quirk is that some of the veggies have a low vitamin K count uncooked, but more if you cook them, and others just the opposite.

It makes sense why he never really liked veggies, his body didn't want to work around them. Like the thought that a child that has an allergy to certain foods, will avoid them naturally, by saying they don't like them. His body knew all along that his blood needed to be thinned, so his taste for vegetables was not a strong one.

Hope your book gets up and going.

:D
Lynne

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Post by ViewsAskew »

How fascinating. Thanks for explaining it. Not sure I'll actually write it, but. . . people keep hounding me to do it and I haven't seen anything like what I'm thinking of doing. We'll see. Often my mind had many more ideas than my tired body can carry out :( What sounds good in theory may not be possible in reality.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

KBear
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Post by KBear »

As Lynne pointed out vitamin K can reduce the effectiveness of blood thinning drugs (coumadin/warfarin) I take warfarin and I don't have a problem with an occasional salad but some people can not regulate their INR/Protime (the amount of time it takes blood to coagulate) if they eat even small amounts of green leafy veggies.

Also regarding food allergies many people will crave foods they are unknowingly allergic too, thus leading to health problems that are difficult to clear up (gastrointestinal, weight gain or loss etc.). If you crave dairy or wheat based products you may actully be allergic to them.
Kathy

Link to the Mayo Clinic Algorithm:

http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/pd ... 907Crc.pdf

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