Quick Update

Anyone who follows my blog can tell that I'm still just not in the flow of things since my heart scare and having the stent placement in my artery. As I reported in my last update, my doctor tells me that what I'm going through now is normal, but is it still so frustrating in so many aspects. Mentally, I'm still not a sharp as I need to be. Still struggling to recall names and details. Sermon prep is proving to be hard because I just can't pull it together. But, I am seeing some improvement with this. My biggest hurdle right now is that the energy just is not there for me. That too, is improving... but SLOWLY. I'm able to walk quite a bit further now that I was a week ago, but by the time I've walked 5 or 6 blocks, I'm feeling it and ready to call it done. On the plus side, I am sleeping more. It's not uncommon for me to sleep 8 or 9 hours for me, which is nearly twice what I slept before the surgery. And often times, I am needing a short nap toward evening.  It seems like I have one or two good days and then a bad one. By a bad day, I mean that I just feel sluggish and "in a funk."  I'll certainly be glad when that stops. One of the hardest parts to adjust to for me is that I have these odd feelings in my chest. I've talked to the nurse in my doctors office and I've been reading a lot, and apparently this is "normal" after having a stent, but it freaks me out. I asked the nurse, "if it is normal to have these odd feelings and pains, then how do I know when to be concerned about them?"  She did not have a good answer that... and that concerns me. 

A real positive is that I've already lost 11.5 pounds since having my surgery. I still have another 15.5 to go before I reach my goal, but I'm close to halfway there, and I gave myself till the end of the year to lose it, so I am feeling really good about that aspect.  My primary goal right now is to build my strength back to where I can do a bit more exercise. I have been stunned at just how weak I feel... but again, they tell me that this is normal at this point. Guess I just need to learn patience.