When the Sh!t Hits the Fan

A series of unfortunate events have plagued my family for the past while. Most importantly, my mother suffering a heart attack. She is doing better and is taking things slowly. She qualified for some of the classic risk factors: Obese (190 lbs at 5'1) and hypertensive (blood pressure always over 140/90). 

She'd been having lots of difficulty breathing in the past six months and it was attributed (mistakenly) to asthma. Dizziness and blurry vision attributed (mistakenly again!) to migraines. Surgery has helped enormously improve the blood flow not only through her heart but to her lungs and head. She is breathing so much better, and her brain-fog is clearing. She'll soon be able to get back into her routine without any assistance from me for her daily tasks. However she has lost a lot of strength and that will hopefully come back in due course with rehabilitation and changing her lifestyle. Also hoping the side-effects from the medications she now needs to take won't affect her progress. Since she got back home, the neighbours in the small community where she lives have been so very kind and offered to do "anything anytime" for her.

 

I've been at her side through all this, helping her in and out of the hospital, and it has been stressful and an eye-opener in many ways. All this came just before the third anniversary of my father's death from a heart attack. You'll never know how relieved I am to still have her here. 

 

Since I've not been at work or in my own home, I feel the pounds have been piling on in the last month or so. Food choices were limited at the hospital, and I wasn't able to make the best choices due to physical or emotional fatigue. Didn't succumb to fast food or fries, but overate generally like sandwiches which I'm not used to eating regularly.  Exercise has been less than minimal. Stayed away from sugary stuff.

 

Now that things are settling down with my mother well on her way through recovery, I'll be back at my own place soon and able to exercise regularly again. I know any pounds gained will be flying off. I'll weigh-in when I get back.