It is Sunday morning and the girls have their riding lessons at 9:00 AM. I slowly get out of bed and head downstairs for a cup of coffee. I needed to get back into more of my normal morning routine so that I can realize that I can do things with some limitations for this first week home. I did need to eat some home cooked breakfast so that I could introduce a newly modified morning routine of eating healthier. Prior to my heart attack event I would grab a fast food breakfast and a soda to start my day after consuming between 3 to 5 cups of coffee to fill my empty stomach. What I read about beginning your recovery from a heart attack was to start my day with healthier food choices, and to limit high consumptions of sugar and sodium. This helps in building back a better nutritional balance in my body, and will help with recovering needed energy as I progress in my recovery. This effort also builds confidence in assuming a more normal daytime life goal of being comfortable with my heart. In all of the conversations with the various specialists at the hospital, food nutrition and healthy eating kept creeping to the forefront of the conversations, and then exercise in the form of cardiac rehab and general exercising to stay fit. So, nutritional changes and starting cardiac rehab need to be my initial focus.
The neighbors began to inquire if we needed anything and offered a variety of foods so my wife didn’t need to bother with cooking. The challenge is that our kids don’t like many food choices and can be very picky and challenging to cook for. Yes, we have spoiled them a bit, but the pandemic helped fuel that parental spoiling. Our next-door neighbor made sure our front yard was neat looking and they wanted to offer help for anything we might need. They are truly very good neighbors, those neighborly types who many wished they lived next to or near to.
The neighbor across from us sent me a DM that she was preparing her turkey chili and was going to bring a bowl over. She was concerned that this culinary offering was not in alignment with my new dietary changes. I assured her I would welcome this offering even though the kids would not eat it. She is the same neighbor who was first to arrive to where I was experiencing the heart attack, and was the one who’s energy sharing kept me going towards my survival on that day. Other neighbors also offered food to help us out this first week of my being home. Footnote to the turkey chili: it was absolutely amazing.
So, knowing that we had so much neighborly help I felt I could recover from this life changing event, and that was a good feeling. From my readings of recovering from a heart attack of this type over the last 24 hours I began to understand that, yes, my life’s goal and commitment to being a healthier me would need to change in many ways, and my efforts to sustain my life would require that extra effort. I made the decision to commit to all of the changes needed and began them on this day.
“Thoughts on this part of my story. Please share them with me in the comment box below”