So, my dad's slowly improving. He's still getting chest pains when he walks quickly, and he's dealing with a variety of problems like low blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, water in his legs, etc. His heart took some permanent damage, and now operates at 35% capacity. But he's getting better. My parents' already low-fat diet has gotten even more spare, and they've been making and eating a lot of smoothies.
I may end up needing to make some serious life changes, myself. Reason #1: the doctor said that although my parents have been eating pretty low-fat for the last 20 years, it was what my dad ate in his 20s and 30s that did his heart in. Which sort of sinks my whole eat-like-crap-now, be-healthy-later philosophy. Reason #2 is still up in the air -- I need to get my cholesterol tested. I've never had it done before, and if I've inherited my mother's cholesterol, I'm off the hook. The woman could eat fried chicken every day for the rest of her life and she'd probably be fine -- her numbers are amazing. But if I've inherited my dad's numbers, I'm in pretty serious trouble. No more pizza and buffalo wings -- not if I don't want to go into cardiac arrest in my mid-60s, anyway. And guys, I like pizza and buffalo wings. :/ How depressing would that be.
I'm glad to hear your dad's feeling better. My grandpa had a heart attack ten years ago that scared all of us, but he's still kicking - and by that, I mean literally kicking. If you're trying to help him and he doesn't want your help, he will literally kick you. Sometimes he hits.
ReplyDeleteI digress; is your dad on a statin for his cholesterol? Tell him to really be on the look-out - my grandpa was, and he started experiencing the "muscle pain and weakness" that they list as one of the very rare but serious side effects, and it took two years to get all of the drug out of his system (it wouldn't have been so bad if his doctors had paid attention when he complained about it, saw it as a side effect and took him off the statin, and didn't just tell him, essentially, "you're old and old people get arthritis"). I'm kind of anti-statin now, is what I'm saying.
He's on Lipitor. He has been for years, but they just upped his dosage tenfold. I'll warn him about the "muscle pain and weakness." Any/all muscles, or is it the heart muscle specifically that they worry about hurting?
ReplyDeleteNo, it's your actual muscles. My Grandpa had the most trouble with his shoulders and his hips, and his hands felt swollen and he had a hard time closing them into a fist. He described it as a deep ache, like when you overexert a muscle and you feel it the next day. He was on a generic statin for at least eight years, since he had his heart attack in 2000, before he started having the side effects, so it's definitely something that can pop up without warning.
ReplyDeleteIt's supposedly rare, so hopefully your dad won't have any trouble with it, but the aches and weakness can persist months after someone actually stops taking the statin because of how much builds up in the system so it's best to catch it early.
You and me, pizza and Trek (or whatever goes with pizza that night) marathon before you take your cholesterol test. Or, even better, right after you get your results. It'll be either a "Yay for your mom's genes!" celebration or a last, glorious farewell to nummy noshing.
ReplyDelete@Shannon I'll tell him to watch out for it. Thanks!
ReplyDelete@Kasey We should definitely have some hanging outage!