Angiogram - What I Learned

At home and resting.

The procedure went well. I was scheduled to have the angiogram at 10am. They asked that I be at the hospital at 8am. They finally got to me at about 1pm.

The waiting part is terrible. I hate waiting.

But all things considered, it's not so bad. The reason why I had to wait is because the person before me ran into complications and his procedure took longer than expected. I pray that he/she is doing well.

Here's what we learned from the angiogram.

• two out of the four bypasses have inadequate blood flow
• this sounds terrible but it isn't as bad as it sounds. The reason for that is because the doctor originally thought that he could only do one bypass because the other arteries were so badly blocked that there was no artery to bypass into
• The doctor was able to perform four bypasses because he found three auxiliary arteries to bypass into
• because the auxiliary arteries are smaller, there is not sufficient blood flow to certain areas of my heart

Here's what this means for me.

• we will continue to treat my diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides with medicine
• I need to continue exercising to get my heart as healthy as possible
• I need to lose weight so that my heart doesn't have to work as hard
• I need to eat a heart-healthy, low cholesterol, low sodium, low sugar, low fat diet. Basically, I get to eat veggies, fruit, and fish.

I have to watch my stress level because that's what got me into trouble the first time. 

There's work to do. 

Thank you all for your prayers and your support.