The week in review

The first week back after break is always the hardest.  I was thoroughly exhausted by the time school was over Thursday but I still had 6 hours yet to go.  Tuesday passed in an energy soaked blur, Wednesday settled down to the pace of the grind, Thursday capped it off with a 16 and a half hour day with Friday rounding it out by spending it at the hospital with my husband and mother-in-law awaiting news on my father-in-law's progress.  

It was certainly a face-smacking, reality inducing way to re-enter normal life.  Not just because of the re-entry into school and the craziness that brings with it; but the news of my FIL's (father-in-law) heart and how serious a situation that truly was and how lucky he truly is.  He had a nuclear stress test earlier this month and while his heart was functioning fine, it didn't "recover" like it should have from the test so they wanted to take a look.  Come to find out he was 99% blocked in the main artery, and had to have six stents...did you hear me?  *SIX* stents put in the main artery of his heart, then one in each of the remaining three within a couple of weeks.  

*WOW*

Tim did the math on it and figured he was getting something like 9% of his blood running through his heart at any given time.  No wonder his legs were always cold and his fingers tingled.  Thankfully the doctor said that any and all damage that has been done is trivial and will be completely reversed once the remaining 3 arteries are opened up and the blood really starts pumping.  In the meantime his legs are warmer, his fingers don't tingle and his breathing is better; all in all a good situation.

The hardest part is going to be the diet change, for my MIL especially because she is going to have to revamp the way she prepares the food my FIL eats which is going to go against a lifetime way of thinking and doing.  I think this is my chance to lend a little wisdom to my in-laws and help them through the transition to eating healthier.  In reality it's just simple changes they have to make; ground turkey instead of beef, olive oil instead of crisco, smart balance butter instead of butter, dark leafy greens instead of iceberg, whole grains instead of white, more water instead of pop, and unsweetened tea instead of sweet.  Much like my sister having to revamp her lifetime of cooking a certain way due to my nephew's food allergies, my MIL will have to do the same for my FIL.  

"Well I figure I got to live 69 and a half years eating what I want, so if it has to change I guess that's allright"

I'm glad he has a good attitude about it and even though it was unfortunate this happened, I'm glad it did.  I hope it brings us all around to a little more awareness of what we put inside of our bodies.  I figure that at this point it's all about living instead of eating or working.  Hence why I'm not going back to GC; this life needs to be lived and enjoyed and I can't do that working 7 days a week.  This is also why we can't enjoy it being overweight and out of shape so here's why I hope a tremendous amount of good can come out of this situation for my entire family.  I hope it spurs my husband to take better care of himself, I hope it spurs my in-laws into action to change and trickles down the chain of the family.  

A healthier year would make for a better year for all of us.

Namaste