Just the life of any other Rachel

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Too much

My dad had a small heart attack last week.  We went to the hospital for chest pain, and ended up having an angiogram.  He had a stent put in, but one vessel is still blocked.  I went to his follow up with the cardiologist today.  That was when I found out about the heart attack, I thought it was just chest pain.  Here is what else I found out:

  • The vessel that is still blocked is called the "widow maker".  
  • Because he still has two working vessels they call that "nature's bypass".
  • He is still having some minor chest pain.  So he'll be put on an additional pharmaceutical.  Then he'll follow up with the cardiologist in 3 weeks.  If there is still pain, then it'll be time to discuss trying another angiogram.
  • It's hard to successfully stent a completely blocked artery.
So it was kind of a scary day.  I have power of attorney should anything catastrophic happen.  He's not even 70 yet.  And the worst part is he's lived a healthy life.  He has always exercised, eaten well and has never been overweight.  Yet here we are: Crohns, that lead to a colectomy, and then heart disease.  You do everything right, and still...
Anyway, he's on an additional heart medicine.  And he's going to try to continue to take Lipitor, but he hasn't done well with statins in the past.  We go back in the beginning of March.

On to something more pleasant

I got my permanent crown yesterday.  Bertie came along, and did pretty well.  My tooth is still sensitive, but it doesn't hurt like the temporary crown did.  That was very expensive, around $700.  But our new insurance will start soon, so hopefully I won't have that kind of issue again.

We started our taxes.  It's looking good, and I haven't done our deductions yet.  We might be able to use itemized deductions this year, due to Bertie's birth, and having to pay for our insurance our of pocket for half the year.

I'm getting excited for Bertie's birthday.  My mom will be here next week, and my sister the week after that!  He's been getting good at crawling.  He's still doing a modified army crawl, but he's fast.  He's starting to pull up, but only in his crib so far.  He has 6 teeth.  He is a good eater, and likes most anything we feed him.

I've been feel a lot better.  I think my depression is lifting.  I'm still tired, a lot.  But I'm not as sad, and unmotivated.  

Aaron's new job is going well.  The first two months is all training.  I really love that he's home by 5:30 every night.

Now Bertie is awake, so I have to stop for now.