Books on Health

  • Dr. Mom's Healthy Living
  • Transfiguration Diet
  • The School of Natural Healing

Thursday, August 13, 2009

We haven't given up

Sorry I haven't written in here for over a week. Several things have happened. Last Wednesday, early evening, I took John back to the hospital. He was having a hard time breathing. Like he was the previous week. He was at one hospital for a couple of hours, then they transferred him to another hospital that could care for cardiac patients. Since John couldn't lay flat, they put a ventilator tube down his throat. He was sedated the whole time. They put it in around 9 pm. While out, they did an angiogram and a heart cath. He didn't get back to his room in Intensive Care until 2 am. They started waking him up around 7 am. He was breathing hard again. He finally calmed down enough to take the tube out around 9:30 am. When the test came back the doctor came in to tell John that his heart was in fairly good shape. There was a little bit of diseased tissue, but everything was clear. He didn't have any excess fluid buildup either. That meant that his rapid breathing was because of him being anxious or nervous. He had to go through all that to find that out. It was good news over all since his heart has been bad for over 15 years. Yesterday at John's regular doctor visit, John found out that his injection fraction is between 45 and 50%. That is the best its been since we first found out about his CHF.

So the other piece of information I needed to clear up was his weight. When I was figuring his weight, I was including his wheelchair. So his actual starting weight was 281 lbs. He is now down to 231 lbs. right when he comes out of dialysis. He is not doing ALL of the stuff he should be doing, but the ones he is doing is making a difference. I will add more as I feel he can handle it. Other positive gains are: His sugars are under control for the first time since he became a diabetic back in 1991. They have been running between 112-140. I have not given him insulin but once since he started. His bowels movements are exactly how they should be. Cow patty consistency 3-4 times a day. (for him he needs to go more often. A healthier person about half that much.)

His diet consists of all the fruits and vegetables he wants. My garden has lettuce (romaine and leaf) tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, onions, and cauliflower. He will get corn, pumpkin, and watermelon soon. I supplement that with other veggies from the store. He also eats brown rice and wheat that has been slow cooked until the grain has just popped. I will add beans and other grains soon. He loves popcorn. So I season it with Mrs Dash, a little butter and olive oil. I can't make enough.

To his supplements I have added Super Green Foods (barley grass, wheat grass, spirulina, chlorella, dulse, kelp, and olive leaf) (my own recipe), enzymes and cayenne. The cayenne I have added a capsule every few days. He is up to 4 capsules a day now. I would like to work it up to 10. Not sure if that will happen. He is continuing on some of his doctor prescribed meds for his heart, stomach and nerves.

He still breathes rapidly on occasion, but he is much more calm. He still sleeps alot, but he is not up all night. Matter of fact, if he continues to sleep through the night, then I will start putting the fomentations on his back and feet again.