CARDIAC UPDATE ... Saturday, August 16, 2014 Costa Mesa, CA 10:48 AM PDT Hi Cardiac Prayer Team Bennett List Members: Here’s an update on my progress … today it’s 48 days since my open-heart surgery on June 20th. I’m very happy to report that my recovery seems to be moving along nicely. I never thought I’d be doing this well this soon. I still have some odd pains and numbness in the chest area, but this is wholly consistent with the nature of the surgery itself and the “fixes” done. For about a month, I’ve been doing cardiac rehab three times a week. This essentially means exercise in a monitored, controlled environment. For the gadget-geeks among us, it’s really kind of cool. I put on a little heart monitor with three leads. It’s kind of like having a small old-school transistor radio or camera around my neck. My blood pressure is checked before, during, and after my session. I do two sets of twenty-minutes on a recumbent bike and five minutes on an “arm bike”. I’ve been increasing the resistance without incident. Next week I get to start light weight training. So far so good on all my “numbers”. My A1c number (a cumulative measure of my blood glucose levels over an extended period) is not “normal” yet, but it’s in pretty good shape and headed downward in the right direction. For a diabetic, this alone will likely add years to my life. (And I’m certainly all about that now!) Also, my heart has been in normal sinus rhythm since a cardioversion (shock to reset the heart rhythm) on July 23rd. There’s always a chance that I could slip back into atrial fibrillation and this is especially truth in the aftermath of the part of my surgery called a “maze procedure”. Now that my new aortic valve is working so well, I’m more concerned about a-fib than I am about that. Often times when you deal with this condition, it can have a tendency to recur. But, so far so good. Here’s, perhaps, the biggest deal for me emotionally: I’ve lost a good bit of weight (a heck of a way to do it). A couple weeks ago, I had to run the most satisfying errand. I purged a fair amount of clothes from my closet and donated them to the Salvation Army … because they were too big! The last time I did something like that was 19 years ago. And because I stubbornly held onto a lot of really cool shirts that became too small, I now get to go “shopping” in my own closet. How cool is that! I’m still on a “no weight over ten pounds” lifting restriction, but that will be gone in a month or so. I have two “House Concerts” scheduled for the end of September. I’m so excited to get back to work. Speaking of which, although this is primarily a “health update” for those who are interested, I’d like to mention a couple music-related items. 1) I’m looking to schedule concerts for October through January. Obviously from Thanksgiving through Epiphany, I’ll be concentrating on Christmastide material, but I can tailor things to suit the situation. If you or someone you know would be interested in contacting me about this, I’d really appreciate your passing this info along. I can be reached easily by email at [email protected]. A Christmas Season House Concert could be just the thing for some of you out there … at least I hope so. 2) I mentioned last time I wrote that I was going to run a significant CD sale on my web site. And that’s happening! All CDs are $10.00 and this includes free shipping to U.S. addresses (and a reasonable flat-rate shipping charge for those outside the States). Simply visit the main web site (bob-bennett) and click Buy Music.) Okay … end of commercial content. As always, I’m grateful for your interest. Please know that I am very aware of the grace God has extended toward me in this time. Everyone has been so generous and encouraging. Again, for those who have written directly … I read everything, but I simply can’t reply to everything. I hope you understand that it’s not an “attitude” thing. Until the next update … in the hope of the Gospel of Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith! Sincerely, Bob. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This is a slightly edited version of an update sent to a Mailing List I maintain for those interested in my recovery from open-heart surgery. All Cardiac Prayer Team Bennett Updates are copied here to Facebook. But if, for some reason, youd like to subscribe directly by email, please use this link: eepurl/T_Uxj
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 18:43:09 +0000
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