Out to the Woods

Jon's continuing to improve daily.  I don't want anyone to think it's been "a walk in the park" but he's doing really good.  Up till a couple of days ago I've been very calm about everything.....I think now it's all catching up with me.  I find myself checking on him more, feeling anxious.  He doesn't have any doctor appointments until April, I'll be glad to sit down with the surgeon and with his NEW local cardiologist.  Of course I'll really be glad when we meet with the heart specialists in June up in the Cleveland Clinic.  He is up to 40 minutes a day on our exercise bike-but no hills yet.  Sunday we were able to go to the park and take a short walk.  Jon was happy to be back in his woods!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is this gorgeous or what?

 

 

 

Hillsborough River State Park, one of the prettiest places on earth and one of my favorite places! 

 

my other fav place got a new summer do:)

 

 

 

 

So we have been working on a diet.  As I've written about before, we try to be as organic as possible and as low fat as possible.  We took a month last year where we went Vegan....it was ROUGH!   Jon was told that the Mediterranean diet was recommended for people with known heart issues.  Well Jon has generally eaten a stricter diet than the Mediterranean diet for years now.  We have tried following the book below but so soon after surgery, it's made Jon feel weak not eating any meat.  So we're kinda making our own diet as we go.  Generally his breakfast is one from the book and sometimes lunch but at least one meal a day has some meat or eggs in it.  Yesterday I made spaghetti with lean ground chicken- a total serving with whole wheat pasta, sauce and chicken was only 4 grams of fat.  The hardest thing for us is cutting out oils-even olive oils are not recommended for this diet.  We are cutting way down, but have not been able to cut oils out completely.  It's just frustrating to know how hard we have tried over the years but to still have heart disease show it's ugly head!   BUT I'm glad we've been careful, things could have been a lot worse. 

 

 

 

 

Anyhow these are good books if you get a chance to read them.  Reading them made a believer out of me, but it's hard putting my faith into action LOL

 

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I just have to brag on my son, he was awarded a $1000 a semester scholarship for next year:)  He had several scholarships but this one made him really happy as it was based on his work with the college's media production team.  He will be working some over the summer on their radio program.  He's excited about his future in Broadcasting. 

 

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My heart is sad for the people affected by the bombing in Belgium today.  Unnecessary death and destruction....life is hard enough without having people plan on killing innocents.....I hope and pray that somehow this can be fought.  The civilized world needs to take a stand and say this is enough!!!!!