Recovering after a heart attack - hobbies and animals

In July, 2007, I suffered a heart attack which included 29 resuscitations/cardioversions, having 3 stents inserted and a triple bypass. It would be fair to say this came as a shock. Surviving this was one thing, getting through the recovery and rehabilitation process was another.

Depression and getting over this became a real challenge as did the need for me to reassess my life and lifestyle. One of the things that helped me to do this was becoming involved in caring for wildlife.

A few years before my heart attack, my wife became involved in Wildcare, specifically looking after and rehabilitating injured parrots. Whilst I had helped out a little, this really was my wife's "baby". This all changed about six months after my heart attack when a particular bird visited us one day and decided to make our house a regular stop on a daily basis.

Honky is a Western long bill corella and so named after her particular barking call. It was clear that at some stage this bird had been tame but had obviously either escaped or been let loose and had taken up with a local flock of short bill corellas, some of which had been visiting us on a regular basis.

Interacting with this particular bird really opened my eyes and became a joy and something both my wife and I looked forward to each day, and still do. Not long after, my wife came across an Eastern long bill corella which also appeared to have once been tame - although not as tame as Honky. We called this one Gilly and later found out it is a male.

Because he had wing damage - looked like someone had butchered part of a wing - and he could not fly properly, we kept Gilly and he in fact has become my soul mate - when I do my daily exercise, he does  his exercises with me and without doubt has become part of my motivation to not only exercise daily but to get over my depression at the time.

Then earlier this year, my wife was given another eastern long bill (female) to be a companion bird for Gilly. We named her Tzippy and whilst they have been together in an aviary for around three months, they are still learning about each other without having bonded as yet.

In these videos, you will see just how important our birds have become to both my wife and I, and I would urge anyone recovering from heart surgery, or any illness for that matter, to find an activity or passion toward which they can draw positive energy and direction from.

Caring for and looking after injured birds has helped me overcome my illness and depression and for this I am very grateful.

*****************

By way of explanation I only rediscovered photography and got involved with wildlife following a massive heart attack in 2007. These two hobbies became very much part of my recovery program and still are today regarding what I did (and still do) to deal with depression, anxiety and stress. I can not recommend highly enough the benefits of a hobby in dealing with the after effects of a major health scare. 

You can find photos I have taken on my Facebook page Wildlife in Nerang and you can also view items I have created after my heart attack at www.heartattackstore.com. Towards the end of 2014 I created a blog called My 29 Lives.

http://my29lives.blogspot.com.au/

https://www.facebook.com/CHADAwareness

https://www.facebook.com/heartattackparaphernalia

http://www.zazzle.com/katzworkz

https://www.facebook.com/Wildlifeinnerang
https://www.facebook.com/WildlifeinNerangGiftIdeas

I had a dream

It was a good dream it was. I was dreaming that:

* I had not had a heart attack and did not have ongoing breathing, bleeding and tiredness issues,

* angina was not a part of my life, that I did not have diabetes and that I did not have lower back bone degeneration problems,

* in the morning I would be getting up at 5.30am to get ready for work as a courier that brought me in $1,200.00-$1,500.00 a week,

* I would be able to pay the mortgage due at the end of the week and would have no problem paying the monthly bills,

* I would no longer have to budget $40.00 a day for food and other things so that we could make our fortnightly benefits cover our costs,

* we would not need to rely on family help to keep a roof over our head and this would make things less difficult for my elderly mum given her circumstances,

* my wife had not been diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, did not have to undergo six and a half weeks of radiotherapy then a year later need to have a hysterectomy and bilateral mastectomy,

* my wife would be able to go to work as she used to and work 20-30 hours a week,

* we would be able to afford to go out for an Italian or Mexican meal and even maybe go to a show at Twin Towns,

* I would hear from my six children on a regular basis, or even irregular basis, and that I would be seeing my grandchildren this weekend,

* that people, once and for all, would appreciate what Evelyn and I deal with on a daily basis.

But then I woke up with pain in the chest, yet another angina episode that a spray of my GTN relieved, and I realized all of the above was but a dream, the same dream that keeps recurring 3, 4, 5 times a week.

ICE - In Case of Emergency - emergency contact number in your mobile/cell phone.

How many of you are aware of ICE? - In Case of Emergency - when you put in your mobile/cell phone a contact number for one or more people to be contacted by emergency services in case something happens to you and you are on your own.

When I give my talks to our local cardiac rehab unit I tell those in attendance about this...in my phone I have ICE 1 for my wife (her mobile/cell number), ICE 2 for my brother (his mobile) and ICE 3 for home (landline number).

In case of emergency (ICE) is a programme that enables first responders, such as paramedics, firefighters, and police officers, as well as hospital personnel, to contact the next of kin of the owner of a mobile phone to obtain important medical or support information (the phone must be unlocked and working). The phone entry (or entries) should supplement or complement written (such as wallet, bracelet, or necklace) information or indicators.

The programme was conceived in the mid-2000s and promoted by British paramedic Bob Brotchie in May 2005. It encourages people to enter emergency contacts in their mobile phone address book under the name "ICE". Alternatively, a person can list multiple emergency contacts as "ICE1", "ICE2", etc. The popularity of the programme has spread across Europe and Australia, and it has started to grow into North America.

Read more here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_case_of_emergency

http://www.telstra.com.au/abouttelstra/advice/mobile/ice/

http://www.ambulance.nsw.gov.au/Community-Info/In-Case-of-Emergency.html

First Cardiac Rehab Talk for 2015

Gave my first talk for the year at our cardiac rehab unit a couple of days ago. Twenty-two in attendance and Evelyn (my wife) joined in after she finished with an appointment in the same building re: her breast cancer surgery follow-up.

After my talk the floor was opened to questions and the first one that came up was about heart support groups. I did my spiel about local groups and also talked about Facebook (and SURVIVORS, one of the groups I am a member of) to some people who came up to me after the talk for more information). That was well received. Click on the name SURVIVORS and you will be taken to the group page.

SURVIVORS - should you know of anyone who may benefit from a support group online this is one on Facebook you may wish to consider. This is a closed group so all discussions, conversations, questions are private and not shared in a public way.

Another group I mentioned is Heart Attack and Stents which is also a private, closed group as is another group called Zipper Club.

There is no right or wrong group and there are plenty of places on the internet and on Facebook where people can turn to to share experiences following a heart event and to ask questions but people must always remember that members of these groups are not doctors and that medical advice should only be sought from their specialist or family doctor.

Another question that came up asked about dealing with depression and anxiety and I talked about my experiences and denial and talked about my coming around to seeing a social worker where I could vent instead of taking things out on Evelyn.

Another person brought up an issue that he was having re: sleep apnoea and the run around he was getting from specialists and doctors and his frustration (which was obvious from his voice) trying to get a CPAP machine but his not getting any help. Was able to talk about this a bit as I am going through this process at the moment via our public health system.

And another topic that was discussed dealt with rediscovering old hobbies like photography for me, being negative and the need to recognize what we might have been doing wrong that led up to our having a heart attack in the first place like diet, exercise, smoking and dealing with stress - i.e. lifestyle changes.

a photo I took of one our wildlife visitors where we live

All in all was great session today and of course I covered my 'favourite' topic re: diabetics not necessarily having the classic warning signs of symptoms leading up to and/or when having a heart attack.

Don't expect everyone to understand your journey

A sad reality of life is that not everyone will appreciate what your are going through as you/we deal with the after effects of a major health scare like a heart attack or as you deal with an ongoing health concern such as diabetes or recovering from treatment or surgery for cancer.

This is a fact of life. For whatever reason, sometimes our 'friends' have more of a problem dealing with your/our health issues and more to the point and something that happens quite a lot, your/our friends sometimes have a harder time coming to terms and dealing with what we are going through.

Time and again I have seen this question raised when giving a talk at our cardiac rehab unit and no doubt I will hear it again down the track. Realizing this, understanding and accepting this goes a long way to not letting this get in the way of your/our rehab and recovery program.

Another 'favourite' I hear from time to time is: 'You've had your heart attack and had your surgery so now you are right to get back to living like you were before you got sick'.

There are people who just do not get for whatever reason that for some people getting back to 'normal' is never going to happen for any of a number of reasons but until such time as they have had to deal with a similar situation they will never understand what living with a decreased heart function is like or how too much exertion or stress could bring on an angina attack or for that matter how a hypo for a diabetic can sometimes come about without warning despite how vigilant you might be as a diabetic who takes insulin.

Understanding the above will hopefully be of assistance to some who may be doing it tough right now as they deal with recovering from a health scare.