Pricked and Prodded

[tommyt654]

Well it happened Tues. morning. I had a stroke and spent all week in the local hospital. OK for now with only slight sensory damage to might left hand side of my body,mainly can't diffrentiate between hot and cold. Makes for a interesting eating and drinking experience. I have no idea what caused it,but we threw out the deep fryer yesterday and they have me on a nicotine patch,blood thinner, cholesteral lowering pills and aspirin therrapy for now. Really happened Mon. night but I took about 4 of those low dose aspirin and the symptoms ceased until Tues morn. When I got up I immediately fell into our armoire in the bedroom knockin the 40 inch flat screen into the back of it and then bounced down the hallway walls to the bathroom before attempting to take a shower and more aspirin, never made it too the shower. Got dressed and drove myself to the hospital(4 miles) walked in with a droopin mouth amd muttered I was having a stroke, got admitted and have been pricked and prodded everywhere on my body + Catscan,MRI,MRA,Therapy and release. Quite a wake up call for me because I really thought I was in pretty good shape physically. However I will be quitting smokin and changing my dietary habits immediately. Doc seems to think I'm prolly active enough, just need to do the other 2 allong with the pills for blood thinner and cholesteral mgmt. Really had no inkling of anything, no pain in the arms or legs, no hard time breathing or anything I would have associated with a stroke. Guess I was lucky as my Father did have a heart attack and stroke when he was about 78-79. Just a heads up guys,See your doc regularly and watch those calories during the holidays,Tommyt

[cabinetman]

Sorry to hear about the experience. Why is it that the things we like are so bad for us. Here's hoping you get on track and can stick with the treatment. The alternative is too permanent.

.

[Turaj]

Tommy, sorry to hear what you had to deal with. But glad that you are doing better (well?) now. Wishing you a full and quick recovery and patience getting used to the new diet.

[jwd12]

Had a similar experience about 10 years ago except I was riding my bike when it hit. Pretty much did and do what the Doc's say. Diet consists of lots of fish, pasta and other tasteless things. Take lots of pills and visit the Doc every 9 months. The good news is that you can make it, living a long and hopefully happy life. I am still able to woodwork (some would say make sawdust) and the event although not forgotten is in distant memory. Take care of yourself and remember if it tastes good spit it out.

[BobSch]

Tommy, Glad to hear you made it through the experience. Let me add to the wishes for your speedy recovery.

[leehljp]

Tommy,

Take care of yourself and listen to the doc.

I hear you about the food. I lost 20 pounds a year ago to ease the pressure on my knee and had been doing great. But, My mother in law came to stay with us for 3 months and I almost have to insult her in order to keep her from making so much. I have gained most of the weight back and now my knee is hurting again.

Diet is important in many different ways! Thanks for posting this and have a great Christmas and New Year!

[Richard in Smithville]

Wow Tommy, that's quite the week. I'm glad to hear that you are now working to improve things and there wasn't much damage done. Why is it that we see these things happening to friends but it takes something happening to us for the wake up call to kick in. A few years back I almost bought it from diverticulitus and I thought I was healthy!

Keep on taking care of yourself.

[jackellis]

Hank is right. I kicked the junk food habit before I met my wife and do very nicely on a regular diet of healthy stuff with occasional "treats".

I'm not going to suggest anything other than following the doctor's orders, but my philosophy has been to eat the things I like, which means lots of steamed vegetables and fruits, chicken, fish, turkey and pasta, and smaller amounts of red meat, fried foods and sweets. It's not hard, and you don;t have to sacrifice taste, either.

The only sticking point around here is fads. LOML latches onto them like a leech and I have to keep reminding her that oat bran, omega oil and red wine are fine, but I'm not going to change my moderation approach. I'll spare everyone that long rant.

[cwsmith]

Tommy,

It sounds like a harrowing experience and it's certainly not the way to enter the holiday season!

But, it should be a welcome warning to you as it was bad enough that it got your attention and yet, not completely dibilitating or worse, deadly!

My doctor once told me that one way to a long life is to suffer some temporarily dibilitating crisis early enough, and then pay attention!!! This particular thing got you to the hospital and in the hands of a doctor who will now, with your assistance, watch you closely. Together you'll make some changes and in so doing, correct your diet and exercise to prevent any further such attacks.

Wishing you a quick recovery and a long and healthy and happy life,

CWS

[phrog]

Tommy, wish you a speedy recovery. Hope you're able to coontinue your hobbies including keeping us informed about all the bargains out there.

[tommyt654]

Thanks Gang, I realize this was prolly my fault with the food and smokin gettin the better of me,So these lifestyle changes will be a new welcome distraction as I go forward into the new yr. Bur dang I'm gonna miss my fried chicken and buttered pan seared ribeyes. Smokin not so much. I can already feel a little difference after just 5 days of not smokin although I wasn't really a heavy smoker as most of it literally went up in smoke in the ash tray and air. None the less they are gone for good.Thanks for the moral support, Now I need to get the wife to quit as well(smokin). Told her to go outside if she feels the need, maybe that will help me and her as well, Cya'll,Tommy

[Pappy]

Good to read you are doing ok and geting a handle on the way to stay healthy.

I am probably a good candidate for the asme thing but I am hard headed. Worry about it when the time comes. Until then, I would fry my coffeee if I could figure out how to keep the water from poppin' in the grease!

[Dal300]

I'm late to the Fracas as usual!

Tommy, you gotta take care of yourself, if nothing else, just to keep the rest of us keepin' up with you.

My wife doesn't smoke, never has... me? I'm not so good. I tried the normal quit smoking stuff and even did the Chantix for a few months. I did cut back but never stopped. Now that I'm on a limited income and no insurance, I can't afford the Chantix.
My method now is to never smoke in the shop, (Which scares me anyway), or in the car. I also never carry cigarettes with me when I'm out working on the property. Those are the 'trigger' times that I always have had a hard time with, so I'm cutting them out first.
It may not be the best way, but it seems to be working for me.

Years ago I was told to cut down on Cholesterol and get my blood pressure lower. Trouble is, I'm like Pappy, I would eat a newspaper if it was deep fried at one time.
I still eat deep fried foods, but only use pure cotton seed oil, No Cholesterol, no trans fats and full of vitamin E. I'm very selective about what I deep fry, usually things like mushrooms and potatoes and fish... lots of fish.
I use real butter for a couple of reasons.... look at the ingredients of most margarine... then look at the scientific studies done between margarine, butter and even the 'healthy' spreads. There isn't a whole lot of difference in any of them and I like butter better. It's better with butter!
We don't do red meat much anymore, even though we love it. Normally for us red meat goes in stew so a little goes a long way.

I'm happy to report that after 4 years of this dietary stuff, my cholesterol is down to 190 from almost 300. Blood pressure is 125/80 down from 204/120+
My weight is also down from a high of 226 to 180.
I'm only 57 years old, maybe I'll make it to 58 in a couple of months.

What scares me is that my father died at 72, my uncles between 48 and 68 and both my grand fathers died at 59. So far my odds don't look good no matter how well I take care of myself.

[tommyt654]

Dal300,You might not make it to 58 if you keep up with the butter and cottonseed oil, http://www.buzzle.com/articles/cotto...l-dangers.html ,I realize its just an opinion but several others chimed in the same thing. At best we will continue our use of EVOO when cooking in some case's but I had couple of deep fryers for fish frys and wings and another for house fries. These are not what ya call household items,They are in fact resteurant style fryers in the 5 gal capacity and gas fired,They are gone. I loved them like an old dog but they had to go,even using high grade canola oil in them they still had to go as we were eating way too many fried dinners,Turkeys,chicken,wings,quail,dove,trout,cat fish,corn fritters, you name it we were frying it weekly and a lot. Adio's my friers. I wanna stick around a while longer

[Cochese]

Sorry to hear Tommy, but at the same time you're probably very lucky if it indeed started the day before. That's when the worst permanent damage occurs when it's not treated right away. Hopefully it will be a minor thing from here out.

A wake up call to me to cut down on my favorite vice - cheese dip.