The last two weeks of my life has been shall we say ..interesting..

[BlindFreddie]

Mmmmm Movieman !! Scary!! Those medical bills, wow!! Enough to give a guy a heart attack!!
Sure hope you can get things under control - not just the bills but also the health and lifestyle mods needed to stay with us for a while.

Coincidentally, one of the current news headlines here in Aus today is the release of a disturbing report of a survey which followed up heart-attack sufferers - http://www.bakeridi.edu.au/heartattackwarning
"

MEDIA RELEASE

Important gaps in the continuum of care revealed via carers and patients in one of the largest studies by Australia's leading cardiac research centre, Baker IDI

• Responses highlight the need for ongoing support for heart attack survivors and their carers post-event
• Most responses revealed a lack of awareness of the heightened risk for a repeat heart attack with medication compliance and rehabilitation participation at concerning lows
• The challenge for change is clear, as carers reveal two thirds (76%) of survivors struggle to make lifestyle changes following their heart attack, despite over 5,000 Australians dying from repeat events each year"

...
"Nearly one in four people who are fortunate to survive a heart attack will go on to have another
episode or require medical intervention. Within a year, one in 11 of these people will die."

Don't be one of those, mate. XS just couldn't do without you

On the website linked above, there are also some educational "fact sheets" re heart/diabetes management lifestyle changes & healthy foods that you might find useful, though you're probably getting lots of that propaganda already.

Hope that in your land of sugar-coated plastic stuff that people put in their mouths you can still buy something to eat that came from a farm or waterway not too long ago, too. And that you enjoy lentils & tofu

[Sparky]

Screw the tofu, soy is NOT healthy. Stick with other stuff.

[Toolius]

I just saw this tread .. and all i can say is thank god you are ok and getting better.
Please take care of yourself Dave..
This is just plain old scary. Diabetes is something that needs constant attention .. My Uncle and my best friends dad both suffer from it so i know the drill.
Wishing you the heartiest of recovery's !!
Cheers and kind regards as always

[Ashraf]

Totally unexpected from this thread, but I am glad you are doing okay.

Keep us posted.

[Movieman]

Thanks to all..feeling pretty good but like a car in good tune with a tiny gas tank..easily tired..
First trip to the DR tomorrow then specialist on Wednesday..
This food deal is a killer in some ways..
Lots of it I can handle..The coke isn't a issue, splenda replaced sugar and isn't bad, artifical butter, potassium salt all ok BUT the thought of no more pasta is a killer and bread is a no-no also..
Dinner tonight was grilled mushrooms, summer squash and asparagus with a few sliced strawberries for dessert..

[tool_462]

Stevia is a good sugar replacement, less hard on your guts and can keep a more stable glucose level since some of those other "fake" sugars can fool your body into thinking it is real sugar.


Adjusting to the diet will take time, but sooner or later you'll have a new list of "go to" recipes and meals and you won't even remember what you "used to" eat.

[Sparky]

Yeah be careful with those artificial sweeteners.

[D_A]

You might find you can reintroduce some bread and pasta later once things are under control, though moderation will be your best friend.
As mentioned, Stevia is a better artificial sweetener than most others since it doesn't cause an insulin reaction. While it's not so much of an issue if you have a diet coke with a meal, banging it in between meals can aggravate insulin resistance something terrible (elevated insulin in the blood with no sugar for it to carry into active tissue, or no room in the active tissue to accept it, is bad, mmmkay). Stevia doesn't do that, so tea and coffee sweetened with stevia is often no problem. It can be used in cakes, bread, "cookies" etc as well.

Nearly forgot to mention. Some sweeteners, like phenylalanine, have a laxative effect if you over indulge. Funny if it's that guy in the office that keeps stealing your lunch, not so funny when it's you.

[Sparky]

That stuff is something powerful. Makes my gut do flips and, well, D_A is right about the laxative effect. And I didn't even have that much...

I'm not sensitive to a lot of stuff, but fake sweeteners do me in. After doing some research on them I urge to avoid the fake sweeteners altogether and stick with a natural alternative that doesn't carry such risks.

[D_A]

Don't get too caught up in the talk about some of them being carcinogenic. There's more risk in eating over cooked meat than from artificial sweeteners. It took the equivalent of drinking a shipping pallet load (about 250 gallons at a guess) of Diet Coke PER DAY to cause a measurable increase in cancer risk in lab mice. In real world terms the insulin issues are far more likely to cause problems. That's assuming you don't crap yourself to death of course.

[anubis]

$200k??

Crazy. Just crazy.

Glad You're feeling better. Take good care of Your health, my father ignored all the signs and lost His battle 2y ago.

[AMDforME]

Sugar level at 522 is borderline death so I'm glad that you pulled thru. It was closer than you might have realized. My mother went to the ER at 500+ and almost did not make it. She also lost her foot...

You can still lead a "normal" life with a little attention to your diet but now you just need to be more aware now.

[[XC] Oj101]

I agree, you're a member we need around here. You're the life of the DC projects, even if you aren't the biggest contributor. I'm glad that everything was OK in the end

I have a question. Do you as an individual have to fit the medical bill??! Here in South Africa we have private and public hospitals, private (privately owned) hospitals cost the earth whereas public (government funded) hospitals cost R20 ($2) per visit regardless of whether you're going for a sick note or brain surgery. The downside of public hospitals here is the waiting period, for anything non-life threatening you get in the queue and spend the day in the waiting room. Something like a knee replacement (my grandmother had both of hers done about ten years ago due to arthritis) could have a waiting period of many years (I think she waited six years), but for R20 it's the only option for most of us.

[AMDforME]

For those with diabetes or who want to reduce their sugar intake, there is a nice healthy sweetener to replace sugar called Stevia. It tastes great IMO and is 50 times sweeter than sugar. Recently the medical community has been testing using it to help people with diabetes.

[Movieman]

Today was a positive and productive one..
Went and saw the cardiologist for the first time..
Decent guy.
He showed me a video of my arteries in action BEFORE the stents were put in and I could see the blockages.
looked like William "The Fridge" Perry was in there in a blocking stance.
Now a chuckle for you guys: I asked him if I could get a copy of the video and he said:
" This only runs on this software and I doubt your home computer is powerfull enough to run this."
( I will wait here while you all stop laughing)

Now since he was a "good guy" I just smiled and asked what spec machine he was using and he replied " A dual socket Harpertown based Apple workstation"

Now you have to remember that this Dr doesn't know me and was looking at a bearded , balding, grey haired 61 year old man sitting in front of him dressed in a flannel shirt and blue dickies slacks and sneakers.
I politely said to him that sitting on my kitchen table was a state of the art dual socket 16 core Sandy Bridge Supermicro workstation that had five times the computational power of his Apple and that despite my appearance I was "pretty up" on current PC machinery.
Here's where he quietly looked at me wondering how much BS I was tossing at him.
I asked if he had internet access and he said yes. I logged into XS and went to my last review and said this is me..
He started reading and then just looked at me.. End of discussion..

Then we talked meds and short version I walked out fo there with $900.00 in freebies..
Like I said, a productive day..
Later I'll tell you what happenned when he asked me to "Squeeze my hand as hard as you can"
I told D_A about it and he's still cleaning the spittle off of his monitor down is OZ..

Oh yes, checkup went well, numbers were good and I was walking pretty normal today vs the old man baby steps of last week..
Last, Thanks again for all the kind words. They do help more than you know.

[D_A]

Later I'll tell you what happenned when he asked me to "Squeeze my hand as hard as you can"
I told D_A about it and he's still cleaning the spittle off of his monitor down is OZ..

I already knew quite a bit about the training you mentioned (I've been in and out of such things since the mid '80s), I just didn't know your history in it. Knowing YOU, however, it all makes perfect sense!

[Kingcarcas]

Beans, Brown Rice, Eggs, Salmon, Frozen Vegetables + Water are my staples. You don't need any of that other crap! Go find some Bush's Beans, plenty of styles and very tasty! Anyone trying to lose weight it's low in fat/sugar/carb/sodium/calories. Use the non-stick spray and dump the butter! #BeastMode

And if you guys can't walk, get a bicycle

[masterg]

Glad to hear it MM! Did he give you the video then? ;P

[El Mano]

I'm glad to hear you're OK and kicking. 61 is not old anymore, you're younger than you think

Regarding food, well you will miss the yummy stuff the first days but you will get used to your new diet soon. Healthy food will make you feel stronger.

A quick Google search yielded these:
http://www.diabeticlivingonline.com/diabetic-recipes/
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/dia...ecipes/RE00091
http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/recipes/

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=diabetes%20recipes

I guess by now you already have lots of recipes and ideas for dishes but anyway.

I have a question. Do you as an individual have to fit the medical bill??! Here in South Africa we have private and public hospitals, private (privately owned) hospitals cost the earth whereas public (government funded) hospitals cost R20 ($2) per visit regardless of whether you're going for a sick note or brain surgery. The downside of public hospitals here is the waiting period, for anything non-life threatening you get in the queue and spend the day in the waiting room. Something like a knee replacement (my grandmother had both of hers done about ten years ago due to arthritis) could have a waiting period of many years (I think she waited six years), but for R20 it's the only option for most of us.

Here we have a similar system. My mother suffered a stroke when she was in her 50's and stood for a week in ER, then two more weeks in the Neurology wing of the hospital. She underwent lots of tests, CAT, NMR, etc. All in all it costed us ?0.0, nobody asked for a single cent.

[my87csx481]

Glad to hear it MM! Did he give you the video then? ;P

Ditto. And is his Harpertown rig now crunching on your account? (Wait, does WCG even run on apple?)

Edit: Yup, there is a BOINC version for Mac, and WCG provides work for it.

[Sparky]

Beans, Brown Rice, Eggs, Salmon, Frozen Vegetables + Water are my staples. You don't need any of that other crap! Go find some Bush's Beans, plenty of styles and very tasty! Anyone trying to lose weight it's low in fat/sugar/carb/sodium/calories. Use the non-stick spray and dump the butter! #BeastMode

And if you guys can't walk, get a bicycle

But don't swap margarine in place of butter. Chemicalized crap that is.

I'd add beef to the mix because hey, good beef is good And don't forget the bacon and pork chops! Or the ribs.. Mmmmm... I'm hungry

[bearcatrp]

Sounds like your on the road to recovery. Great to hear. Keep up on doc's orders and you will be back to yourself (building more rigs).

[Movieman]

Sparky: Don't have the video, will bring a 32 gig USB stick the next time I go there

To all: "The handshake" I mentioned above.
Back in my 20's I got interested in Tai chi which really is about being able to focus your mind and bring strength through that concentration into a body part like your hand.
I got a book on it and read it and read it but just couldn't get it to work.
2-3 years on and off I would read this book and try the "concentration" but for some reason I just couldn't get it and then one day I did.
It is almost like looking inward and amazing what you can do with the power in your mind.
When I was younger I was a pretty powerfull guy, far from the best but far from weak.
Today especially I am not that guy but the mind is still there.
So he says to me "Squeeze my hand" and I gave him a firm handshake and squeezed just a little and he said "Squeeze as hard as you can"
I said "No, I will hurt you" and he just smiled and said "You can't hurt me in your condition"
I said "Yes, I can, you just don't understand"
He said "David, you are on medication that prevents your heart rate from going over 65 so you can't hurt me"
So, I grabbed his hand, did my mental "look inward" as I call it and squeezed and it's like two steps, squeeze and then SQUEEZE and all I hear is him scream and pull away.
He looks at me and said "I felt like you were crushing all the bones in my hand"
I said " I tried to tell you"
The look on his face was..yes, priceless...

Oh, primary care Dr called today and said my bloods are good but my sodium was a little low so " You can use a little salt in your food daily"
YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mumak]

Hahaaaa, Dave. This is becoming my morning reading, even before I make the coffee

[Movieman]

Hahaaaa, Dave. This is becoming my morning reading, even before I make the coffee

Well I am just tickled to sheet that I am amusing you each morning!