The best week of my life, continued

OK. It's been a week now since my, gulp, heart attack. Good grief, I still have a hard time comprehending that I had a heart attack.

About this time last week I was pushing good old squad #14 down the mean streets of the county and not quite feeling right.

Since then I have learned how an angiogram and angioplasty work.
What a bare metal stent is.
That certain nurses should not shave patients nether regions...a Brazilian! Come on!
I've learned that yes, I am only human and it can happen to you.
My wife is the most amazing women alive (you think I had it tough? shoulda seen her week).
Children, all of em, are the most unbelievable gift and responsibility ( each day there has been some almost overwhelming reminder of this)
Even though I dearly love salt, this is not a reciprocal relationship. She's so mean.
Cholesterol, sodium, Poly saturated this and that.....Allyson Help!
What the hell is a quinoa?
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And this little exchange with my patient cardiac rehab nurse:
RN "and a porterhouse steak is big enough to feed four"
JIM " four what?"
RN "a family of four"
JIM "no"
She then lost all credibility with me when she told me that you should never eat a piece of meat larger than the palm of your hand. The bad news is that I promised to follow orders. So I need a bigger palm. Anyone have one of those big foam finger thingys?
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My family and my friends are spectacularly generous and thoughtful. I've had something like 60 deputies visit and call...the hospital, to their credit, realized they didn't have the resources to defend this offensive action and capitulated on the first day.

I had friends that refused to leave the hospital until they saw I was OK, they made sure Amy was ok, moved vehicles around, retrieved stuff from my squad, fed and exercised the dogs, brought food, sent fruit, cut the lawn, fed my wife, made phone calls, took over the bomb team, changed their schedules to cover me, went grocery shopping for us, sent flowers, brought me books, magazines and their concern, good cheer and jokes.

I have a doctor named Manfred. No, really.

My mother in law dropped anything she had to do and took my girls from the first hour I was in the hospital and cared for them through a scary time. My sister in law and niece cleaned our house while we were trapped a CDH...what a gift.

My brother drove through the night from South Dakota to get home to see me.

My brother in law kept calling to make sure I have the best hospital and the best doctors.

My sister in law brought her new born to see me for the first time....way to go Mirks...you guys put together a nice baby. So that's more inspiration to get healthy and stick around for a while. Uncle Joe and I may be all that stand between Alessandra and the baseball abyss. We will do our part to try to save her.
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I was put on a walking program to help start the healing process. I walked 9 minutes this morning, and it made me tired.

I learned that God takes away all the really scary parts. I was never, ever, not one single time got scared while I was in there. (ok the nurse that shaved me was a little unsettling...)

And the best part of this experience, well besides the not dying thing, is that a bunch of people from work are going to get their hearts checked. Who knows, maybe one of my guys finds out that he has a significant problem and avoids this. That would make me feel good.
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The day I got home, this verse was in my e-mail:
Proverbs 15:30 A cheerful look brings joy to the heart;
good news makes for good health.
Can I get an Amen! Cool huh?
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So now I try to keep from pushing too much while I try to make sure Im pushing enough. I go back to the doctor on Thursday and will learn more.

We have started planning the camping trip for September. Looks like we are headed back to Colorado and Mom has been looking over my shoulder and let it slip that she kinda misses Colorado and might consider going with. I think she's just worried, but I'll take it.

Dauphin Island is on for November with great friends and I'm starting to float the idea of a mountain climb for next July. Kind of an 'up yours' to heart attacks in general. We'll see, that's a year away and right now Im just enjoying my best week ever.

Jim