Broken Heart But Doing Fine/ The Results

About a month ago Jere had an Echo done on his heart as normal monitoring of his heart. During his doctor visit a week later the doctor was acting weird asking interesting questions. They found a hole in Jere's heart but because they never have seen it before and Jere has no signs or symptoms they weren't sure if there was one or just the angle of the echo. (The echo tech had made a comment that Jere's heart was VERY photogenic that day. She was able to get the Carotid Artery which isn't easy. ) Because the echo tech made that comment I was sure there was a hole. Friday (June 17th) Jere went in for an MRI of his heart. ( He had an anxiety attack at the end of it, poor guy. I've had one before so I totally feel for him) Jere also had a sleep apnea test and his cholesterol checked. Yesterday we went back to get the results for all the test ( we met with a PA not the doctor). Here they are:

SLEEP APNEA: He just had to wear an oxygen monitor for a night. Anything above 90% is fine. Jere's range for the night was 98% - 88%. He was only at 88% for 5% of the night so not bad. That means he is border line sleep apnea. With most people with this result they would suggest losing weight but that isn't an option for Jere. They are just going to test him again if he has more symptoms pop up. Sleep apnea goes with MMD because the muscle walls get weak. I was relieved that he didn't need the CPAP. I was going to kick him downstairs to sleep if he needed one. I don't sleep well as it is that machine would never let me sleep.

CHOLESTEROL:
           The numbers:
                         LDL should be 130-100 or less Jere's 20 something. EXCELLENT
                         HDL should be about 40 or just above Jere's 23. NOT GOOD
                         Triglycerides should be about 150 or less Jere's 356 VERY VERY BAD

To get the HDL up we need to get the triglycerides down. To do that he has to quit smoking ( not a problem there), lose weight( from where?), exercise more (started that today. We bought a stationary bike off KSL) and watch his diet ( easier said than done).  So as a family we are all going to change our diets, can only make us healthier. I remember when I was a teen hearing my dad's test results from cholesterol and his LDL was low so was his HDL. Cholesterol is part genetics so i might have a tendency to have my numbers go the same way ( mine hasn't been checked yet because I haet needles).

HEART: There is a hole. It is between the right and left atrium. Alot of people have kind of a hole, more two over lapping flaps that don't touch and so blood can go through but not alot. Jere's is less common, it is a straight up hole. He doesn't have any of the physical exhausting that comes with it ( as far as we can tell, MMD cause exhaustion). So there are two reasons they close his kind of hole. First to help with the exhaustion, not an issue. The second blood clots, stroke and heart attack prevention. So the question isn't if they will close it but when. The GREAT news though is it isn't rip the chest open surgery, it is up the femoral artery. He doesn't have to be knocked out, they can do a local anesthetic. That is a huge relief, general anesthetics are dangerous for Jere. He has one more test to see how much blood flow is going through the hole and then we met with the surgeon. The last test is swallowing an ultrasound looking thing and " sitting it on his heart" to get more images and info.

We feel like it was a blessing that Jere's heart was so "photogenic". It is better to get it taken care of while he is still young and can recover fairly quickly. It would've been bad to find out he had a hole by him having a stroke or heart attack.

Getting Older

The last few weeks I've realized I'm getting older. Alma and I went swimming and I got a sunburn. I don't tan out as fast as I use to. Then we went to Lagoon a week later and I had to pee after going on the fast, intense rides. After my body got use to the rides I was fine. I was like a teenager again, riding ride after ride.

Update on the house projects: The bathroom is STILL being worked on. Jere should be done soon. I've worked alittle bit on moving the rocks in the front yard. We are being given a Rainbow play set so that will bump some of the other projects down the list. We saw the play set yesterday and Alma loved it. It looked really cool. A coat of paint and it will look new.

Still going.......

Well the bathroom still isn't done.  The drill's battery died tonight. Could be because Jere charged it way too long.  So we went to Home Depot to get a new drill or a battery. As we are looking at the power tools Jere picks up a drill and says that is cute. I laughed so hard. He won't live this down for awhile. We ended up getting the exact same drill ( just newer model) we got for our wedding eight years ago. This drill came with two batteries, a soft case and charger. So until the motor in the old drill dies we will have two drills, SCORE!

FEMALE BONDS (ie acrylic nails)

Kari is going to school to learn how to do nails. I know it can be hard to find models sometimes so I volunteered to be a model if she needed one. Saturday May 28th early in the morning I was her first model. It took a little time and they were a little thick but not bad for her first set. Her instructor kept saying how good the nails were. I was thinking I would leave them on for awhile, maybe I will like them I thought. I was WRONG!

I got home around lunch time and thought they aren't too bad. I tried to eat lunch, nachos, it was so hard I ended up eating them with a spoon. The rest of the night they weren't bugging me, in fact they were fun to play with. Sunday morning I tried to shower. It was so hard to wash my hair. The getting dress was hard I needed help buttoning my skirt and It was hard to tuck in my shirt. I was walking around the house say I felt like Calypso (Pirates of the Caribbean) and I needed to be freed from my female bonds.

Sunday night I started to take the nails off. It was taking forever. I got most of it off the left hand and on the right hand I got all the tips off and filed smooth but it is still thick on the nail plate.

Cheaters Never Prosper

Alma brought me his math to check today. I was going over the answers and quite amazed that he did so good. When I got to the last page I see " answers will vary". I called Alma in and asked if he had cheated. He admitted  that he had. After talking alittle he said he had been cheating for days. I asked "You thought you were smarter than mom?" He nodded. I told him that cheating never pays off. That he may get away with it for a couple of days or a couple of weeks but that he would always get caught. It is funny. Jere and I keep laughing about it. As his punishment he had to carry concrete up from the basement AND do more math pages.

Projects, Projects and More Projects

The last couple of days we have been busy tearing the downstairs bathroom apart. The people we bought the house from made it look pretty but not water proof, and in a shower that isn't good. I'm scared how much it is going to cost us to remodel it. We were just planning on redoing the shower but as we got into it ALL the walls came down. Who uses plywood and not sheet rock?!?! Most likely Jere will have to move the drains, not fun. Alma is really a big help now that he is older. He deos all the "running" that we don't want to do. I will post more as we get into it

Another project we have in mind is tilling the front and back yard. Then laying a sprinkler system and grass seed. That will be lots of work.

And ANOTHER project is repainting the kitchen. Finishing the basement and painting it as well.

On top of all that we are planning on using the plywood from the bathroom to build a shed or a compost box.

Lots to do, we will see if we get it done.

A few of my (Alma's) favorite things

Saturday after dinner Alma had a busy night. First he painted, spray painted that is, his dragon sculpture. Then he came in the house and played the piano. Next he went to help Jere with a computer and finished the night off with helping bake cookies. He definitely is well rounded, maybe slightly right brained.

The finished project