On my Second Rehab

 I finished the Ornish Cardiac Rehab (9 weeks) on Sept. 24, 2020. While the pandemic continues, we all wore masks except to eat the nice vegetarian lunches. I increased my abilities to walk and climb hills, and lost some weight. But the Ornish program talks about not jut recovering from heart disease, but reversing it.

So I learned not only to eat vegetarian and low fat dishes, but to prepare them, because my usual places to get food out weren't making these kinds of things. And I had to keep track of everything I ate. And I also took active part in a group counseling session, and a meditation/stress reduction session twice a week. I also did these at home on the days I didn't go to the rehab program.

My cholesterol number was halved. And I started losing weight. Not to mention, I don't get out of breath just doing simple tasks any more. 

And just finishing that program, I turned a corner and addressed my chronic lung difficulties. So now I'm in pulmonary rehab. It's more focused on endurance. We started with a test to see how far we could walk in 6 minutes. I dare say when I complete the program I'll have that test again. We also do some weight training, as well as recumbent stepping. I am up to 20 minutes on each of the walk and recumbents. So my walk is now over a half mile (0.7 last Friday.)

I have eaten a few things not on the Ornish diet. But each time I make sure to go back onto it strictly the next day. I'll be meeting my cohort friends this Tuesday to see how everyone has been doing in the 2 1/2 weeks since I last saw them.

And I'll finish the 8 weeks of pulmonary rehab in a few more weeks. Before then, I'll see my pulmonologist and have a breathing test this week also. So I hope the fact that my coughing has greatly reduced will show up as better health in my lungs. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, as I write this I'm doing a breathing treatment with a nebulizer. I haven't changed my treatments, nor did I stop any of the cardiac medications that I was put on following my May heart attack with a stent inserted on my heart. My cardiologist did see me already, and says I've increased my heart volume from 30% to 50%, which is low normal. (A heart doesn't pump out all the blood that's in it at one time. 60% is normal.)

Anyway, I've decided to spend some time focused on my ancestry again. So I'll start soon, and be submitting some new compilations here again. I'll start with my Rogers/Swasey ancestors of my father, George Rogers Jr.