Healthiest Life 4 Me

Today was our big day with the cardiologist.  Doctor wasn’t any friendlier, but the sonogram tech was great!  He was friendly and upbeat and made the process that much more relaxing for us.  It was so cool to see the heart doing what it does and how it works.  It was neat to hear it again…took me back to the days of hearing the kids heartbeats when I went to the OB and heard them in my tummy. 

After the doctor told us that all this was normal and that their didn’t seem to be a problem, we asked about why we were told something so scary to begin with from the pediatrician.  He got out both of my son’s EKGs and show us the “blurp” (his words) that the first EKG registered as a very large peak when it was supposed to be a small peak like on the second EKG.  Not that he was friendlier, but the time he took to explain and show us what we needed to know gave me so much peace.  And the fact that my son had a pain during the sonogram and told us about it made me feel even better.  We all left very relieved.  Although, I did say I still wanted the 24 hour monitor just to be safe.  After all we’ve been through, I want to be positive. 

My son was very excited when the doctor told him to play as hard as he could this weekend in his 2 basketball games and his 1 soccer game.  My son said, “so I can knock people over?”  The doctor didn’t respond…not surprised, but my husband, myself and the sonogram tech chuckled.    Then the sonogram tech gave my son a picture from the sonogram and he can’t wait to take it to school to share with his friends. 

So, now we wait for the insurance company to approve the take home monitor and go from there.  Until then, I think I may be able to sleep again! Or at least I hope it will!!

Thank you all for your prayers and positive thoughts…I can’t explain how comforting it was to have so many people praying for my son and our family!!  God Is GOOD!!

I am so impressed that I am being able to sort of keep up on my blog.  It has been a difficult few weeks and although I would like to mostly blog about nutrition and exercise, I like to use my blog for personal diary type stuff too.  It is a great way to relieve a bit of stress…

Anyhow…here is my Favorite/Not so Favorite for this week!

FAVORITE:

My favorite thing this week is ASPARAGUS!  I am really enjoying eating it.  It has been the highlight of my meals lately.  And did you know it is a natural diuretic?  Yes, that is right ladies…eat it for a bit of help with water loss.  A few days before a big event or a beach trip or pool party, have some asparagus and you’ll shed that bit of water weight.  Now remember, it’s just water weight, so try to steer clear of sodium at the same time and it’ll work even better!!

Not so Favorite:

My not so favorite thing this week is waiting between appointments for additional tests with the doctor to find out if something is wrong.  Especially when it is about your kids.  I wish there was an easier way.  I understand that we are really getting things done pretty quickly, but I just want answers and wish they could be faster!

That’s it for this week.  Stay tuned to see what I will like and dislike next week!!

Today was our big appointment with the pediatric cardiologist.  Last night was the worst night I’ve had in a long time and all day I’ve had an upset stomach.  As my son an I laid on the couch this morn before getting ready for the doctor, I held him close and prayed, “Please Lord, give us answers but please don’t make them bad!”  Haha…I was told a long time ago to be specific!  Never before have I been as scared as I have this week, and my body feels the stress.

When we arrived at the doctor’s office, there was another young boy there (6 years old) and I heard him say he was tired of doctors.  It made my heart ache.  Then it was our turn.  We didn’t have to wait long at all…very different for a doctor’s office, let alone a specialist.  That was good though, I didn’t think I could wait any longer. 

When the doctor came in, he was not as easy to talk to as I had hoped.  He didn’t seem all that interested in my son…in fact, I really felt like he thought I was over reacting.  The whole time I kept thinking…we’re going to need a second opinion if surgery is needed because this guy isn’t going to do it!  He asked a lot of questions…tried asking my son, but he is really quiet anyway and has been unusually quiet these past few days so I knew he wasn’t going to answer if he didn’t have to.  The doctor listened to his heart, took his blood pressure, and then did another EKG.  This time the EKG showed nothing according to the doctor.  So he isn’t too concerned.  When he said that all that ran through my head was, “wait a darn minute!  I have done a few science experiments in my days and you don’t just test twice and come up with different answers and then just pick which answer you like more.  If that were the case, then taking tests in school should have been so much easier, because it’s just about the outcome we like better not about the right answer.”  Then he continued…with his back to us I may add…that he is going to have to get approval for an echocardiogram (basically a sonogram of the heart while also being hooked up to the EKG machine…according to internet)  and walks out of the room.  He was back before we knew it and apparently he was checking something because he said we had approval for the echocardiogram because he told us we could schedule it for this Friday if we could and there was an available appointment.  Then he talks about a 24 hour heart monitor that we could do and that would need insurance approval…but then gives us some mumble about how the machine is $2500 and if a kid bumps him and it falls and breaks the insurance won’t cover it.  I said, “then we’ll keep him home that day.”  But HELLO…I still want it done.  My 9 year old is having chest pain daily at least 2 times and up to 9 times…so we talked about the machine some more.  My husband and I told him we were concerned because when we listen to his heart with our ears to his chest we hear something very different than when we listen to our daughters.  His doesn’t sound right…sometimes the beat changes a bit…speeds up or slows down…so the doctor says, “well we don’t have to do the monitor.”  Um HELLO AGAIN…we want to cover ALL bases…we explained that we’d like to do it and we’ll take care of the machine.  

The doctor ultimately isn’t concerned (just like the first time), but is running the extra tests to see what is going on for sure.  We’ll have more answers on Friday I hope and hopefully the monitor will come through by then. 

In the meantime, my son is thrilled that the doctor said he could resume activity.  When we got home he ran around the driveway around and around the cars, played on his skateboard and scooter, and threw the football around with daddy despite the rain starting to fall…we just let him for a bit after the week he’s had. 

So, I have a lot of questions but am waiting to see what the echocardiogram will say before jumping the gun.  

Thank you all for your prayers and please keep them coming.  God is Good and He DOES Heal.  I believe that, but need to be sure there isn’t something weird happening. 

FAVORITE:

This week my favorite thing is my kids!  After all the stress and worry about my daughter and her throat/ear problems the past few years, we finally got the tonsils and adnoids removed.  It was a rough few weeks, but so necessary.  Now we are dealing with my son and his chest pain/heart.  We have appointments coming next week to find out what is going on.  Until then….WE PRAY!  Through all this I know God is Good!  He gave us these two precious children and he will take care of them.  He’s already taken care of me by only giving me one hurdle at a time knowing that I couldn’t handle it all at once with school and work as well.  I praise God for my loving family and friends who also give me the strength and prayers to get through the bumps in life’s road!

Not So Favorite:

Well, as much as Southern California needs the rain…I HATE IT!  I wouldn’t mind it so much if we could have it spread out a bit more, but an entire week and wind, thunder and lightening as well…I AM NOT A FAN!!  I love my yard, but am totally willing to use rock or spray my dirt green in effort to save water.  So long as CA has enough water for me to shower, do dishes, etc…I am cool with having an ugly yard and having MORE SUNNY DAYS!  LOL 

Yes, I know you all from the other parts of the country and other countries think I sound like a baby…and I am COOL with that!  I live in Southern California, deal with earthquakes, gangs, heat, droughts, a bankrupt state with few jobs and high taxes, all so I don’t have to deal with weather! 

That is my latest installment of Favorite/Not so Favorite Friday!  Hope you enjoyed it!

Today I was able to call the pediatric cardiologist that we were referred to in order to make an appointment for my son.  The first available appointment they had was February 1st.  FEBRUARY 1ST!!! What?? This is my 9 year old and his doctor said his heart had a problem and he can’t play sports.  It sounds too serious to me and scares me to wait that long…I explained to the poor receptionist.  She assured me that the doctor would go over all of my son’s information and they would call me to get me in sooner if he thought it was necessary.  So, I went back to work and tried to keep my mind off of it.  Then my phone rang and about gave me a heart attack since the number was the same as the doctor’s I had just called.   I couldn’t answer because I was teaching, but they left me a message.  They said that the doctor reviewed my son’s information and he would be okay to wait until the 1st to be seen.  I guess that should be good news, but it sure left me unsettled. 

I appreciate all my prayer warriors, GOD IS GOOD!! And he answered my prayer…later this afternoon I got another phone call from the doctor’s office to tell me that they had two cancellations and that they could see my son Monday or Tuesday afternoon.  We took the Tuesday appointment since it’s an early day for the kids and my husband has a game on Monday.  What is one day when I get a week that I didn’t have earlier? 

So, we were told we still have to honor the pediatrician’s recommendations to abstain from athletic activities until we are cleared by the cardiologist.  Otherwise, he should be okay until his appointment on Tuesday. 

Please keep your prayers going.  GOD IS LISTENING and I know he has a plan for my son and our family.  I pray the plan is to see that all our faith can’t be in medicine and must be in him and there be NOTHING at all wrong.  A mom can pray ya know!  AND I PLAN ON DOING MORE OF IT!!  And I hope you will too!

So, it’s been a long week.  Almost 2 weeks ago my 9 year old son started complaining of a pain in his chest.  At first, I thought it was heartburn or indigestion…but when it happened every day for a week and multiple times a day, I got a bit worried.  He came to me one night as my husband and I sat on the couch and said “I was just playing a video game and it started to hurt.” His eyes were glossy and he was pointing to the left side of his chest.  I asked him to let me listen to his heart while it was happening.  After listening, to his heartbeat I made him go let his dad listen too. After we both listened he said he was feeling better and wanted to go back to video games.  After he left, we looked at each other and discussed that we must make a doctor’s appt as soon as possible because his heartbeat didn’t sound right to us.  First thing Monday morning I called and got right in to the doctor. 

First thing Monday morning came and the doctor got us in right away.  He’s a great guy and very knowledgeable, but he wanted to call this normal chest wall pain associated with growing.  I explained that I wasn’t comfortable with that because it’s been happening a few times a day and everyday.  I explained that it scared me to take chances with athletes dying on the fields all the time of unknown heart problems.  So in order to put my mind at ease he had us get a chest x-ray and an EKG.  We had to wait for a referral for the EKG, so since it was Martin Luther King Day we went to the movies with the kids and then had the x-ray done and went out to dinner.  When we got home there was a message that the referral was approved already.  With the fear of something being wrong with his heart, he cried right before getting the x-ray.  I think his nerves just got the best of him.  He did great though even though I couldn’t be in the room with him when they did the x-ray. 

I took Tuesday morning off and took my little guy to the hospital to have this scary test done.  He was so nervous.  I was pretty nervous too.  We had to sit and wait to be admitted for almost an hour, but we worked on his school work and that helped the time pass.  And kept both of our minds off of the test.  When we were finally called back, the tech that did the EKG was so nice to him.  She was friendly and positive and explained everything so he would understand what was happening.  She asked if we had any questions before we started.  She showed him the screen of his heartbeat.  He and I both have no idea what we were looking at.  It was a quick test…like maybe 4 to 5 minutes.  She let him help take all the clips for the machine off and then took all 10 of the stickies off of him.  She told him she was so proud of him for being so brave and told me the doctor would have the results within the hour. 

I took my brave guy to  lunch at Coco’s at his request.  He had his favorite Peek-a-Boo pancakes with a side of bacon and ate every last bite!! We went home and finished a bunch of his project on Native American Indians and then picked his sister up at school.  After they got started on their homework and reading, the phone call came. 

Boy, oh boy do I wish that the doctor’s gut was right and not mine.  The doctor started with the fact that the chest x-ray came back clear, but the EKG showed that there was something going on with his heart.  He called it AV DISSOCIATION and said that his heartbeat was starting in the wrong place.  He explained a bunch of other stuff too…but all I remember is that there is something wrong with my 9 year old’s heart.  He told me that it could take up to a week to get a referral approved by the insurance company to go see a pediatric cardiologist.  I prayed all night that it wouldn’t.  AND IT DIDN’T.  The call came as the doctor’s office was getting ready to close that it was approved.  Now tomorrow morning I get to make the appt.  I am saying my prayers that I can get an appointment really quickly.  I don’t know how much longer I can handle not knowing what is going on with my baby boy!

Please be praying for us…this could be a long haul ahead.

(this was posted on my fan page on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Healthiest-Life-4-Me/165329803010?ref=ts) 

Hello, all you Healthiest Life 4 Me fans! I was asked by Lisa to out this on her page when i told her some great news about the cleanse process that I’m doing. I started using the products a while back when seeing a post from a fellow "fan" and good friend of many years that she was really sick…A LOT. Lisa responded with mention of our mutual friend getting back on Symmetry. I ask what that was and the rest is history. Well, I am currently doing the cleanse process. I’m almost done with the first part, and was amazed at what I was experiencing. first you have to know that I have always had the "skin of a teenager". 37 years old and I’m still battling breakouts. I’ve tried cleansers, medications and bought into the "newest medical breakthrough for breakouts" on TV. Some worked VERY temporarily. Others, not at all. I started doing the cleanse for other reasons, like cleaning out my "insides". To my delight I got an added bonus….my skin looks so good! It’s so true that what you eat and what lingers in your body for years is and can be toxic. Where does that toxic mess make it’s appearance? Right there for all to see. The cleanse has been doing for my skin what no medication or wash could do. I highly….and I mean HIGHLY recommend people to the cleanse and follow the recommendation for water intake. Good golly it has made a super difference. If what was sitting inside my body was affecting my skin, what else is being ravaged by it on my inside? Thank you, Lisa, for your guidance and for turning me on to these products. Simply amazing stuff! Lots of love and health to everyone!!!!!
~Laura

It is a wonderful feeling to help someone become a healthier person, but to have bonuses like this is GREAT!!!  So excited to help out!!  Thanks for sharing Laura!

This is the CLEANSE BUNDLE that Laura is doing and speaking of.  She was on the PARACLEANSE cycle.  If you have questions or are interested in more information, please contact me at lisasurvillas@healhtiestlife4me.com

Here it is, 2 weeks in a row!  This is a short quick one because it’s been a long week and very busy!

FAVORITE

This week my favorite is getting stronger.  Each new week I am feeling stronger in a new body part.  This week it was back…135 lb lat pulls for the last set and was able to do 6 of them all on my own!  55 lb bent over rows for the first time…8 of them!  And the best feeling is when I look over at the 20ish year old guy next to me doing the same exercise with less weight!  HAHA!! I LOVE IT!!  And for all those women out there who think they are gonna get bulky if they lift heavy…you are WRONG!! 

Not so Favorite:

A personal not so favorite this week.  My least favorite thing this week is the feeling that I can’t get back on track with my diet.  I have had a week of cravings and giving in.  I am not happy with myself, but am going to refocus and start over tomorrow.  Need to try to hit two weeks of PERFECTION and NO CHEATING.  SO here goes the second try of the year!!

**Note: I had this set to post and it never did, so I reposted it on Saturday!

Many of us dread drinking enough water.  It is boring tasting and makes us have to pee too often.  But is that a bad thing???  Let’s see.

Water makes up more than 2/3 of our weight. 

Our brains are 95% water, our blood is 82%, and lungs 90%.

Dehydration can start to be recognized with as little as 2% deficiency in water intake.  Signs of dehydration: reduced alertness, reduced concentration, slower reaction times, tiredness, headaches, feelings of nausea. 

It is estimated that 75% of Americans have mild, chronic dehydration.  Sad for a country where water runs through faucets directly to our homes unlike many countries in the world.

According to the Mayoclinic.com, “Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.”

Our bodies do not work without water, just as a car cannot run without gas and oil.  Our cells and organs depend upon water for their functioning.  Water serves as a lubricant, forms the base for saliva, forms the fluid that surrounds joints, regulates the body temperature, helps eliminate waste and toxins, and regulates metabolism. 

The website www.freedrinkingwater.com claims that “drinking eight glasses of water daily can decrease the risk of colon cancer by 45%, bladder cancer by 50% and it can potentially even reduce the risk of breast cancer.”

The Institute of Medicine recommends that men drink 3 liters of water a day and that women need 2.2 liters a day.  For men that equals almost a gallon and women just a bit less.  BUT  if you are active and exercising…you need an additional 8 oz of water per 15 minutes of activity.

So, if water is so important to our daily functions, why are we not drinking enough?  It is difficult at first, however it is important to the WHOLE BODY to get enough water each day.

GET TO IT…START DRINKING YOUR WATER!!!

I know I failed miserably at this last year, but i am going to attempt it again this year. 

Favorite:

My favorite thing at the moment is…( insert drum roll)pa rum pa pum pum… (horns) duh da da duh!

I absolutely love playing this game on Facebook…it’s called Wordscrapper!  I have actually met some new people in my area by joining games.  I have enjoyed joining games with people from all over the country and just playing friendly, fun games..  Win or lose I just really enjoy manipulating my letters and words around, especially when I manage to get a small word with big points! =)   Check it out on facebook and feel free to send me a game…I’d love to play Wordscraper with you!

Not so Favorite:

As much as I encourage everyone to get in shape, become healthy and hit the  gym, my least favorite time of the year is the first 3 weeks of each year.  The gym is full of people who don’t know what they are doing, so they just lollygag around and get in the way, they clog up the cardio equipment doing 30 minutes with no resistance and barely move and space themselves out so it’s impossible to find 2 machines together to do cardio with your partner.  I know you all are thinking, “what a biatch!”  But be serious, you know all of you who have been using the gym regularly are thinking the same thing.  It is bad, I know.  But it is frustrating to not be able to do what I have been doing for years for three weeks at the beginning of every year because there are lots of new year’s resolutions ready to be broken!  Now, if these people would take it serious, learn and improve all while sticking with it, then I wouldn’t be so upset…but you know you are just going to falter after a few weeks.  And while saying all this, I have to admit…I do need to appreciate these people.  After all, their year long dues while not using the equipment does help in paying for the upkeep on equipment that my dues do not cover…since I pay a little and use A LOT!!  

And so far my New Year’s goals are in tack…

Catch ya next week…hopefully with more positive Favorite/Not so Favorite’s!