Monday, May 28, 2012

Praise for Prayers

Praise God for all your prayers these last few days!

 My mom went home from the hospital last night, and plans to jump right back into life with both feet. All of her tests came back "clean" except for her blood pressure. She hasn't had a history of high blood pressure before, but she's on medication for that now. Her heart rate is normally fairly low because at age 70 she's more athletic than most people I know (including me). She walks 2-3 miles a day, swims, lifts weights, and does extreme gardening.

Her heart was tested in all the ways that a heart can be tested by a medical team, and they came to the conclusion that although a heart rate between 38-45 is low even for her, her "normal" heart rate of 52-54 makes her lower heart rate less of an issue. Once upon a time, she weighed 225 pounds (height 5'3"), but she lost all that and trained for a half marathon about ten years ago, so her heart is "lean and trim" according to the docs.

Although she had some scary moments at the hospital with chest pains, extreme headaches, shortness of breath, and dizziness, she also made all the docs, nurses, technicians, and physical therapists smile and laugh. With her blood pressure down, she's back to her normal cheerful self and ready for action.

So why the chest pains? That's still somewhat of a mystery, but she does have mild emphysema from 20 years of smoking (she started as a teen and stopped at age 35). . .and that's the closest thing the docs seem to be able to find for a cause, along with her blood pressure.

So, again, thank you for all your prayers and kind words these last few days!



11 comments:

Karen Baldwin said...

Glad your mom is OK. She sounds like quite a woman. No to minimize her chest pain, but I have a hiatal hernia that can cause extreme pressure and pain in my chest, and then it will go away.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Praise God she's fine and attacking life again. (Extreme gardening?) Something to be said about remaining healthy for as long as we can.

Unknown said...

Oh what a relief for you! I'm so glad your mom's OK - she sounds a great person.

Precy Larkins said...

Oh! I'm so glad your mom is okay. *hugs*

Angie said...

I'm so glad to hear it! God truly answers our prayers.

Tara Tyler said...

glad to hear she's out of the woods and sunny again!

Tracy said...

Thank you God! glad to hear it Tyrean...

Tyrean Martinson said...

Em-musing - they checked out that idea too . . .still not really sure.

Alex - Extreme gardening includes moving large rocks, bushes, and small trees with hand tools, plus all the lawn mowing, composting, flower bed planting stuff.

Susan - Thanks! She is.

Cherie - Thanks! Hugs!

Angie - He does!

Tara - me too

Tracy - Amen.

Unknown said...

That must be a huge weight lifted. Glad to here your mom is home and doing well. God bless!

Ciara said...

I'm so happy she is home and doing well. My parents just stopped marathon running at age 65. They are still traveling, hiking, weight lifting, and playing golf. I hope to be that active in retirement.

Brinda said...

I'm glad to hear she is doing well. I laughed at the description of her doing "extreme gardening" and being more active than you. She sounds like my parents!