Friday, February 23, 2007

Hearts on Lent; or, What I had for lunch








I had an Amy's Black Bean Burrito.


Total Fat: 8g
Saturated: 1g
Trans: 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 580mg
Carbohydrate 44g
Fiber 4g
Sugars 4g
Protein 9g
Vitamin A 10%DV
Calcium 8%
Vitamin C 40%
Iron 20%
Years ago I'd eat a peanut butter and honey sandwich for lunch. I'd often make them for myself but just as often I'd be late for work and would rush out the door with nothing. My girlfriend at the time left our apartment later than I did so I'd call her and beg her to bring me something. Eventually she got tired of being treated like a mother. The day when she showed up at work , brown paper bag in hand, and told me off is very fresh in my mind. I'd felt like an asshole before, and I've felt like one since but that dressing down has really stuck with me.

This started a long period where I ate a bag of chips or a chocolate bar to tide me over until I got off work. When I changed locations I used to run down the street to McDonald's or A&W and get a burger and fries, but often I just wouldn't eat anything.

Slowly I began to change my habits. I found that not eating during the day was wiping me out to the point that dinner didn't revive me. I began to buy frozen dinners to eat at work. Then I met the LUC.

I never ate a lot of meat, I certainly never ate it at home as I have no idea how to cook it. The LUC is a vegetarian and I gave up meat without any real regret. My frozen lunches became veggie and that was that.

A month ago I went for a full physical. The coming baby provoked an unusually adult response in me and I figured it was time to get myself a GP and have a once over. I told my new doctor my whole medical history, depression, and colitis, and heart arrhythmia...OH MY! I gave her my family history: alcoholism, diabetes, and my father's fatal heart attack at a very young age.

She poked, prodded and listened. I was sent for blood tests and an ECG (Electro Cardio Gram). The blood results didn't surprise me, "My cholesterol is a little high? Well, I coulda told you that!" You see, despite my veggie status I still ate a lot of chocolate bars and cheese. Ah cheese! I don't have the writing skills to describe how much I love a good sharp Cheddar.

What did surprise me was the abnormality she found on the ECG. It appeared that I had Left Ventricle Hypertrophy, a thickening of the wall of my heart. This is usually caused by high blood pressure, but also can be caused by athleticism or be congenital. It can be serious and is an indicator of an increased risk of a sudden fatal heart attack.

I went of an ultrasound of my heart. I'd done enough reading to know that what I saw on the monitor wasn't a worst case scenario, but even to my untrained eye my left ventricle's wall was much thicker than the others.

It turns out that I have mitral valve prolapse, which is a fancy way of saying that one of the valves in my heart doesn't close properly. This isn't a big deal apparently, they estimate that up to 18% of young women have this problem. But it appears that this is causing the wall of my heart to thicken, basically my left ventricle is working too hard because it also has to pressurize the atrium. If this isn't fixed it could continue to grow until there's no space left to pump the blood. Mind you, this my interpretation of what's going on, I could be talking out my ass.

Now I wait for an appointment with cardiologist. I do very poorly in an absence of information and I'm struggling not to worry. I'm pretending this is training for having a teenager. Eventually your kid goes off on their own more and more and you have to simply hope they're ok. A situation that's not good for a worrier like me. Especially one with a bum heart.

I'm going to have an Amy's Black Bean Burrito for lunch again today.

Total Fat: 8g
Saturated: 1g
Trans: 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 580mg
Carbohydrate 44g
Fiber 4g
Sugars 4g
Protein 9g
Vitamin A 10%DV
Calcium 8%
Vitamin C 40%
Iron 20%

Pretty healthy for pre-packaged food. No cholesterol, which I have to be much more careful of and low in saturated fats, also very heart healthy. But that sodium is a little high and I also have to be very careful of my blood pressure. I've lost 2kg in the last couple of weeks, just by stopping the unhealthy snacks. As the LUC's aero-belly grows mine is shrinking. I find this hilarious, but her? Not so much.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to eat something else and with all due respect to Maggie Mason there are at least 3 people who care very much about what I had for lunch: the LUC, my Doctor and my Mother.

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