On February 15th i was sitting at my desk in my office at the church and suddenly got dizzy and my left arm went numb. I went home checked the Internet, called Debbie who had just arrived in Panama City Beach, Florida with her mother. I determined that I should go to the emergency room and get checked out. "Checked Out" is the understatement of the year. The did and EKG and told me (I already knew) that I have what's called a "left bundle branch blockage.") that they were going to admit me for observation and check on my enzymes because the LB BB will make an EKG with problems and make it look like nothing is wrong.

The admitted me and started taking blood. After 2 nights in the hospital they released me with plans for a heart cath. on the following Friday. I had the heart cath and the Doctor told me that my heart looked good. Only some narrowing in the veins in a couple of places. "Nothing that a proper diet and exercise can't control," he said. This was a major wake up call for me. I don't think it sunk in until they were wheeling me down the hall to the cath lab. I realized that I had just signed off on a piece of paper giving them permission to "open me up" if they found anything wrong. I determined that day - February 19, 2010 that this time I would do something about my weight and my health in general.

One of the sides that came from all of this is that they discovered through my blood work that my liver enzymes were off the charts. More blood work would be involved. Dr. Shaver tested me for an inherited blood disease called: hemachromotosis. Basically -- too much iron in the blood. It is a simple treatment to take care of it - just give blood once a quarter. After the blood work it was determined that I do not have it. If untreated it can cause cirrhosis of the liver.

After further examination of my blood work, Dr. Shaver has ordered another test to see if I have something called Wilson's disease -- too much copper in the blood. I have not had the test yet. I will have to urinate in a bottle for 24 hours. Now that sounds like fun.

I have been diligent in my diet and exercise since coming home from the hospital. I had to take 1 week off due to the incision they made for my heart cath. But other than that I have been faithful -- and God has been faithful too!

My current weight as of this morning at the gym is: 259. That's right -- I broke the 250's. That is a total of 15 pounds. So things are moving, but I still have not lost any weight this week. I am trying to stay encouraged because I am also lifting weights and I can tell that I am gaining muscle. I have taken my belt loop up by about 2 inches.

I was a little discouraged last week because I stayed the same. I will weigh again on Monday. I believe I can loose a couple more pounds by then.

Next post I will include another picture to compare. I hope I can really tell a difference.