New Numbers Under Duress (sort of)

So, what does cholesterol do under the pressure of heart surgery and heart surgery recovery? Well, mine goes way down (for me), apparently, with a dangerously low HDL (as you can see below). 

These were not fasting labs, and every time they take my blood in the afternoon, my triglicerides end up being higher than usual. 

My appetite has been bad since the surgery - some days all I can muster is toast and grits for all of the meals (don’t worry, it’s all vegan and low fat).

But I have squeezed in some “bad” (for me) meals since the surgery, like Boost (I usually hate shakes), yogurt, cream cheese and bagels, and turkey, just to get some protein in me, as my red blood cells are low, still. These are mostly meals I ate in the hospital. I still eat some turkey at home, as it’s one of the few meats I am not as intolerant to as all others.

I wish I can tell you that the drop in the numbers is the result of some magic diet, or medicine regimen that I am proud of, but I think it’s just a drop because of everything else happening in my body, medicine, stress, and all.

I am just puzzled about my HDL. If I can know the magic food to take to make it at least at the low limit again. Oy. It’s always something.

When I am further up into my heart surgery recovery, my cardiologist will start (my budget affording!) the regimen with the PCSK9 drug (not sure which one yet). That would be the next step in my FH therapy. For now, we’re just focusing on recovery and getting stronger, and making sure the repairs in my heart actually really work well.

I am taking all the meds I used to take prior to the surgery, including the aspirin (people on coumadin usually stop aspirin). The only difference is that my cardiologist moved the dose of aspirin from 325 mg to 81.

The one thing I did add was the supersized dose of Vitamin D because of my “dangerous deficiency” - not sure if that could affect HDL in such a fashion, though.

We’ll keep on ... moving on. No other choice, of course.