Make a choice to make a change... Click here to get started!
  • Recipes
  • Events
  • Contact

Hatch Health & Happiness

Certified Holistic Health & Wellness Coaching

  • Home
  • About
    • Why Hatch?
    • My Education
    • Client Testimonials
  • Services
    • Stress Reduction
    • Digestive Disorders
    • Autoimmune and Other Chronic Diseases
    • Changing Unhealthy Eating Habits
  • Health Coaching
    • Who Can Benefit?
    • Hatch Health Approach
  • Blogs
    • Recipes
    • Health and Wellness
    • Food
    • Restarting My Hard Drive
    • Product Reviews

A New Bundle of Joy!

November 17, 2014 Lydia Buschenfeldt

Friends!

 

We have a new mem­ber of the family!

 

She is just a wee lit­tle thing, and in no time at all she has com­plete­ly cap­tured my heart!

 

Intro­duc­ing, Pene­lope the Pacemaker.

 

Oh, bliss!

 

We named her Penelope…

 

because…

 

well…

 

um…

 

Hel­lo? Allit­er­a­tion? There is no greater lit­er­ary device?

 

Duh.

 

[What? You DON’T spend time googling “names that begin with a p” while YOU are recov­er­ing from surgery? Dude, you are miss­ing out.]

 

Like many new arrivals, Pene­lope made a grand, and some­what off-script, entrance. The plan was to sim­ply slip her under my chest muscle.

 

(Yes, the word “sim­ply” does­n’t often go with “under my chest mus­cle” but work with me here.)

 

Instead of slip­ping into place, the med­ical team end­ed up hav­ing to slice and sep­a­rate my chest mus­cle for place­ment. The good news is that they thought­ful­ly gave me some med­i­cine for the pain…that I end­ed up being aller­gic to said med­i­cine is nei­ther here nor there…it’s all about the inten­tion, yes?

 

The even BETTER news is that this has all been so much fun that I signed up to do it every 10 years!

 

You know what they say about bun­dles of joy — you nev­er remem­ber the pain!

 

After dear lit­tle Pene­lope made her grand arrival, we spent some time in the hos­pi­tal so I could intro­duce her to every­one. Also so I could low­er the aver­age age on the pro­gres­sive care unit by a good 40+ years.

 

In fact, when I called the car­di­ol­o­gist a few days after surgery, I fol­lowed direc­tions and gave them my birth­date and name for iden­ti­fi­ca­tion. When I asked if the very kind woman need­ed me to spell my last name, she was espe­cial­ly thought­ful to remind me that “no dear, you are the only one in the sys­tem born in 1983.”

 

Stu­pen­dous.

 

In oth­er news, I’m pulling for a remake of the Jet­sons. Ooooo per­haps a musi­cal remake with jazz hands and tap shoes?!?! Clear­ly I would star as Rosie the Robot.

 

 

(On sec­ond thought, the tap shoes could prove problematic…)

 

The day after Pene­lope was intro­duced to the world, the Biotron­ik rep­re­sen­ta­tive came to my room to check her out. The man kind­ly chat­ted with me as he was press­ing but­tons on a computer.

 

And then my heart start­ed to have a dance party.

 

PEOPLE.

The man con­trolled my heart by punch­ing but­tons into a com­put­er, all while stand­ing 10 feet away.

AND, get this!

After my first device check in 4–6 weeks, Pene­lope can have her check-ups via TELEPHONE.

I hold up my phone to my heart, and her stats are trans­mit­ted via phone.

 

I. Am. Rosie.

 

Pene­lope is not a fan of any source of extra voltage…so I’m going to have to final­ly put a stop to my habit of spend­ing so much time with the igni­tion of my car, and oper­at­ing pow­er tools.

 

Always did have a soft spot for the miter saw.

 

I did a bit of mul­ti-task­ing dur­ing my day at the hos­pi­tal spa, and also had a catheter abla­tion. This pro­ce­dure used cryo­gen­ics to freeze a por­tion of the wiring around my heart, and treat AV Nodal Re-Entrant Tachy­car­dia. I’ve had some fun­ny heart rhythm dance par­ties in recov­ery, but not all robots adjust overnight, and let’s be hon­est — Pene­lope is cause for hearty applause, yes?

 

It also appears that the med­ical world got a lit­tle bit ner­vous that they would­n’t get to see Pene­lope and me on a reg­u­lar basis (gosh, it’s always about her!)…so to reas­sure them, my feed­ing tube stoma decid­ed to burst open two days after my surgery.

 

Rest assured, this hap­pens in 2% of patients.

 

Some peo­ple recov­er from heart surgery by lying on the couch and read­ing magazines…I like to add in fun things like esopha­grams, fis­tu­la­grams, and a vis­it to the friend­ly neigh­bor­hood surgeon.

 

(And yes, my dreams have been dashed to dis­cov­er that nei­ther the esopha­gram, nor the fis­tu­la­gram, include any­thing sim­i­lar to the open­ing of a musi­cal greet­ing card. They don’t even include glit­ter. This med­ical world is a SHAM.)

 

I know it’s Novem­ber, and the start of a busy hol­i­day sea­son (I saw San­ta the oth­er day. It was Novem­ber 6th?) but if you had a spare moment or two to think some good, qual­i­ty “no surgery” thoughts, Pene­lope and I would be most appreciative.

 

But per­haps more impor­tant­ly, friends, we have a big­ger and more dif­fi­cult assignment.

 

T‑minus ten years to think of a new P name!

 

Blog

Sign up for my newsletter!

Join my email list and receive 3 free delicious and nutritious recipes!
* indicates required
Email Format

Contact Lydia

Based in Fairfax, Virginia, Hatch Health and Happiness offers full-service face-to-face health coaching in Northern Virginia and virtually around the globe!
lydia@hatchhealthhappiness.com
610-220-7036

Newsletter

Join my email list and receive 3 free delicious and nutritious recipes!
* indicates required
Email Format

Please check your spam folder for a confirmation email

Healthy Living — Great Recipes and Ideas!

Trail Mix

Bulk Bin Trail Mix

September 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Sure, it’s tempt­ing­ly easy to grab a bag of pre-made trail mix –col­or­ful, effort­less, and with such fun names to boot! But have you ever stopped to glance at the nutri­tion facts of that bag of seem­ing­ly healthy options? More specif­i­cal­ly, check out the sug­ar con­tent. Some com­mer­cial brands of trail mix have as much sug­ar as a 16 oz bot­tle of soda! The main cul­prit is sweet­ened dried fruit, and some brands add can­dy as well. If that deli­cious mouth­ful of sweet and salty is your taste­buds’ desire, don’t despair. There are plen­ty of ways to make a deli­cious AND nutri­tious trail mix, all with ingre­di­ents from your gro­cery store bulk bin! [Read More…]

Product Reviews — NEW!

Purely Elizabeth Superfood Oat Cups with Granola Topping — Cranberry Pumpkin Seed

More Great Recipes and Ideas!

Meal Planning

Meal Planning

July 31, 2018 Leave a Comment

One of the trick­i­est parts of most people’s healthy rou­tines is the meal plan­ning com­po­nent. Luck­i­ly for you, we have that cov­ered with the lat­est install­ment in our Hatch Video series! More…

Bloat Buster Smoothie

Bloat Buster Smoothie

June 4, 2018 Leave a Comment

Now that we are head­ing into the warmer months of the year, you may find your­self want­i­ng to spend less time in front of the hot stove top or oven. For­tu­nate­ly, smooth­ies are a great way to pack a lot of nutri­tion in one place. Check out the video below for one of my favorite smooth­ies — the bloat buster!

Pan roasted plantains

Pan-Roasted Plantains

May 1, 2018 Leave a Comment

Pan roasted plantains with mashed avocadoDespite the fact that plan­tains close­ly resem­ble a banana, they have a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent fla­vor and are def­i­nite­ly not to be con­sumed raw (you’ll only make that mis­take once!). Plan­tains are actu­al­ly a veg­etable, chock full of fiber, cal­ci­um and vit­a­min C. Pan-roast­ing the plan­tains allows them to caramelize, keep­ing the out­side a lit­tle bit crispy and the inside nice and soft. Cin­na­mon, gin­ger and turmer­ic add a tri­fec­ta of anti-inflam­ma­to­ry good­ness and a lit­tle sprin­kle of sea salt makes these plan­tains absolute­ly irre­sistible. Enjoy as is, or my favorite way –- with mashed avo­ca­do! More…

Energy bites

Energy Balls

April 2, 2018 Leave a Comment

Gluten, Grain, Dairy, Soy-Free and Vegan

Seeds need ener­gy in order to grow, and cul­ti­vat­ing your own healthy habits can take a lot of ener­gy too! Ener­gy bars and ener­gy balls are every­where we look these days. They are super easy to whip up your­self, but many peo­ple are intim­i­dat­ed by the thought. More…

More Great Recipes!

About Lydia and Hatch Health

Lydia Buschenfeldt

I was a happy, healthy, newlywed 4th grade teacher when a random virus paralyzed my GI system, along with parts of my … More...

Follow me!

Client Testimonials

Rainbow

See what Lydia’s clients have to say…

I’d say Lydia Buschen­feldt has changed my life, but that would­n’t be exact­ly true. What she does is even more pow­er­ful. Any­one can tell some­one else what changes they ‘need’ to make to live a health­i­er life. It takes some­one spe­cial to enable and empow­er you to change your own life. Lydia is that some­one spe­cial. Dur­ing every ses­sion, at every twist and turn and bump in the road, Lydia meets me where I am with an incred­i­ble amount of knowl­edge and patience, and helps me iden­ti­fy one or two steps for­ward to accom­plish the goals I have for myself. She knows that each jour­ney is dif­fer­ent, and cus­tomizes our ses­sions so our dis­cus­sions are tai­lored toward what I need in that moment to help me build the health, future and hap­pi­ness that I deserve.
— L.S.
Man­as­sas, VA More…

healthy choices

quoteYou simply have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going. Put blinders on and plow right ahead. — George Lucas

Topics

Acceptance anti-inflammatory properties antioxidants apple cider vinegar aromatherapy conventional vs organic Dairy free egg free electrolytes exercise farmers' markets food allergies gluten free grain free gratitude health benefits of dog companionship healthy dietary fats healthy dog treats healthy pets healthy snacks hydrating recipes managing stress and anxiety natural remedies Natural sugar nut free peanut free pesticide-free probiotics refined sugar free Self Worth soy free vegan vegetarian
Juice Plus

Follow me on Social Media

Search

Contact Lydia

Based in Fair­fax, Vir­ginia, Hatch Health and Hap­pi­ness offers full-ser­vice face-to-face health coach­ing in North­ern Vir­ginia and vir­tu­al­ly around the globe!
lydia@hatchhealthhappiness.com
610−220−7036

© Copyright 2015-23 · HatchHealthHappiness.com · All Rights Reserved ·