Feeling good at last

It's been awhile since I posted because so much has been going on in m y life the past 5 months or so. I lost my youngest birth brother in June to bladder cancer. We're still processing that loss. I'm grieving the relationship I didn't get to develop with him because we didn't grow up together and our adult lives went in different directions.
In May I went back to work full-time and found that my responsibilities had change to include more heavy lifting than before (moving 50 lb. boxes of paper). Since I had no written restrictions, I was expected to do what everybody else could do.
I started cardiac rehab in one location not too long after going home from surgery. I switched to a different location near work when I went back to work. Rehab was great at both places.

Right before I went back to work, my husband received notice his contract (as a programmer for an insurance company in a neighboring state) was ending. We had a week together before I went back to work. He took over cooking and cleaning and such so I could just go to work and come home and rest. I couldn't have made it without that help.
Having to work so hard slowed my recovery from the surgery. My fatigue got worse instead of better. I becamse alarmed that I had overdone it and damaged my heart. I felt as bad in terms of fatigue as I had before surgery. Finally my GP ordered a thyroxine test. He held off at first assuming they had done one in the hospital. Sure enough, my thyroid levels were off so he prescribed a slightly larger dose. Within a short time, I felt normal energy again. What a relief.
I have fallen off the exercise wagon since my rehab ran out. I can't go to the gym before work, since I have to catch a bus at 6:15. I've been too tired to go immediately after work. I shouldn't exercise on right after eating (or on an empty stomach, because of my diabetes). By the time the right time comes around, I don't want to get out of the house, even in summer. I know it will be worse as winter comes. I did get a Nordic Track (free) from a friend, but it's still sitting in the garage until we get a place for it and set it up.
I've worked hard at educating myself about my dietary needs, especially with the Coumadin. My INR levels have not been consistent. I'm trying to eat a consistent amount of Vit. K, but it's not easy.
Now the latest challenge is my IBS. I've been pretty sure for a couple of years that I have it. Well, it has become an issue at work. The day I told my manager I had to have heart surgery soon, she told me there had been complaint about my passing gas. In the light of what I was facing, I didn't consider it a major issue. Now that I'm recovered from the surgery, the issue hasn't gone away. My GP just laughed and said with my medications and the healthy diet I need for my heart/diabetes/INR, it's unavoidable. I told my boss that, but the issue kept being brought up. The latest was that she had HR talk to me. Noone has come right out and said it, but the implication is that they might fire me for farting. So I got serious about looking into it. I talked to a friend with Crohn's, which is a similar issue and learned how important diet is. Then I got on the net and did more research. Unfortunately, what is healthy for my heart and diabetes is often opposed to what is good for my digestive system. So now I have to revise my diet again. At least some key things are restricted on all my diets, like red meat, high fat and dairy.