Category Archives: Health & Medicine

Happy Cardiac Monitor Liberation Day!

Yesterday was the last day that I had to wear my cardiac monitor! And so, it was the perfect day for us to get about 7 inches of snow, which I had to shovel. After all, if all my shoveling is going to give me a heart attack, at least this way LifeWatch will notice and send an ambulance to my house, right? 🙂

My priest always affirms me in these kinds of things by making statements like, “Prudent.” I’m sure he never means that sarcastically. Ever.

And just look at the size of this driveway! It might give *healthy* people heart attacks!
A Shoveling Nightmare!
(I also like the snow blowing sideways in the shot.)

It was so worth it!

I only had to dust off the car this morning and getting onto the road was a breeze. Not having to wear a cardiac monitor — also very cool. As monitoring devices go, I suppose it’s better than most. However, as you might remember from when I first got it, I am allergic to both certain adhesives and nickel metal. So, after 21 days, I have blisters on my skin from the electrodes.

Goodbye, then, cardiac monitor. I won’t miss you that much! I’m not certain if the title of this post pertains more to my liberation from the device or its liberation from me, but either way, I think that separation is a good thing for both our sakes. 🙂

Bliss, Though Fleeting…

This morning was one of those rare mornings where I wake up feeling great. I had fallen asleep wearing my shoes, so I didn’t have much to do except change my clothes, fix my hair a bit and grab my phone. Then, I was out the door for a morning “run.”

I have to say these things in quotation marks because actual runners would laugh me out of the internet. 🙂 Basically, I can sprint for a yardfront or so. What is that? 100 feet? That’s about it. Then my body makes me quit. Neuromuscular disorders are no joke. But I tell my body to shut up, ignore it’s desperate cries for energy (and oxygen, as if that’s the problem), and my heart’s loud complaints that it’s too tired to take this kind of abuse. I end up walking for a bit, then trying the sprinting again. Over and over until I am dizzy, nauseated, exhausted, or I’ve reached the park. 🙂 Because at the park, I like to stop and swing on the swingset. 🙂

[I didn’t take this picture today, but this is the park I go to. It doesn’t look like I have a photo of the swing set.]
DSCN7271_2_3HDRI_Compressor

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was out although it was closer to 6:30 am than 7 am. After swinging for a couple songs, I headed back home and sat at the desk in the kitchen, catching up on the e-mails and Facebook posts from last night. I opened the kitchen windows and enjoyed the breeze while I considered what to do for the day.

I decided to go to the 8 am Mass, since I was feeling good at the moment. I was ready early and even brought my Bible and materials to take notes with. Even though most of my friends were not at that Mass, I enjoyed my time there — it was very peaceful and I was attentive enough to hear several things that the Lord was trying to tell me.

As a funny aside, during Mass I wrote the name of my new blog that I’m running for my friend, John: Letters from John. He’s taking 9 months to leave home and work with NET ministries in the evangelization of Catholic youth around the country. I thought that our priest would like to read about his adventures, and copied the information down onto a sticky note for him. After Mass, I waited to greet him. As he came up to me, the first thing he asked about was John and the blog. I interrupted his question by shoving the sticky note at him. He looked at me questioningly for a bit, and asked if John had told me to give him this information. I guess he had heard about the blog from a letter John had written him. Haha! NO! Apparently, the Holy Spirit was just at work! 🙂

I popped in to see what was being offered at the parish Used Book Sale and picked up a couple titles:
“Catholicism” by Richard McBrien
“Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire” by Joseph Langford
“Called to Holiness” by Ralph Martin
“Gift and Mystery” by Pope John Paul II

All of this for $9! I gave my last dollar to the donut fund and left the church. I did a little light shopping on the way home. By the time I had left the grocery store, it was about 10:30 am and I was starting to not feel very well. My time of feeling okay was coming to a close. I got home, managed to get all the fridge/freezer items put away (although right now, the rest of the groceries are still in bags on the kitchen floor), and had something quick for breakfast/lunch.

Oh yeah, and I picked up this waxing kit at the store, because I was curious. So, without ever having done this before, I waxed my eyebrows. And not too gracefully, either, I just dived in headfirst, so to say! LOL! It was okay, I guess, although I’m sure a professional would have done better. 🙂 Plus, it could have turned out horrible! I’m reckless and impulsive sometimes, what can I say. 🙂 You can’t take yourself that seriously….

I tried just laying on the couch watching TV, but ended up falling asleep. I had already reached my limit for being able to do things today. I didn’t wake up until about 6 pm.

Since then, I haven’t done too much. I made a phone call, checked the interwebs for interesting/important things, and managed to drag the lawnmower out of the garage to at least get the front yard mowed. After all, the grass had grown to about a foot long again and I’m sure the neighbors are not so thrilled about that. Now, I am exhausted again, although I have to get up the energy to run at least one load of laundry tonight or I won’t have anything to wear for work tomorrow morning. 🙂

So much going on this week:
Monday: Evening meeting
Tuesday: Hopefully a study day (originally scheduled for Monday)
Wednesday: Meeting at church at 5 pm, then play date at 6:30 pm
Thursday: Bible study

This is also the last week with the MiChart project. 😦 So, there’s a LOT of loose ends to tie up before we go.

Although I don’t feel great now, and I have a lot of work ahead of me this week, I am so completely grateful to God that He gave me this wonderful morning. Something that I can cling to with hope for the week ahead. 🙂 He gives me strength, and Thank God He does!

Run for Your Life!

My doctor is trying to kill me! Okay, he’s not really trying to kill me — just almost kill me. Under the notion that ‘whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.’ He guarantees that within 3 months, I will return to clinic saying, “You are the best doctor ever!” To which he will humbly reply, “What? You did all the work!” 🙂 LOL! He’s hilarious. I enjoy our meetings.

So, since (for insurance reasons — apparently I am in that in-between of sick, but not with the correct diagnoses; i.e. I need to actually have a heart attack first) PT, Pulmonary Rehab and Cardiac Rehab have all rejected me, he’s going to start me on my own training program.

Sounds simple, right?

Ha!

My exercise tolerance is about nil. Which is what he’s looking to strengthen.

He got all excited when he heard that I had an elliptical trainer in my house. This is to be the instrument of my torture. Little does he know that my house … doesn’t have central air. Someone, please, set up a collection for this! 🙂

IRONMAN Aeros Elliptical Trainer Features

Four times a week, starting at 5 minutes per day. Increase by 5 minutes every week until we get to 30 minutes a day, four times a week.

Easy, yes? Are you laughing at me yet? What a wimp!

But I’m game. Nothing like the present. Maybe I’ll have a good day, even though I was so exhausted after my appointment that by 3 pm I just drove home and immediately took a nap.

So, I put on my iPod and got a nice running song and started. Ah, “Rhythm is a Dancer” by Snap. Brings back memories of high school. 🙂

30 seconds in: Yep. This is not easy, when you have a neuromuscular disorder.

1 minute: Muscles are starting to burn. So glad that I took anatomy, since now I can name them. 🙂 The first one to go was the left rectus femoris. Then the gastrocnemius.

But I can work through the pain, right? I’m tougher than that. I used to roller blade for 4 hours straight on feet 90% covered in blisters. What’s this?

5 minutes: done! Yes! I had turned on the AC in the bedroom before I started, and am sitting right up against it, with cold air blowing on my neck. Ahh. Now, the question is, do I bother getting up and making dinner, or do I just go to bed for the night? 🙂