Training with Flies

ounce wrote:

You're the one that needs to behave...

I am, uh, shocked and/or appalled that I need to behave!

We all need to try to behave...key word being try. 

It's been nice to see that you're still getting in some walking as you wait for your meeting with the cardiologist.  That will make resuming activity a bit quicker I would think.  Hope the lifting is going well as I know you enjoy it and it's a priority for you.

Take care.

Monday was the pre-op visit. The nurse giving me the places to initial my life away was trying to convince me to initial having the groggy method of sedation. I declined. "But if you're not still, then the doctor might nick an artery! I've only been here 2 years, but I've never heard anyone not taking sedation." "Well," I said, "I didn't take sedation on the first one and it wasn't so bad. Therefore, I won't for this one." Doug - 1, nurse - 0.

Yesterday, as advertised, was my visit to the cath lab. I walked to the hospital the about 4 miles and arrived 5 minutes later than I wanted, but 5 minutes earlier than my show up time. I walked because they wouldn't let me drive myself home after the procedure. So, I arranged for someone to take me home. Walking there avoided me leaving my car at the hospital to have to fetch later. The walk caused a little more concern because there was an actual time that I had to arrive. So, I had to stop and let my HR to lower, in order for me to continue. After all, I didn't want to arrive in the hospital in an ambulance.

The story of WALKING with a heart blockage to the hospital was well received with shock 'n awe, even by my cardiologist. The 9th floor of the hospital was the vascular and cardiac floor (strokes and hearts). Six people, evidently, were told to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. I was the youngest.

I was taken back to my pre-op room, quizzed on who I was, my date of birth, and why was I here. The IV was placed. The staff was absolutely fine with no sedation. I was ready for my 7:30 date with the cath lab. However, the doctor arrived late around 8:00. I made my second and final trip to the bathroom with a nurse keeping my fanny from getting any air.

8:15 and I was in the cath lab where about 4 staff were prepping me for the event. I saw that big 65" or so monitor that I remember from the 2019 heart attack. I was shaved in the groin area and my lower forearm so the doc could pick which location to stab. His desire (and choice) was the underside of my right wrist. They used an ultrasound to find the right artery to stab. He evidently missed on the first attempt, but nailed it on the second. He said the anatomy of my arteries and veins was not the normal locations. He applied the local anesthetic and started inserting the wire in the hole and up my forearm. That was a very, very weird sensation. It didn't hurt, but was weird enough that I had to put my mind in another location until the sensation stopped. Which it did about 3 finger widths from the forearm's end. After that, everything was transparent to the patient.

I could see arteries on the big screen, but it didn't mean anything to me. Around 8:40, he stopped. He wanted to see the pictures from the 2019 stent in the left circumflex to compare them to what he was seeing today. As one of the techs said afterwards, the cardiologists do hundreds of stents a year, but the techs see thousands of stents a year. So, they are pretty durn experienced in what they've seen.

The doc came over to me to have me describe how the pain happens when I walk. I told him my HR at the different miles that I walk. He said thanks and went back to the pictures. I was not seeing the pictures, nor the huddle they were doing.

About 9:10, he came over and said the stent he would like to place is really small and he'd have to manipulate the small artery to be able to place the stent. It might be tricky. Then he asked, 'what are you hoping to accomplish if I place this stent?" In 200 words, I said that I still want to run again. He said, okay, that's good.

Five minutes later, he began to place the stent and was successful. He said afterwards that the major arteries in the heart are just fine. But the blockage was in a branch off the LAD (widowmaker) that was small. He said my heart was able to do a workaround from the blockage, which is why I've been able to walk with manageable pain. Had the workaround not occurred, I would've had a flat out heart attack. Thanks, God!

I saw a before and after photos of the work done and, yes, it was blocked, but is flowing now.

He put this clear, 1-1/2" 'bracelet' over the hole in the wrist and pumped it up with air to be the pressure to close the hole. I was wheeled to Recovery around 10:00 or so.

While still in the cath lab, I asked the doc when I could walk - "ASAP." I asked when I could lift weights - "1 week."

11:15 was the first time that air could be removed from the bracelet. No leakage of blood occurred. The next check was at 11:30. I passed. I was discharged and home at 12:40.

This morning, I went up to Memorial Park to do 3 miles with walking and, if the heart is agreeable, a couple of 1/2 mile run splits.

Before the stent, it would take me a mile at less than 80 bpm for the heart to not whine. Today, I walked around a 1/4 mile and my HR was 86 with no pain. I walked a mile and a half and my HR was at 100 with no pain. Prior, I would be hopeful to achieve a 90-92 bpm in the 3rd or 4th mile.

So, I hit the lap button on the watch and ran a half mile. 125 bpm and no pain. 15:30 pace or so. I walked the next half mile. Then, I ran the final half mile. I increased the gnome to about 157 spm (160-162 was my training cadence). My HR went through the 130s and I ran about the last 1/4 mile at a 140 bpm with no pain. The stent is doing its job!

Tomorrow, I'll walk 3 or 4 miles, if it's not raining. I will do a week or two of my 3 mile walk/runs in half mile increments at Memorial Park to make sure this morning was not a fluke.

Thanks for reading this and the prior post. Back in the saddle. I'll try to post a photo of the clear bracelet.

It rained.
Let's see if the photo uploads.

Good, it loaded.

Those two red circles under the bracelet are the holes the doc did. He must've missed with the lower hole because a day later, the lower hole was halfway healed while the top hole not that far along.

The green port below my wrist is the access port to increase and decrease the air in the bracelet. The syringe was about the girth of a 25 cc syringe without the needle.

Looking to lift on Tuesday (the 1 week time period) and hopefully running on Wednesday.

Any questions?

ounce wrote:It rained.
Let's see if the photo uploads.

ounce wrote:Good, it loaded.

Those two red circles under the bracelet are the holes the doc did.  He must've missed with the lower hole because a day later, the lower hole was halfway healed while the top hole not that far along.

The green port below my wrist is the access port to increase and decrease the air in the bracelet.  The syringe was about the girth of a 25 cc syringe without the needle.

Looking to lift on Tuesday (the 1 week time period) and hopefully running on Wednesday.  

Any questions?

Interesting.  I kind of wish I had been awake enough to know what they did to me.

I'm amazed you were allowed to walk...and run the next day...and you only had to hold off resuming lifting for a week.  Obviously my situation was different because they went into my groin but I couldn't even get up to pee for most of the day.  And then they did the same procedure again on Wednesday so I was stuck back in bed again.  I wasn't able to shower until late Thursday...remember I ran a marathon on Monday.  Phew! And I wasn't allowed to lift anything at all for a full week...not even my small carryon bag.  Katie had to carry everything for me for the flight back to Portland and then gave the flight crew strict instructions not to let me carry anything on/off the plane for my flight back to Central Oregon.  It was embarrassing as I looked fine.

Sounds like the procedure went very well and the recovery is also going well.

Rest up this weekend and enjoy getting back to the gym on Tuesday  :ride:and back on the road on Wednesday

He didn't actually say I could run the next day, but with the quickness and shortness of his "ASAP" answer for walking kinda led me to think he wouldn't be mad. Back in August 2019, when my marathon training was put on hold, he said that I could walk after a week and not to run until after a stress test that was 6 weeks later, which was October. I've been regularly seeing him for the past 4-1/2 years plus a wonderful stress test result in July 2021. So, we have history.

Wednesday, I sent the cardiologist the following note:
Dr. Awar,
This morning, I walked and was up to 86 bpm within a quarter mile with no whining. By 1.5 miles, 100 with no whining.

I then ran a half mile at 125 bpm avg with no whining at a 15:10 per mile pace.

I finished up the 3 miles with the final half mile run at 140 bpm avg with no whining at a 13:16 per mile pace. 12-13:30 minute mile is my usual pace. Thanks for yesterday's overhaul!

He replied on Friday:
Glad to hear! Thanks for update.

ounce wrote:He didn't actually say I could run the next day, but with the quickness and shortness of his "ASAP" answer for walking kinda led me to think he wouldn't be mad.  Back in August 2019, when my marathon training was put on hold, he said that I could walk after a week and not to run until after a stress test that was 6 weeks later, which was October.  I've been regularly seeing him for the past 4-1/2 years plus a wonderful stress test result in July 2021.  So, we have history.

Wednesday, I sent the cardiologist the following note:
Dr. Awar,
This morning, I walked and was up to 86 bpm within a quarter mile with no whining. By 1.5 miles, 100 with no whining.

I then ran a half mile at 125 bpm avg with no whining at a 15:10 per mile pace.

I finished up the 3 miles with the final half mile run at 140 bpm avg with no whining at a 13:16 per mile pace. 12-13:30 minute mile is my usual pace. Thanks for yesterday's overhaul!

He replied on Friday:
Glad to hear! Thanks for update.

Why am I not surprised that you pushed just a little harder/farther than he actually said.   

Have fun at the gym when you're able to get back there...

Wow, thankful you got the stent and didn't have a heart attack! That's great you're back at running already. Gotta take care of our hearts.

Julie wrote:Wow, thankful you got the stent and didn't have a heart attack! That's great you're back at running already. Gotta take care of our hearts.

Howdy, Julie. Yes, it was pretty timely. I get to thinking that being active in the running and 'determined' walking arena gives me advance warning for when the heart is fixing to cause a problem. It would have taken something like that Shoulders workout that is a higher intensity than my usual lifting pace on a Monday or Friday to possibly alert me to a problem.

-30-

Last week, I did the walk/run of 3 miles at Memorial Park. On Friday, I ran 3 miles non-stop at a cadence of 152, which is a little lower than the 158 or so I ran in January. But I was tickled to death that I was able to hold that cadence for the entire run. Coming up on the 1.5 mile marker, the cadence was becoming a bit non-automatic and I had to concentrate to hold that 152. Once I got past mile 2, knowing that I was closer to finishing with each step, made the last mile a breeze. It was 3.17 miles at a 14:32 pace, an avg HR of 132, and avg cadence of 152. In fact, all 3 splits were at a 152 cadence. It was 65 degrees, becoming one of the last sub-70 degree mornings for 6 or 7 months.

This morning, I lifted and found out that the past couple of weeks of not lifting is becoming quantifiable. June is going to be a non-training month for anything. So, I ordered a set of Therabands in order to do at least something. And that ligament on the back of my right knee is becoming irritated again, which seemed to respond to the Therabands I used during PT.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I will go up to Memorial Park and run 3 miles again. It'll be warmer, so I need to increase the cadence in order to be able to train at the 'race' cadence or higher.

That's about it. Thanks for stopping by.

This morning, it was 75 degrees with a breeze. At a couple of points, it was a 30 mph gust. Radar would suggest that it might rain on me. It was a shower more than a rain on the final mile.

But I did complete 3 miles, today. Oddly enough, the Garmin reported a 46:52/14:24 pace and Strava reported 44:07/13:34 pace. Strava thought my first mile split was 12:38. Not a chance.

I didn't feel as fluid as I did last Friday. I was able to maintain the 152 cadence (Friday's, too), but it was a struggle. Or seemed that way. I never stopped during the warm and breezy darkness. I fully expected to have to stop at some point because it was 10 degrees warmer than Friday (looks like Thursday will be cool. Like in the 50s cool).

But I stuck it out and finished. I ran 1 loop of 3 miles, yet the Garmin recorded 3.25. So, my pace was REALLY 15:37 on a 3 mile loop. Friday's time was 45:50 for 3.14 miles. So, 1 minute slower than Friday and all due to it being 10 degrees warmer, plus not being able to run the tangents on either day. Might have to run the loop clockwise to see the difference.

3.25 miles, 46:52, 14:24 pace, 129 avg bpm, 152 avg cadence.
1. 14:03, 124 bpm, 152 spm
2. 14:17, 129 bpm, 152 spm
3. 14:51, 131 bpm, 152 spm

HR was reduced a bit (-3) for the same loop.

I go to the cardiologist tomorrow afternoon. I'll drive, not walk. Might rain. Next week, I have a couple of family things to do late in the week. So, I won't be able to do a lot of running, but probably twice.

Thanks for reading.

I am back from the cardiologist. He was pleased that I was running without pain.

About the stent, he said it was placed on one of the Diagonals that branches off the Left Anterior Descending (widow maker) artery. There are 3 diagonals noted as D1, D2, D3 in the internet. He said 2 of the 3 were under-developed and the 3rd one was bigger than a usual Diagonal. One of those fetal development things. While it was bigger, it still is small and almost too small to stent. He said it's more liable to close again because of its size.

Had I not been as active on running as I am, he said that I probably would never have known about the blockage. Furthermore, I will more than likely know ahead of time when another artery is performing less than optimally because I am so active running and lifting.

Nancy, I remember you also have electrical issues, but mechanically, you're probably in the same boat as I am on a blockage.

He brought up Cardiac Rehab and did I want to do it? I asked, "since I'm so active and run, do I need to do it?"
He said, "Nah, you're further along than people recovering from a stent, so you'd probably be bored."

Going back in 6 months and he doubled the statin dosage from 10 to 20, when I told him the LDL was 130 before the stent and I was on 10 mg.

Thanks for perusing.

This morning, it was 61 degrees and a dew point in the low 50s. Quite nice. Yesterday, I got to thinking about running a little farther and running the 3 mile loop at Memorial Park clockwise, instead of my usual counter-clockwise. "What's the difference?" you might ask. The 3 mile loop is a measured distance. Running it counter-clockwise, it has measured on my Garmin at 3.17-3.25 or so miles because there are more left turning curves than right turning. So, I decided to run it clockwise, just to see what the watch measures.

And I would try to run 5 miles. The first time for that distance since finding out my right medial meniscus was gone back in October. To be able to run 5, I had to run 2 miles on one leg, then the 3 mile loop. 152 cadence.

5.06 miles, 1:17:40, 15:21 pace, 127 avg bpm, 152 avg cadence
1. 15:04, 116 bpm, 152 spm
2. 15:36, 124 bpm, 151 spm
3. 15:58, 127 bpm, 151 spm
4. 15:20, 130 bpm, 152 spm
5. 14:54, 136 bpm, 152 spm

I ran the first 2 miles exactly at 2 miles on the watch, so the 3 mile loop clockwise would have a zero (more specifically 2.00 miles) at the start of the loop. I ran it as tangently as people running the other direction. Fortunately for the measurement, I was able to run the curviest part of the loop just about perfect. 3.06 miles.

As far as my running it, I was pleased overall. 5 miles. I'm just supposed to run 3-4 miles, 2-3 times a week. I could've ran 6, maybe even 7, because my cadence was pretty durn consistent. My HR average is back in the 120s again. Freddy is getting acclimated to running again.

Next week, morning lows will be in the low to mid 70s again.

Thanks for your time. Have a good weekend.

Good to see that you dodged the MI bullet this time! Let's hear it for the superpower body awareness you get from years of exercise! 

Even better to see the results showing themselves so quickly. 

Mark B wrote:Good to see that you dodged the MI bullet this time! Let's hear it for the superpower body awareness you get from years of exercise! 

Even better to see the results showing themselves so quickly. 

Thanks, Mark, but while I didn't have the emergent symptoms of the MI, I had the same result to be fixed with the blockage.  I will definitely agree with you about the body awareness.

And since the doctor and I have 4-1/2 years of appointments and a very nice stress test in 2022, those were major players in being able to release me to walk "ASAP."  He knows that if I sense something wrong with the heart, then I would stop.

Now, I can trust the feedback from Freddy.

-30-

One thing I want to pass along (not related to running) is that I found a place on the interwebs where you can get USPS postage stamps cheaper. Most are the Forever stamps, but there are a couple of 2 ounce stamps and others. Half of the Forever stamps are US flag stamps (some in sheets and some in rolls) and the other half are different designs. They even have some Peanuts stamps and I saw a Scooby Doo stamp.

The discount varies based on how many stamps are bought. I bought 5 sheets of 20 stamps each for $30 + $4.39 shipping. The stamp is the "Happy Birthday" Forever stamp issued in 2020, when the stamps were 55 cents each.

Evidently, USPS doesn't keep old stamps around and offloads the stamps to companies or individuals.

https://stpsn.com/

So, if you go through a lot of stamps or if the thought of paying 73 cents in July to mail an envelope shocks you, then check out the link.

Thanks for reading.

ounce wrote:

Mark B wrote:Good to see that you dodged the MI bullet this time! Let's hear it for the superpower body awareness you get from years of exercise! 

Even better to see the results showing themselves so quickly. 

Thanks, Mark, but while I didn't have the emergent symptoms of the MI, I had the same result to be fixed with the blockage.  I will definitely agree with you about the body awareness.

And since the doctor and I have 4-1/2 years of appointments and a very nice stress test in 2022, those were major players in being able to release me to walk "ASAP."  He knows that if I sense something wrong with the heart, then I would stop.

Now, I can trust the feedback from Freddy.

-30-

One thing I want to pass along (not related to running) is that I found a place on the interwebs where you can get USPS postage stamps cheaper.  Most are the Forever stamps, but there are a couple of 2 ounce stamps and others.  Half of the Forever stamps are US flag stamps (some in sheets and some in rolls) and the other half are different designs.  They even have some Peanuts stamps and I saw a Scooby Doo stamp.

The discount varies based on how many stamps are bought.  I bought 5 sheets of 20 stamps each for $30 + $4.39 shipping.  The stamp is the "Happy Birthday" Forever stamp issued in 2020, when the stamps were 55 cents each.

Evidently, USPS doesn't keep old stamps around and offloads the stamps to companies or individuals.

https://stpsn.com/

So, if you go through a lot of stamps or if the thought of paying 73 cents in July to mail an envelope shocks you, then check out the link.

Thanks for reading.

Yes, you have built a good and trusting relationship with your doctor and apparently you are willing to listen to your body.  That becomes more and more important as we grow older...and it's a lesson we don't always learn.  Freddy doesn't help. 

***
I'm amazed that the post office allows private sales of old forever stamps.     I'll have to check out the website link you provided.  I still like to do most things with paper checks.  My kids say I'm old fashioned...or maybe they just say I'm old.  I can't remember.

***
Good to see you've been out running a bit.  Your paces and cadence look very appropriate for this point in your training/life.

Take care...