Jericho: Cardiac Cowboy
On Monday I had my cardiac follow up visit. If you don't know what I'm talking about, have a looky here. The doc told me that I'll be fibrillating, nothing I can do, it's just gonna happen. He told me that I need to lose weight because the extra strain on my heart will just make this worse. He told me to get checked out for sleep apnea, since apnea will set off the fib - and in my case he is SO right. He said the beta blocker is the way to go and I should stay on it.
Being that I needed to go back to the cardiologist and that Steph was going to have Lasik surgery later in the day and needed me to drive, I took the full day off and then scheduled a chat with our regular doctor after talking with the cardio medico. Of course she wants me to get the weight off. She took a whole set of blood tests. She wants me to get back to the gym. She, too, is concerned about the apnea. She wasn't as hot on the beta blockers, she hadn't heard about the issues being raised in the UK. She thinks we might be able to get similar results with Calcium Channel blockers. She wants to see me again in six weeks.
Tuesday morning about 4 AM I woke up with palpatations. I waited around for a while and they were gone by 5 AM. I decided to stay home from work, anyway. Steph was staying home to let her eyes heal up so it seemed like a good time to blow the left overs on my Sick Leave. All day I kept feeling a shudder - it's hard to describe. In my arms and back I could feel a ticking, like sitting in an idling car. I didn't feel it around my heart. It just came and went.
I got a call from our doctor, she said my BP and heart looked good, my cholesterol was fine - but my blood sugar was up over 200, it should be under 100. She put me on two diabetes medicines, Metformin and Glyburide - the two come in one pill called Glucovance. So, yes, I'm Type II Diabetic. Most likely if I get the weight off, the Diabetes will go with it. Getting the weight off is the clincher.
The rest of the week passed and I kept feeling the ticking, car idling business. I started to freak myself out with it - what if I was fibrillating and didn't know it? What if it suddenly stopped, I got a blood clot and stroked out? What if my mind was just going south and it was nothing?
Friday afternoon, about 4, I was studying and I could feel the ticking. I started to freak out about it and sure enough my heart rate went up. I decided that was enough and I had Steph take me to the ER. Being that it was Friday night they were busy. But, eventually, they got me on a table and had a look.
Nothing.
I could feel the ticking. But they detected nothing. My bloodwork was fine, my heart x-rays looked fine, heck, my blood sugar was at 98 (had been dieting and on the meds since late Tuesday.) They don't know what the ticking is, but it's not immediately life threatening. By 8 PM, I had been in the ER for nearly three hours, we were starving and they had found nothing. We went home, relieved.
Today, we went looking for a treadmill for the home. We just are not going to the gym. We both need to do it. But, it's a huge investment of time. It's two hours out of our increasingly busy days - four hours total. Two hours may not sound like much to some, but when I am getting home sometime between 6 and 7 PM and going to bed around 11, two hours is a huge chunk of the time I have. Steph is back in school, so her time is even more crunched than mine. Getting off the couch to spend that kind of time to do something not terribly fun or exciting - well, it's not inspiring.
The home treadmill isn't a magic bullet, but it reduces some of the effort. We're looking at this PaceMaster, we'll grab it in a few weeks when it's on sale - much lower than its MSRP.
Being that I needed to go back to the cardiologist and that Steph was going to have Lasik surgery later in the day and needed me to drive, I took the full day off and then scheduled a chat with our regular doctor after talking with the cardio medico. Of course she wants me to get the weight off. She took a whole set of blood tests. She wants me to get back to the gym. She, too, is concerned about the apnea. She wasn't as hot on the beta blockers, she hadn't heard about the issues being raised in the UK. She thinks we might be able to get similar results with Calcium Channel blockers. She wants to see me again in six weeks.
Tuesday morning about 4 AM I woke up with palpatations. I waited around for a while and they were gone by 5 AM. I decided to stay home from work, anyway. Steph was staying home to let her eyes heal up so it seemed like a good time to blow the left overs on my Sick Leave. All day I kept feeling a shudder - it's hard to describe. In my arms and back I could feel a ticking, like sitting in an idling car. I didn't feel it around my heart. It just came and went.
I got a call from our doctor, she said my BP and heart looked good, my cholesterol was fine - but my blood sugar was up over 200, it should be under 100. She put me on two diabetes medicines, Metformin and Glyburide - the two come in one pill called Glucovance. So, yes, I'm Type II Diabetic. Most likely if I get the weight off, the Diabetes will go with it. Getting the weight off is the clincher.
The rest of the week passed and I kept feeling the ticking, car idling business. I started to freak myself out with it - what if I was fibrillating and didn't know it? What if it suddenly stopped, I got a blood clot and stroked out? What if my mind was just going south and it was nothing?
Friday afternoon, about 4, I was studying and I could feel the ticking. I started to freak out about it and sure enough my heart rate went up. I decided that was enough and I had Steph take me to the ER. Being that it was Friday night they were busy. But, eventually, they got me on a table and had a look.
Nothing.
I could feel the ticking. But they detected nothing. My bloodwork was fine, my heart x-rays looked fine, heck, my blood sugar was at 98 (had been dieting and on the meds since late Tuesday.) They don't know what the ticking is, but it's not immediately life threatening. By 8 PM, I had been in the ER for nearly three hours, we were starving and they had found nothing. We went home, relieved.
Today, we went looking for a treadmill for the home. We just are not going to the gym. We both need to do it. But, it's a huge investment of time. It's two hours out of our increasingly busy days - four hours total. Two hours may not sound like much to some, but when I am getting home sometime between 6 and 7 PM and going to bed around 11, two hours is a huge chunk of the time I have. Steph is back in school, so her time is even more crunched than mine. Getting off the couch to spend that kind of time to do something not terribly fun or exciting - well, it's not inspiring.
The home treadmill isn't a magic bullet, but it reduces some of the effort. We're looking at this PaceMaster, we'll grab it in a few weeks when it's on sale - much lower than its MSRP.
posted by Jericho Brown at 2/04/2007 02:50:00 PM
5 Comments:
I know other's won't say anything, but I will.... you couldn't have told your friends and family you have Diabetes in a personal e-mail, huh? I feel a little unimportant, ya know? I even flat out asked you about this in a personal e-mail two days ago and you didn't respond. I had to wait to hear it when all the other Internet trollers heard it. Boy. I feel special.
Even a mass e-mail would have been better than reading it on your blog.
This IS a mass email. You, Max, Steph and I are 90% of the readership!
But that other 10% is of the same importance as us? It still feels impersonal.
If you are planning to just space out and walk, it won't work for long. If you can walk & read or listen to audio books that will help. If you plan to watch TV while you walk, try to check the noise level of the treadmill in a quiet place. You'll have to crank the TV louder than the treadmill sounds or use a headphone. Good luck with it.
BTW- good luck with the dieting. I hope the treadmill helps. I keep thinking I'll get one of those Gazelle thingies that's no-impact. My knees don't like walking sometimes.
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