Tag Archives: Healthy Living
The summer’s over
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The summer’s over. The girls have gone back to school, marking the end of a rather different summer holiday.
Thanks to my little incident, Disney World was exchanged for Codona’s Aberdeen and Daytona Beach for Cullen. Thanks goodness the weather was good! I think fun was had by all.
Who needs Disney World?!
Right on cue the days are getting noticeably shorter and there has definitely been a turn in the weather. The last three mornings have been greeted with a heavy, persistent fog. Rather than the refreshing blanket of moisture that started the balmy days of summer, there is no obvious end to the mist, no sun to brighten up our day, just the promise of the darkness and damp to come.
As we enter a new phase, I fear it’ll be easy for the memory of my Heart Attack to fade. I’ve met several people recently who have been through similar experiences and can’t remember the details of the event. Everything has gradually returned to normal, and the old bad habits have crept back in.
I am very keen that this doesn’t happen to me. I can be very focused when I want to be, but stamina is not a strong point and I’m not the best “completer / finisher”. The new health and fitness regime is going well, but I need to make sure it stays that way!
This doesn’t describe me very well! I can do it but it’s hard work.
The current phase of my Cardiac Rehab will be finished in 3 weeks which will mark another big change. I know it’s going to be increasingly difficult to get motivated to exercise when it’s cold, dark and wet. I’m going to have to find myself some new forms of exercise to keep my interest up…
It’s a marathon not a sprint!
(and, incidentally, I believe you’re more likely to be successful if you dress appropriately!)
I’ve never been to an Exercise Class at a Gym, but this could be a good time to start!
Getting outside
I finally managed to get outside on the bike on Sunday. I took the Mountain Bike out for a spin on an old railway line in Aberdeen. Nice, safe route without too many (any) hills, that didn’t require any real bike handling skills.
It was another beautiful morning, the final death throes of summer. A great day to get out and get some air into your lungs. Unfortunately it was a bit too nice (or more accurately, I took too long getting ready and was a bit late), as there were lots of people on the railway line. A lovely scenic place to park your car, take a walk, grab an ice-cream or a play on the swings and slides, before heading back. As a result, it was busy.
Hazard… between or around?
I was keen not to end up in a ditch, or to collide with anyone’s favourite child or youngest Chihuahua. I therefore had to stay very alert, particularly given how difficult it is to see whether a dog / child is on a lead from a distance… plenty of scope for unfortunate incidents!
I was not alone. There were plenty of other people on bikes (cyclists, I guess you’d call them) making use of the track, as well as runners, zimmer frame operators, wheelchair passengers, etc. Pretty much any moveable obstruction you can imagine. There was potential for carnage… ironically, every kind of accident other than the proverbial “train crash”.
Who is controlling who? A cyclist’s nightmare!
The casual strollers didn’t seem particularly happy with the cyclists… at least, some of them didn’t seem very happy with me: “Bloody cyclists!”, I could hear them muttering not so quietly as I whizzed past… but I was off! Gone. Somewhere else to be… until I passed them again on my return that is, when we greeted each other with pleasant smiles and a fleeting nod!
What fun!
Someone’s going to get hurt!
The ride itself was fine. I did just under 20km and rode for just over 50 minutes. A casual Sunday morning cycle. I was tempted just to keep going, enjoying the freedom, but I know I need to take it easy. “Don’t do more than you could on your worst day” (Cardiac Rehab Motto). A bit depressing really as I’ve always thought the best days were the most important. Still, I don’t want to set myself back, so moderation rules. Yeah!
A Lifetime First
1989… a classic!
1989 was a year that changed the world… the end of the Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square, The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Hillsborough disaster, “The Simpsons” started, the Madchester music scene… I finished school, went on my first lads holiday and started at University, while my family emigrated to Wales… temporarily, as it turns out.
I think 1989 also marks the year in which I last owned a bicycle. I can remember borrowing other people’s bikes at University, but I have no recollection of transporting my own back and forth each term. I definitely haven’t owned one since, so I conclude that 1989 was the year!
I was always a little bit jealous… until now!
As children. all my bikes were second hand, sourced from the ads in local paper, the Maidenhead Advertiser… eagerly awaited each Friday evening.
On one occasion, I remember my brother getting a new bike… a Raleigh Grifter XL. Why the situation warranted a brand new bike, I can’t remember, but I do remember it being a big deal!
I have never owned a brand new bike… until now!
The cycling has been going well. I still haven’t moved out of the garage, but my sessions are getting longer, and I’m getting stronger. I realised yesterday, that I’m now working as hard during my rest periods as I did at the peak of my early bike sessions.
Up to now, I’ve been using a borrowed bike which is slightly too small for me. To exacerbate the problem, and having tried “everything” (including WD-40, heat treatment, and a large hammer), I’ve been unable to raise the seat. As a result, I’m restricted when I ride. Given I’m getting ready to venture outside on a bike, we decided it was time to invest in a bike I can call my own.
I decided to go for something a little more conventional than this!
I say a bike, but it turns out buying a bike isn’t quite as simple as that! It turns out that there are too many choices; Where will you ride it? How long will you ride it for? How often? Do you want a Road Bike, a Mountain Bike or a Hybrid? What brand? How big? Too confusing!
In the end, I made my decision…
I decided to buy two bikes. One for the road. One for the dirt.
All I need to do now is wait until Saturday for them to be built!
It’ll be like Christmas!
Ch… Ch… Ch… Changes (FD +50)
Doesn’t time fly!
It’s the big Five-Zero! Fifty days since I had my Heart Attack. Seven weeks and a day. Forever, and no time at all.
Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun! 🙂
To say a lot has changed would be an understatement. Some changes have been forced on me. Some have been voluntary*. Others have been a consequence of circumstances.
Scary?
“It must have been scary!”… No, not really. At no point over the past 51 days have I felt like my life was in imminent danger. However, it doesn’t take much imagination to see that things could have gone that way. In the UK, one in three people who have a Heart Attack don’t make it to hospital.
The next time you’re in a lift with two other people, imagine one of you not making it to your floor. I was in that lift. I was lucky. I didn’t realise how much danger I was potentially in until afterwards. By that stage, the immediate danger was over and the ball was in my court (more or less).
A new Dad (in reverse)
In some ways, it feels like part of me died when I had the Heart Attack. Not in a bad way. In a way that created space for new parts of me to grow in their place. In fact, its probably more correct to say “dormant” rather than “new”, many aspects of the “new” me have been there before. A very long time ago! So long ago that only close family members and very old friends might recognise them. As far as the girls are concerned, I am a new, thinner, slightly bizarre, “active” Dad.
Even knowing what I know now, I’m not sure if there is anything that would have convinced me to make some of the changes I have done in advance of something “happening”. It still all seems slightly surreal. Perhaps if someone I knew well, who I could easily relate to, had been through the same thing as I have, it might have been enough for me to take action. Perhaps.
The bottom line is, if you want to, it’s not that difficult to convince yourself that it won’t happen to you. That you’re low risk. Different from people like me.
Awareness isn’t enough!
You need to take action to make a difference.
It doesn’t surprise me that prevention of Heart Disease is such a challenge. For many (me included) it requires big changes to make a difference. I guess the key is to keep any changes small, to recognise when you’re veering of course and make minor corrections to keep you on track. So many people are so far off course that small changes just aren’t enough.
For me, my broken heart has been fixed, the course has been corrected and I’m looking to the future.
Catching up
I have some catching up to do – a holiday with the family (although Florida must wait!), recognising the patience of my colleagues, repaying the goodwill of our clients, and sustaining the lifestyle I’ve adopted since leaving hospital so none of us have to go through this again!
Here’s to the next 50 days… and making it count!
***
*Voluntary is probably a bit strong. I’m not sure I had a huge amount of choice in any of the changes, but I guess even the perception of choice makes them more palatable.
The wrong trousers
Wallace scores well on the trouser scale!
When was the last time you took up an activity, a hobby or a past-time that required you to buy some new trousers?
I think this might be a solid, independent, international measure of how adventurous you are; measured in “trousers”, calculated as the average number of pairs of trousers you’ve purchased for a new, specific purpose over the past 10 years*.
If you’re anything like me, you will score low on the trouser scale. I can actually only think of a single addition to my collection in recent years – some long shorts bought to enable a brief tennis career in Bahrain (0.1t).
That was before today… today I took a leap forward with the arrival of some cycling attire (0.2t).
I realise I’m slightly naïve as far as cycling technology is concerned, but I hadn’t appreciated how painful and complicated cycling can be…
A disaster waiting to happen!
The complications are everywhere… gear ratios, pedal torque, wattage, ride height, on-board computers, tyre pressures, cadence, training regimes, etc. etc. etc. I definitely wouldn’t describe it as “plug and play”. More a plug, fiddle, check the plug, fiddle some more, adjust, and eventually, if you’re lucky you get to play… and that’s where the pain starts!
I am recovering from a Heart Attack. I am not yet even close to being able to think about being ready for the level of exertion serious cyclists might “enjoy” on a regular basis. Instead, I am trying to build a level of base fitness from which I can start to build in due course, keeping my heart-rate below my upper limit of 118 bpm at all times!
No! So far, for me the pain hasn’t come from burning thighs or lungs screaming out for air. For me, the pain has come from my hands, my feet and my derrière… and it’s really not very comfortable!
No… not quite yet!
So far I have not been able to sit on the bike for more than 20 minutes without taking a break. My hands hurt from leaning on them, my (borrowed) shoes are half a size too small, cramping my bug toes, and my behind, just hurts. Well, sometimes it hurts, sometimes it goes numb… I’m not sure which is more disconcerting!
Training is not enough… preparing for training was required… hence my new trousers. I have dug deep into my pockets to invest in gloves, shoes and the shiny new padded trews. Hopefully the new additions will transform my cycling experience to whole new level… of comfort!!!
So the increase in my trouser count is less a result of my adventurousness and more a matter of medical necessity. I should point out that so far I haven’t even left the comfort of my own garage. Heaven only knows what I’ll encounter when I hit the open road!!!
* Multiple pairs of trousers for the same purpose count as one.
It’s never too soon
No-one ever thinks they will get impacted by Heart Disease. We live in blissful ignorance until one day, if they’re lucky, they get a “warning”, a “wake up call”.
Many aren’t that lucky.
In 2010, over 45,000 people under the age of 75 died of Heart Disease in the UK.
That’s certainly how it was for me. I was bullet-proof. Until I wasn’t.
Once a week, the Cardiac Rehabilitation sessions have an hour of education. I consider this the “Community Service” session, where I do the time for the crimes I’ve committed in the past. The same crimes as many people, but I got caught!
This morning we talked about the anatomy of the heart. We covered much of the same ground when I was in hospital (see “You are what you eat“). I’ve had 5 weeks to think about what I could or should have asked… our questions and concerns were on a completely different level back then.
What I learnt today…
- The reason why atheroma builds up in some arteries and not others is not known
- The build up can start early (in your teenage years)
- Once it’s there, there’s nothing that can be done to reverse the build-up of atheroma
- It can only get worse, not better (drugs can help reduce the associated risk, but don’t reverse the build-up either)
- The only way of assessing the build-up is by performing an angiogram which itself carries a risk of 1 death in 1,000 from Heart Attack or Stroke
- Prevention is the best strategy
- It’s too late for me to adopt this strategy (but I knew that already!)
What’s happened to me could happen to anyone. It’s never too soon to become aware. Never too soon to take evasive action.
I know it doesn’t seem real, particularly if you’re young, fit and healthy. It won’t. Until it is. And then it’s too late.
Heart attack waiting to happen 