MeDotOrg wrote:Jersey Girl wrote:I feel very fortunate not only to live in this location but I never in my life ever imagined that I would be able to walk out my front door and get all respite and exercise that I want. We are running a maternity ward here right now with does and their fawns living on the property, including a set of twins. A few bears coming through but I just keep an eye out when walking our long country dirt driveway since I'd make a good snack for those and our mountain lions, etc. Thankfully they are mainly on the move after dusk. I get to hating it around about March but in summer and fall, I live in heaven on earth.
You just made be realize how good it would be for my soul to get out of a city for a while.
Well, there's a backstory to that post. There's cards I wasn't showing. I almost disclosed and decided not to because personal problems and who really cares, right? I'll do it now in case it benefits anyone reading.
I've been going through a rough patch the past 2 months on account of the heart rhythm disorder I have--it comes and goes. They increased my meds dosage for it and there was a sudden uptick in episodes. Last week I had the paramedics here when I was alone in the house because I was doing my assistive stuff waiting for meds to kick in--and got room spinning dizzy. I was fine when they arrived but still, it was extremely stressful.
Decided I had had enough of this BS.
The next day I called in to my cardio office and told them I needed someone to throw me a rope over here and that I couldn't live like this. They squeezed me into an appointment on Tuesday. Discussed everything with the cardiologist who set me up with another squeezed in appointment for Friday with an electrophysiologist--that's who does catheter ablations.
Cried all the way home because I was sleep deprived from the night before and felt crazy sad about the whole darn thing. Went home, went to bed, and pulled the proverbial covers up over my head.
Slept for two hours and when I woke up I made the first of a small series of decisions. First was that if I am going to have my heart burned up by heat or cryo freezing, I decided I was going to train for it.
Later that night I watched a video by a UK doctor who deals with AFIB on youtube and the video of his that happened to come up was AFIB and exercise. He shared a study where those who exercised had a
significant reduction in events. I decided that I would keep the EP appointment Friday but there's no way in hell I'm having the procedure until I see if I can combat this disorder with exercise. The tendency is to shrink back and lessen physical activity. According to this doctor and others like him, the answer is just the opposite.
Yesterday morning, I went out side to sit on the step while my tea was steeping. I always sit down, look left and right to see if anything wild is coming at me from around the house. Then I looked in front of me and right there in the back "yard" was a doe laying in the grass looking straight at me like she was posing and her twin speckled fawns were hopping all around her playing. I always say "Hi Mama." when I see the does and tell them that their babies are beautiful. :-) That made me think about how blessed I feel to be here in a place I never imagined I would be. When just the simple act of walking out your back door, taking a see and looking ahead could bring such delight.
So. Before I wrote that post you replied to, I was feeling a bit tense. I gave myself a little talk. "Jersey, get off your ass and go outside". So I did. I walked half way down the driveway and then stopped and looked around. I thought to myself:
"The answer is right here. Everything you need is right here."
It's quiet, it's peaceful, there are no signs of other human beings, I can't see my neighbor's houses (except the lights at night), the air is clean, my driveway is hilly and about a quarter mile long...and all I need to really do is go out of the house and get outside and that is what calms me down when I feel like the walls of stress are closing in on me, plus it's good exercise. Six laps on the driveway (at whatever pace I choose) gives me a mile and half of cardio depending on how hard I choose to work at it on any given day or not work at it at all and just enjoy the serenity.
Yes, go away from the city, MeDot. Get up into the mountains or on the beach if you can. Get away from people and their BS. And if you have any personal problems or stresses, just
run away from home. I'm keeping the stupid appointment on Friday. I can ask questions directly from an EP. I know two people who have had ablations. They both had to repeat and at least one still goes into AFIB. Many patients are kept on the very same meds they were on prior to the procedure so I am thinking what is the real point of this?
So...I'm going to challenge the crap out of my heart I just have to make one calculation about heart rate and I'm off!
Long story short: My entire perspective shifted from the time I started posting on this thread until I wrote that post you replied to. I am happy if my comments gave you a good idea.
:-)
