Staying the Course -- 01/15/2018

[Superbob]

Welcome to Staying the Course, a new week. Participation is entirely open here to any and all. We have regulars who check in to discuss progress with exercise, fitness, weight (a biggie for some of us), leisure, travel, family, work, vacations, life pre- or post- heart surgeries or other health challenges, meds, mischief -- whatever may be on our minds as we stay our respective courses. Again, the welcome mat is at the doorstep.

I am doing better today, and have remarkably little to whine about. A little lingering nasal congestion, but the pain in left lower back and tummy area has disappeared -- evidently a muscle strain. (When I first told my Doc about it, her first thought was shingles -- thank heavens, it wasn't that. I have had the shingles shot -- and doc says it has proven to be a highly effective vaccine. I had a terrible case of chicken pox in my 30s; lasted two weeks, and I wondered at times if I would ever make it back to normalcy.) Good news at doc's office: I was down 3 pounds from last stepping on those annoyingly accurate doc's scales. So that's something. I am working to make continued weight loss progress.

Today we got my DW started on special PT for balance problems. Falls have been a serious health problem for her. I think this PT is going to help her. Also have a walker on order.

Tomorrow I restart my Core Fitness class after missing a week. My teacher has emailed me to tell me I have been missed. That's really nice. A klutzy old guy tends to wonder if he's in the way.

So all in all, a good start to the week. Going to walk the dawg now -- wind chill was 15 at usual morning-walk time, plus we had to travel to PT, so catching up now.

All best to all -- looking forward to hearing from you'all. (Speaking of "you'all," we had lunch at Paula Deen's restaurant Saturday -- major good eating -- not a place to be losing weight, but certainly one to enjoy delicious food.)

Cheers,

Superbob

 

[jwinter]

Woo Hoo on that weight loss Superbob and glad to hear your back is better. Reminds me that I need to get my shingles shot asap. Core fitness sounds like they are waiting for you. PT for your wife on those balance problems is such a good idea. We were living in a diesel pusher rv when I had my first open heart surgery and proceeded to fall down the entry steps about my second day home from hospital. I lay there, curled up protecting my chest and ended up with only hurt pride. I still have balance problems once in awhile and many years ago my gyno said it happens a lot more to us girls as we age. (never did like him that much, ) My closest girlfriend just finished having both knees replaced and the walker was priceless! She did a LOT of pt and is very glad she did so go Mrs. Superbob!

Started to enjoy my sit in the sun times the last few days. Have some classes and events coming up so hope they contribute to my healing process. Will know the first of February for sure. Trying to walk more and more . Yesterday my swelling was down so went well and today it is back to "kankles" instead of ankles. Higher dose of lasix tomorrow and better get out and buy a scale. Had hoped to leave that dreaded beast at home but doc says it is a must with the swelling I have.

Have a good week all, and let's stay the course.

 

[jcgtok17]

Superbob, Joining you on the weight loss pilgrimage. My club has a 10 week challenge which I have joined which starts next week (Monday 2nd). My baseline is 1 kg loss per week for 10kg (22.2lbs.) total and my stretch goal is 13kg (29lbs.). Trainer, curtailed fire water consumption and willpower here we go. Regards, Caleb

 

[epstns]

I'm still here, but not sure where I am within the weight loss arena. I have noted that my workouts have become inconsistent and sometimes more difficult than they should be since summer 2016 when I had my pacemaker and one of its leads replaced. This past Sunday afternoon I got a phone call from my device clinic (they manage my pacemaker) to tell me that it is imperative that I come in to the clinic at my earliest convenience. The manufacturer of my device has discovered a flaw in the programming of one of the features of my pacemaker. The flaw affects what they call Minute Ventilation (MV to them), which raises my paced heart rate when I begin to breathe more deeply or more quickly. This is one of two ways the pacer speeds up. The other one is in response to the bouncing up/down motion of walking or running. I need both of these to work, as I typically use an elliptical machine at the gym, and the elliptical doesn't produce a distinct enough "bounce" motion to increase my heart rate as I exercise. The Minute Ventilation is supposed to increase heart rate when doing smooth things like riding a bicycle, lifting weights or using the elliptical. It appears that if I am exercising in a non-impact manner during the small portion of the time when I am reliant on atrial pacing and if the pacer goes into its now-known failure mode, it delays pacing or fails to pulse. This is when I "crash" and feel like I have to stop or slow way down. Not a good feeling. Also not a happy situation because their interim solution is to turn off the Minute Ventilation completely until they can finish testing their new software and gain FDA approval, which is not expected until around October. I'm furious with them, but of course, there is nothing I can do, so thanks for letting me vent.

I go to the clinic tomorrow to meet with the rep from Boston Scientific. I will grill them on what all this means and what options I have. Grrrrr!

 

[Superman]

That sounds incredibly frustrating, epstns. That feeling of wanting to blow up at somebody, but knowing you really don't have any power to change anything and just have to wait patiently. Ask the rep if you at least get to take a free swing at them. In the end, I'm guessing in the same situation we would all just be the good little patients we have been conditioned to be over the years. Good luck. I hope that have a solution for your quickly.

Nice work on the weight, Superbob. It's all about momentum!

Which I seem to have lost. Or I've just found a happy normal. Still hovering around 200 lbs. A little above, a little below, depending. I think I've found my hunger again though. Remains to be seen if that's good or bad. I'm still getting my workouts (3 or 4 times weekly) and walks (daily) in - so that coupled with enjoying food is allowing me to hold steady. I swear I sweat more than any other human alive. I get out of my class and can wring out my shirt because it is just soaked. Other people are wearing dry cotton t-shirts at the end. I'd like to say it's because they aren't working as hard as me, but I look around. That's not the case. If I found myself stranded somewhere remote, I'm guessing I would not last long without a source of clean water readily available.

 

[dornole]

Hi everyone. I'm here! Doing a good job staying the nutritional course, which is designed for mood support not weight loss, though my carb cravings have diminished greatly and I've maybe lost 3 lbs (my weight fluctuates a great deal day to day). I just joined a fitness challenge at my gym which is reminding me - oh. Exercise takes time! Feeling more optimistic. Great job in weight loss Superbob and sending out patience and wily persistence to all.

Superman, I've always heard that heavy sweating is a sign of fitness and I'm sticking to it!

 

[dornole]

Oh, and I invite all of you staying the course to google "Vikings sideline cam" and imagine the roar of that crowd is for you. Skol Vikings and greetings from the victorious icy Minnesota north!

 

[honeybunny]

Aside from Steve, great reports on staying the course. Steve, I’m really sorry you are dealing with pacemaker issues. I don’t understand how those devices work but when the flaw/bug is fixed will you need a replacement or can it be addresses remotely? Excuse my ignorance if that is a dumb question.

H-town is experiencing freezing temps today through overnight so I and all my coworkers stayed home. This makes a sixth vacation day I’ve used due to weather (remember Harvey). I’m glad not to be driving 34 miles in freezing rain but hate giving up my last vacation day.

On Friday I have my 2nd visit with the nutritionist. I’ve lost only a few lbs. according to my scale but I hope it shows up on hers. We will discuss my inconsistent glucose readings and how my diet affects that. I’ve been lax on recording my meals on My Fit Foods and need to get back on track with that so I can monitor my nutritional intake, especially fat content. Still doing my line dancing and I believe the 90 workout helps with weight loss. The nutritionist wants me doing 30 minutes/day but I’ll have to admit to her that I’ve not been doing that. I don’t know what it would take to motivate me.

Thanks SB for keeping this thread going and very glad the back and stomach pain cleared up.

 

[Paleowoman]

Not having much time to log on and read messages at the moment - so busy with my cardiac training and other things inbetween. Got dental problems today too - apparently the root of one of my teeth is resorbing which is not supposed to happen with adult teeth - it's just one more thing going wrong since 6th Jan 2014 - that day really screwed my health up, it's one thing after another.

Hope you get your pacmaker sorted out soon and easily Steve.

Best of luck with your nutritionist meeting honeybunny ! You might want to join a diabetes forum to meet others trying to control their blood glucose for ideas too.

I'm glad too that SB is keeping this thread going becasue it's a nice informal way for us to meet up together as opposed to the heavy cardiac stuff if you get my meaning.

 

[epstns]

I had my consult with the tech rep from Boston Scientific about my pacemaker yesterday. The whole recall thing is, for me, a big Non-Issue. The tech was a wonderful lady who listened to my questions fully. She quickly realized that I have a better understanding of my device and how it and I manage my heart, so she was able to fully answer my questions even when things got somewhat technical.

Basically, my pacemaker is connected to both my atrium and ventricle. After valve surgery, I had complete heart block, with no reliable pacing taking place in either the atria or ventricles, so the dual chamber pacer was implanted. At first (especially when I was in rehab) I relied upon the pacer to pace my atrium and then my ventricle after the correct time delay (A-V delay time). During that time period, I relied heavily on the pacemaker to increase my atrial pacing rate under load, or else I was quickly out of breath. I also relied on the pacer to trigger my ventricles to beat, as the signal did not travel within my natural tissue.

Fast forward to now. Over the past (almost) 7 years, my heart has re-learned to pace my atria naturally about 95% of the time. The atria actually set the heart rate, the ventricles just follow along. So, except for about 5% of the time (presumably while I sleep), I do not rely on my pacemaker for setting my heart rate. My heart can do that by itself. Where I do rely on the pacemaker, it is for triggering my ventricular beat after the atrial beat. That's what my pacemaker needs to do, and that is in no way affected by the feature that the defective code affects. So, they can (and did) turn off the Minute Ventilation and it has literally no chance of having any effect on me! Whew! That's a relief.

Yes, I still have some goofy stuff going on when I push too hard in the gym and out-run my pacemaker, but I have known about that and the PM techs assure me that it is self-protecting. If I push too hard, the pacer will cut my ventricular pacing rate in half, causing me to become short of breath and slow down. Once things settle down, I can go right back to my activity at normal intensity.

Just another reason why we are so lucky to be living in a time when we have such wonderful technology to make life better.

 

[honeybunny]

epstns , that’s great news! Thanks for the update~

Paleowoman, had to change my nutritionist appointment because I have to make up time tomorrow for missing work Tuesday and Wednesday due to ice storms and below freezing temps. On a good note, I weighed 150.8 this morning, down from 160 when I started. Watching my fat intake seems to be the trick for me. Thanks for the tip on a support group. An online one would work best for me.

 

[Paleowoman]

We had a 'storm' (of sorts) here the night before last. Very high winds. At 3am the noise of the wind woke me and then I heard the ominous sound of a tile sliding down our roof. No more sleep for me that night as the tiles around the mising one were 'flapping' away. Thankfully we were able to get hold of a roofer first thing yesterday morning and he came to repair it all later yesterday while I was in London having my cardiac session.

honeybunny - an online diabetes support group is a good, better than going to a face to face group imho, just like this heart valve online support group. I'm in four onliners: this heart valve one, a diabetes one, an osteoporosis one, and the one for parents of autism spectrum disorder children which I moderate. Online groups are easier for peope to 'attend' as you can go as often or as little as you like and at any time of day or night

 

[dornole]

Hey, I didn't know you had a kid on the spectrum, Paleowoman. Me too, he's 21 now.

 

[Paleowoman]

dornole Yes, my son is 28 now, he's in a supported living placement, but still needs tons of support frm me and DH.