From the Heart

I had my bi-annual heart check-up last week and the doc ordered an echo stress test on me. Due to some issues I occasionally have while running, he wanted to look at my heart under stress. Well, I went on Friday and thought it wouldn't be tough. (I'm imagining what I see on TV- some older person walking on a treadmill.) Well, we first did the regular sonogram stuff to get reference pictures for the cardiologist. Then, with 12 wires hooked to my body, I got started on the treadmill. It was very slow and I thought, "no problem". Every 3 minutes it would increase the speed and incline. The speed was never the issue, but the incline was a killer! I'd already done 30 minutes of kickboxing that morning and more blueberry picking, which had me in a squatting position for another 30 minutes. My legs were in agony. He pushed my heart rate to 183, and my maxium should be 184.
The toughest part of the testing was the sonogram they did after the running. You step off the treadmill and immediately lie on the bed for more pictures. You have to blow out your air and hold your breath for the pictures to be as clear as possible. This is VERY difficult when you're panting and exhausted. The conclusion is everything looked great and my Mitral Valve Prolapse is even so minor now that he said it didn't fall under that diagnoses anymore. YEA!
I still have some kind of electrical issue every now and then, so I go back in August to get fitted for a monitor that I'll wear for a month to see if it can catch any irregular patterns.
Lessons learned:
1. A healthy lifestyle can improve your much of your health problems.
2. Technology has improved from my first problems of 10 years ago.
3. Don't use your legs the day you have a stress test any more than necessary.
4. Breathing is good.