It’s weird to say “Time for the 7 month check-in” but there I stood at the doctors office waiting for my 7 month evaluation.
Long story short – I’ve got some form of Heart Disease. I say some form because people have said a half dozen things around me and they all resolve around that two word thing – Heart Disease. The good news is with the surgery and some drugs I’m pretty much “good”. Well as good as you can get with Heart Disease. I can do a 2 mile walk without breaking a sweat which means it’s time for 3 or 4 miles. I want to do 10.
Did a small hike the other day to see how I can do “uphill”. I can do uphill. It was a one mile down and a one mile back up thing.
For probably the last 15 years I’ve had a lot of complaints of “You’re too fat”. It’s amazing what a functional heart and some exercise can do. I’m hanging at 239 and I think now that I’m 7 months out I’m going to see if I can hit 230. I was at 280. I’m pretty sure I can hit 230 or lower. If I can’t I’ll have fun trying. You can exercise all you want – and if your heart isn’t quite right – nothing good will happen.
It’s also been fun trying to explain to people “No I didn’t die”. That was a running joke with me in the hospital because I have a dark sense of humor and it was the only way I could cope with every happening. I kept hassling the doctors with “So when I die…” and they would reply “You’re not going to die”. Eventually one of them caught on and went “We’ve not lost anyone – 100% Success rate….well….that one….Nah That person didn’t count so 100%”. I won’t even get into my “New Year’s Murder Mystery” joke. The nurses said that was even a bit too dark for even them.
Of course with all of that I’ve had one person go “We’re worried about hiring you because you might die” and my favorite “We heard you did die”. Which I guess my joking got a bit out of hand. Granted I might die at anytime and you might die at anytime – but I have doubled down on Documentation just in case.
I have more energy. Work isn’t terrible anymore. Attitude is way better on things. I’ve doubled down on my bike map and tripled down on a lot of things. Rebuilt my “server” from Ubuntu to Fedora. I moved everything but my postgresql instance to docker. I’ve been doing so much that…
I’m taking off a half day Thursdays and Fridays. Most of the time and trying to not get stressed. Which means I’m working about 32 to 35 hours a week…maybe a bit more and maybe a bit less. It helps. I still won’t swear that stress didn’t help with the hospital stay 7 months ago. I also have been trying to decide how to change work up. It’s time for a new look at things.
With all of that – The 7 month Doctor visit. I’m clear for 6 months. I don’t have to go back for 6. Which takes me over a year since the hospital stay.
Anyway – You out there. Go for a walk or a bike ride or whatever it is you want to do. Cut back on Salt. Cut back on Stress. Eat something healthy.
