Comparisons Between T-Rex and Tova

Today my story is one fraught with something new.  Sound scary?  You have no idea…

If I had to choose, for instance, between running and biking…I’d pick running.  Although I attribute this choice to my lack of coordination, if I’m honest with myself, I choose running because this is my “comfort zone.”  I know that after five minutes of sucking air my lungs will stop burning and I’ll reach my baseline and run with ease.  I know that at mile 5 my right knee will hurt for about 10 minutes and at mile 8 my left hip will feel like it’s locking up – but will go away by mile 9.  I know I’ll have comfortable run at a 10 minute/mile pace and if I run at a 9 minute/mile pace I’ll want to barf afterwards.  All of these things I know about my body.  My mind knows them.  When I’m not tripping over a rock and skidding on my face down a dirt road, I feel very comfortable in my body exercising.

Knowing what you are good at and where you can get the benefit of a good workout is a great thing.

My husband isn’t what you would call a runner.  Oh…the poor man loathes it.  He’ll go and squeak out two or four miles and come back purple, sweaty, and having a breathing fit.  He’ll curse at the running gods and be filled with amazement that he ended up with such a crazy woman who could actually want to run…versus being chased and made to run…one of his very endearing qualities.  He tries.  Clearly this isn’t his comfort zone.  He’s a weight lifter and loves to golf.   Heads to the gym and lifts weights every day…would golf more if he didn’t run with me.  J 

Lately, he’s been suggesting I come to the gym and pump some iron with him.  The thought is…well.  It’s plain scary.  I feel like I could crush the world with my legs but my arms have little to offer humanity.  If any of you have kids, maybe you have seen the Disney movie Meet the Robinsons?  The evil man played by the voice of Jim Carrey sets Tyrannosaurus Rex on the “good guy (or kid)” and T-Rex more or less fails because he gets stuck - his tiny little arms can’t reach the kid and his big head gets in the way.  I’ve been compared to this T-Rex, of course, very lovingly by my siblings.  Not because of the size of my head (I don’t think) but because I have little baby arms.

I’m working on the courage to make an appearance  at the gym.  Soup cans.  Small rocks.  Carrying the water in the pot I fill for pasta over to the stove.  It’s the little things, right?  As much as I hate to admit it, my arms could use some muscle.  I know it would help me run better.  Still…ugh.  But!  I am determined.  I will do this.  And you will have a detailed summary of the event…not without mishaps I’m sure.

My point today is this…when I got married, that whole something old something new saying?  I’m taking it seriously in my exercise routine.  Change is tough.  And sticking your toe out there past the comfort zone line takes some serious courage.  What if you fail?  How about this-what if you don’t try?  You don’t jump?  You might not ever find that you are pretty decent at two or three things instead of just one.  The hard part is sticking with it through that “awkward” phase.  You won’t be a pro the first time you try golfing for the first time.  I know.  I’ve done this one too.  In fact, I’m still not a pro and I’ve done it three times.  But I’m getting better each time we go. 

Take the plunge.  Pump some iron.  Put the pedal to the metal.  Hit the ground running. 

Whatever it is you’ve been thinking about trying…go for it!   And let me know how it goes!!!!As for me, I want to be a different dinosaur.  One more…proportionate…

Have a great week everyone!!!

The Heart of the Matter

In celebration of “WEAR RED DAY” to promote awareness for heart disease, I’ve decided to give you a gift.  I’m going to educate you on heart attacks with my personal humored touch.  For three years when I wasn’t running or juggling kids, I morphed into an Emergency Room Nurse.  I saw my fair share of patients that presented for chest pain and thought I’d shed a little light on the subject.

Myocardial Infarction (a.k.a.: “HEART ATTACK”, “THE BIG ONE” or “A GRABBER”)

Try it out in a sentence… “I think I’m having a grabber!” (as you clutch the left side of your chest where your heart is located).  Signs and symptoms of a heart attack range from uncomfortable chest pressure/pain/squeezing which is code for “I feel like I have cement in my chest” or “I feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest” or “I feel like there is a vice squeezing my chest.”  Pain that spreads to the shoulder, neck, one or both arms, back, jaw…..okay okay….anything above the belly button basically.  One might be short of breath, feel dizzy, start sweating buckets, and possibly start chucking up anything in their stomach...or at least they might feel like they want to.  This is when a person needs to pay attention-and get in to the ER fast.

Emergency Room Visit (a.k.a.:  “A fun filled trip to the hospital complete with ripping, sticking, poking, prodding”)

At the hospital I work at, when someone presents with a chief complaint of chest pain, they are speedily wheeled back to the treatment room before they can utter a grunt.  Then the fun begins!  Typically this is a scary process for someone.  And why not?  They are tied to very nearly every machine we have in the place starting with oxygen tubing being shoved into their nose (a heart attack is lack of oxygen to the heart muscle-we put this on a patient to get extra oxygen to the heart to stop the dying of the heart muscle).  Add a blood pressure cuff, a pulse oximeter, and some sticky patches to monitor the heart rhythm and we are good to go. 

Well not so fast. We also take a picture of the patient’s heart rhythm.  Sticky pads are placed all over the chest for this procedure which takes all of 3 seconds to record.  Then the nurse gets to lovingly rip the pads off the patient’s body-similar to a wax removal treatment.  Fun stuff.  We start an IV just in case we need to suddenly give any medicine to help the heart.  Four yummy orange flavored baby aspirin are given to the patient to eat and then lab gets to come down and, as gentle as can be, remove several tubes of blood from the patient’s arm.  One of the lab tests we do is called a troponin level.  Troponin is released from the heart when it is damaged…this aids in the confirmation of a myocardial infarction (heart attack).    

You’ve won a night’s stay in the beautiful department of ICU…try one of our comfy beds….

With a diagnosis of “Myocardial Infarction (MI)” or “Chest Pain rule out MI” you win yourself a night at the Holiday Inn Express Hospital (most cities and towns have one of these types of Holiday Inns) and can look forward to fine dining and a culture enriched atmosphere of nursing and medicine for your pleasure.  Some of you may be thinking to yourself… “Hmmm…trying to tough out a heart attack at home seems pretty reasonable compared to what I’d be in for at the ER.”  No…no, no, no.  I tell you this because it is important to me and to your heart that you understand the seriousness of the situation and factors that contribute to myocardial infarctions….LIKE HEART DISEASE.

Heart disease is the leading killer for both women and men in the US.  What can you do to prevent this?  LOTS!:  Exercising regularly, maintaining a healthy weight, eating healthy (lay off the big macs!!!), QUIT SMOKING, and manage your stress!!!  Understand and be able to recognize the warning signs of a heart attack…and call 911 immediately.  Don’t wait 2 hours for it to go away-like Mayo Clinic researchers have found patients still doing.

Check out http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/ for more information about your heart and how to keep it healthy and get more miles out of it.  And you women out there I love?  You need to watch a very moving video called The Heart Truth at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/educational/hearttruth/video/tht-video.htm.

Tomorrow you will see me wearing red.  I will be wearing it in honor of your heart.