Vacation Time

I was on vacation two weeks ago, and it was awesome. I wasn't sure how it was going to be, coming just two months after my pacemaker was inserted. First of all, I was a bit nervous about the trip. Resting somewhere in the back of my head was the thought that both the episode of afib I had last May (my first) and the one back in January which took months to finally clear up came just a few weeks after I had flown down to Florida and back. Second, this vacation would be to Phoenix and Los Angeles, places that sounded hot to me. Finally, I was afraid my wife had more planned for us than I would be able to handle.

Well, although I am waiting with bated breath to find out whether the trip and return will trigger an afib episode, I am pleased to report that I handled the Phoenix heat just fine, and Los Angeles just wasn't hot at all. Plus, in terms of having too much physical activity, I pushed myself far harder than my wife did, and it turned into the best part of the trip.

I have felt very tentative about exercise since my surgery. Of course, at first it was simply a matter of recovery. But in those last few weeks before our trip, where I had been given the green light by the doctor to resume my life, I was still feeling like my stamina had faded completely away. It happens to heart patients, so I'm told. I wondered whether I would have to settle for a less strenuous life.

On our first night in Los Angeles, I was looking through the high-end magazines placed in our swanky hotel, and I noticed an issue of Los Angeles magazine with an article featuring ten hikes in the greater L.A. area. I was intrigued, because I hadn't planned out my free time (my wife was on a working vacation and left me with some solo time on my hands). I love walking, and wondered whether I could find some appealing hikes to go on. I focused on two hikes, one out at Redondo, Hermosa, and Manhattan beaches, and another at Griffith Park. I slotted in the Griffith Park hike for Tuesday.

I almost decided not to go. It was my free time; I didn't know why I felt compelled to drag myself up a hill (Mount Hollywood, in fact). Still, I drove the rental up to Griffith Park Observatory, intent on climbing the "moderate" hiking trail and getting some good views of L.A.

I wended my way up through Griffith Park, through a tunnel and to the parking lot out in front of the Observatory. The Observatory is a magnificent structure, and I was entranced. My magazine article said the hiking trail was at the back of the parking lot, but I'm afraid the observatory building just drew me in. It is a neat place, and it had the views I was looking for. Plus, you can climb up to the roof of the building, walk around the perimeter, and stand on overlooks almost everywhere. By the time I was done there, I had gotten my fill of views of the city. I decided to head back.

It was then that my indecision was at its peak (no pun intended). I had not been able to tell where the trail started, and I really had fulfilled my desire to see the city spread out below me. Yet, I am stubborn, and I had wanted to hike. The temperature was in the mid 60's. and I felt pretty good. I decided to take the long way around the parking lot and back to the car, when to my amazement, I saw the Mount Hollywood trail, right where the magazine said it would be (although it used the phrase, "on the north side of the parking lot", as if I would know which way was north). It was fortuitous. I decided I had to at least try. So I hiked up the hill.

I didn't make it as far as the magazine article described. But I did climb. I actually went much further than I thought I could. I probably wasn't a fast climber, and I do admit to being exhausted when I was done, but I believe that I could have pushed myself to the top. I had a few time and energy constraints, but I don't think I'll ever forget standing above Griffith Observatory, looking down and thinking, "I made it higher!"

I did eventually make it to the beach, and almost completed the hike suggested for the shoreline, on a cloudy windy day. I walked every day of the week I was out in Los Angeles. And by the end of the week, I could honestly say I felt better than I had in a long time. That was what made my vacation awesome.

Beat (pause) Beat (pause pause pause) Beat

One of the reasons I started this blog is so that I would have a place to record the symptoms I have. I've been having strange symptoms for at least four years now, and one of the biggest frustrations I have is that I never know what to make of them. I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but the symptoms I am talking about baffle me and are often a bit scary.

Yesterday, for example, my chest felt funny. It was hard to define the symptoms I actually had, but basically, I felt like my heart was weak. As if the muscle was tired. It doesn't seem like your heart is a muscle that is allowed to get tired. I mean, it has to keep going for a long time yet. So that is a bit scary.

Now, the rest of my body was pretty tired, too. We spent Memorial Day weekend in New York City, and we walked blocks and blocks, pushing thirty plus pounds in a stroller, in high heat and high humidity. The apartment we stayed in was warm and I found it hard to sleep, and then I didn't sleep well on Tuesday night either. So I guess tiredness should not be completely unexpected.

However, where my heart is concerned, I get worried. In this particular case, I felt odd enough to take my blood pressure. Sure enough, my cuff, which beeps on each beat, went beep pause pause pause beep pause beep pause beep pause pause pause, and so on. I tried it three times, and all three times, I had an irregular rhythm. Is my heart supposed to do that? Probably not, but in the week in March after I had my ablation and before they put my pacemaker in, that is what it was doing. In fact, the reason I have a pacemaker is to ensure that the pauses between beats don't go on too long and make me pass out. And that seems to be working.

Yet, when I have this irregularity, I have a hard time concentrating. I seem to get dizzy, or at least fuzzy-headed. My chest and sometimes my left arm seem to hurt, and my extremities sometimes get tingly. On the other hand, I believe this happens more often when I am extremely tired. So what to do?

I could have called the doctor, but I didn't. I did not believe that I had developed afib, plus I had noticed the same irregular rhythm on the day I last went to my doctor, and they had looked at my heart and not seen an afib condition. So I decided to take a Tylenol PM and sleep on it.

When I woke up this morning, my chest felt better. I felt somewhat refreshed, although still very tired. Of course, when I take Tylenol PM, it sometimes takes many hours before I feel like the drug is out of my system. I worked all day and didn't worry about my heart. However, around seven o'clock, I started feeling pretty drained again. My fuzzy-headed headache, left arm aches, and discomfort in my chest was back. I'm going to sleep on it again, because I'm not sure what else to do.