I don’t know the last time I was able to talk to Richard and Merl in the same comment but it must be clearly my lucky day…
The struggle is real. The struggle to come to terms with what you can do vs. what you can’t do. Between what you like to do and the things that bring you pain, between the old you and the new you. Between the old “healthy” you and the you that has a much better sense of what’s important.
It’s a struggle and it’s a process of coming to your senses and making sure that you are living in a sustainable way. Not sustainable according to your old you but in terms of the new you. That’s a challenge, but you can do it. We all make mistakes and have setbacks but that happens… Then you need to pick yourself up and move forward again…
I was talking to my primary care physician about what it felt like to exercise and how I couldn’t do it very much without nasty comebacks the next day. He asked me if I had a fit bit - I told him I did. He asked if it was one of the ones that tracked your heartrate and then showed you how much time you spend in each zone. We looked at mine and the “fat burn” zone is the fastest one I had achieved and it was basically a heart rate between 90 and 115. My doc told me I didn’t need to focus on walking 6 miles or jogging 3 miles or anything like that. No, he made it very simple - 7 hours a week with my heat rate in the “fat burn” rate.
It is always wonderful to hear from you and I feel you’ve been quiet for a while. I hope you are doing ok.
I think you figure among our least well AVMers these days, so I’m not surprised that a five hour haul to Ohio was too much!! London is probably 2 hours away from here, maybe 3 if there are traffic issues (= always ). I think the only thing we can do is recognise and learn what our limits are and aim to live within them. I think for the stage that Mike is at, he should get better than he is today over the next year or two but pushing the envelope is not the right thing to do.
Yesterday wasn’t a good day - I just felt this bastard in my head, lightly throbbing. I sat around most of the day thinking on what is still within my ability & what isn’t - along with, what is the best approach to these new sensations that I have to deal with
After seriously spending most of the day sitting around with this light throb & watching xFiles, I came to the conclusion that I am going to handle it just like I did before I knew it existed - I didn’t even know it did exist until it ruptured
Anyway - I have made quite a few positive significant life changes already
The feelings/sensations of crap are tolerable for me & I will not let them slow me down until I am back down - We’re all so different. . . I am beyond amazed that I am doing as well as I am - it really is nothing short of a miracle - I always had this “dumb” idea that I really wanted to see one - well, here it is! Everything that happened to me, I asked for - it’s not a joke, I always had this feeling that I knew it was gonna happen. The friend who helped save my life told me this. I didn’t even remember saying anything to him years ago. And, now the feeling I have is that this won’t be what takes me down. It’ll be something else - it always seems to work that way in my life. I’ll be concerned about one thing, next thing you know I’m broadsided by completely something else.
Today - got up, same sensations - Took some Tylenol & lifted a whole lot of weight after drinking some beet juice - I feel exactly the same, nothing worse - I always had a strong belief that we need to push ourselves to see our limits. . . I wasn’t exactly asking for this
I’m also so thankful for having the time in my life right now to figure all of this out. I watch my blood pressure about 5x per day - during hard workouts my vitals run at about 125/65-70 with a BPM of 90-110
That’s about it - I’m not slowing down until I have to. . . Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t be a whole lot more cautious though.
I definitely think it’s best to put it out of your mind as much as possible. I think that’s something I did wrong. My experience of regular tinnitus is that if you sit and listen to it, it’s loud. If it is quiet enough to ignore (and I know that’s impossible for some) then ignoring it will let it fade further into the background.
So I would definitely recommend putting worries out of your mind the best you can and ignore it.
). I think the only thing we can do is recognise and learn what our limits are and aim to live within them. I think for the stage that Mike is at, he should get better than he is today over the next year or two but pushing the envelope is not the right thing to do.