Monday

It was a busy weekend. I officiated a meet Friday and Saturday and now I am done for the year (yeah).

I managed to get 6 miles in on Saturday and only had occasional flutter Saturday afternoon. That evening my wife and I went to a Sunday School dinner and socialized to the wee hours (9PM). Sunday was church and I spent most of the afternoon preparing a slide show for a track banquet that was this evening.

I ran at lunch today and got in about 4.5 miles. The banquet this evening was fun and the kids really love their coach. Not much else going on. I did have an occasional flutter, but nothing like the past few weeks. I am wondering if the allergy stuff was triggering my episodes. As I went on antibiotics and allergy medicine, I have noticed that I have had less flutter episodes. With this stuff, there is no telling what may happen.

Onward and upward.

Me Otter is Purring Now

My buddy Jim (the reason I own this little minx) offered to pay for part of the work done...I should buy more vehicles from him ;-)

The car is fixed...they found a bad coil and replaced both. It got a nice little tune up and it is running like a top. Everything is right with the world (at least today).

I got in a 45 minute run at lunch. Felt pretty good except for it is starting to get warm. My heart fluttered off and on for several hours after the run. I am clueless about what to do other than get back to the cardio doc. I see my regular cardio doc on May 5 and the other doc at the end of June. I am ready to try anything to put this thing to rest....drugs....catheter ablation....drugs.

I plan to keep running and I may even get back onto to the bike in the next week or so. I am officiating a meet Friday night and Saturday morning. Track is over for my kids so weekends will return to normal. Now I can think about getting in a run or ride. The hard part is breaking in your butt. It usually hurts a few days until it gets "comfortable" back on the bike.

Hey Jim, thanks for the offer, but everything is otay spanky.

It is all Jim's Fault

OK Jimbo, I am blaming you for enticing me to driiiivvve your miata while you were gone for a whole WEEK. Then you made me buy it.

Just kidding. Ain't no ones fault

I will be laying out some scratch to pay for some work on the ole "me otter." It turns out that I have a bad coil (one for every 2 cylinders) and they ain't cheap (~$350 each). Plus, the tires are about down to their last few thousand miles ($500-700 to replace). I also had them do a 60K check and I don't know how much that will be. I did not have them replace the timing belt since it should be good to 90K. Hopefully, I will get everything squared up and the "me otter" ought to purr for a while. I would like to spend some money on a few items to jazz it up (roll bar, throatier exhaust, turbo charge, etc.). However, some of that will have to wait since I am spending money just to keep the darn thing running. I am adding Redline tranny and differential fluid to hopefully smooth the shifting a little. It is not bad, just a little sticky.

Anyway it is still fun to drive and with gas prices continuing to rise, it is a little more efficient than my Toyota Tundra (V8).

Still have not run in a while. Just been busy. Moving into a new position at work (promotion) and it takes work to get things working they way I want them.

Heart stuff has not been too bad. I was spreading some pine straw this evening and the flutter kicked in for a little while then poof it was gone. Making me crazy.

Trouble with Me Otter

My new used Miata is not happy and acting accordingly. Tomorrow I will have to get it towed to the shop to find out what ails it. I talked with a few folks about the symptoms and no one is sure what could be the problem. Hopefully the local garage can figure it out...otherwise I will have to get it to a Mazda place (mo' 'spensive place).

It is running very rough and has no power to get out of my driveway. Hence the need for a tow.

Flutter-wise I am doing well lately. After the bad spate of flutter over the past few weeks, it is nice to have some off time. I also have not been running (once in the last 2 1/2 weeks). I am considering running tomorrow (or maybe not). Not running after a year of training is OK as long as I don't make it a habit. I am just trying to get my heart issue under control and I am busy at work.

I got promoted last Monday and now I am in the state of transition. I look forward to the challenge. And now I look forward to some shut eye.

God Smiled Today

What a beautiful weekend. I don't recall the last weekend where we had such gorgeous weather. Perfect for driving in my Miata.

On the other hand, I attended a funeral today for a colleague that had recently retired from where I work. It is sad to see a family mourn the loss of a father and husband so soon after retirement. The hardest part was to listen to a daughter read a letter she wrote her father some time ago while she was struggling with college. I don't think any of the three daughters have yet married or had children.

I sometimes wonder what legacy I will leave behind. I don't live to leave a legacy, rather I believe that I must live such that my life is worth remembering.

So even with the beauty of today, life (and death) goes on. Having the love of Christ in our hearts, God did smile on us today as he did yesterday and for all days to come.

Ben - may peace be with you.

Been a Good Day

Ran today for the first time...about 4.5 miles at a very slow pace. Actually felt pretty good. I thought I felt a little flutter during the latter part of my run. I also had a little flutter after the run. Other than that, I have had a fairly flutter free few days (try four F's in a row yourself). I feel pretty good and hope that my long streak of flutter has at least slowed for a while.

Things are going well at work. I got a pro-mo-tion and will be moving to a new position in the next week or so.

So I am watching American Idol and I don't know why...

Tuesday....Long Day

Just finished another track meet as an official. It was fun and a great day to be outside.

Since my last post, I have had a number of flutters off and on. I officiated a meet at Mtn Brook this past weekend and had some bouts on Friday and Saturday. I also came down with a head cold on Saturday that I am battling through today. Interestingly enough, I have not had much flutter during the past three days. It seems like maybe my body was already on the defense against a cold causing my heart to flutter.

I have been wearing my monitor to bed at night and it seems like I have one or two recordings every morning. However, I cannot hear anything abnormal during the transmission of the recording(s). In addition, the company that I call into usually asks me to send a "fresh" recording which I find kind of strange. In fact, I asked why they were asking for another recording and they would not tell me. They advised me to discuss with my cardio doc which I will next time I see him.

A cold front came through and it was chilly this morning, but gorgeous all afternoon. I know the hot summer weather is around the corner and I am not looking forward to it.

SLB....

Wednesday

Yesterday was rough because I was tired all day long. I went to bed at 8 PM and slept like a log until the 0520 alarm. I still feel sluggish today and I have not run since Sunday. I am not sure what may be wrong. I have had some minor flutter, but nothing major. So I cannot figure out why I feel so sluggish. I am considering going back to my regular doc and have them run a blood test to see if I have any kind of infection or something. It almost feels like I am coming down with something, but I don't have any symptoms other than the tired feeling.

I will continue to rest and not run for a couple of more days to see if I can rebound from my sluggishness. I know this heart issue is weighing on my mind and that may have some bearing on my mood/physical state. Got to perk up and not let it drag me down.

Rough Day

After a long bout of flutter yesterday, I kept getting auto recordings on my Holter monitor off and on all morning. Plus, I felt lightheaded this morning as I walked to different meetings. I called the cardio doc and the nurse called my back (3-4 hours later). She said that the lightheaded and tired feeling was due to the long flutter episode the previous day. Well I sure was dragging all day long and could have used a nap.

I was supposed to travel to one of our plant sites today, but due to other issues, we canceled the trip for now. Thank goodness because I did not feel up to it.

I did get my INR checked today and it was 2.0. So I am up to 10 mg of Warfarin everyday except Mon, Wed and Fri which is 7.5 mg.

I have heard, mainly via my wife, how other folks have gone through something like this and their cardio doc put them on a blocker for 3-6 months and then weaned them off. They did not have any further issues. I wonder if my reluctance to do that has caused my heart to start getting used to this electrical leakage, hence more flutter...there is a medical term for it, but I cannot find it right at the moment.

I have not been wearing my monitor at night because I want to be able to sleep. However, the next time I have flutter prior to bedtime, I will attempt to wear it through the night.


Well it is 8:20 and I am ready to call it a day!

Sittin' by my Dog's Crate

Yes that is right. I am sitting on the floor, in my bedroom, next to my dog's crate. Why you may ask? Well, I have hooked up my backup drive to my Mac and I am hoping it will backup the drive while I do other things namely blog. This is one of the drawbacks for having a laptop.

For all my blog commenters out there, I added the requirement for you to type is some word generated by the blog folks whenever you leave a comment. I have had quite a few spam comments so I am trying to cut down on my spam intake.

As I sit here writing, my heart is just a fluttering away. I ran 6 miles after church, did some yard work, cooled off, drank a lot of fluid, took a shower, drove daughter to youth, etc and my little fist of fury has been trippin' ever since. I have already called in a set of recording and will be calling in some more in a little while.

By the way, I have an appointment with Dr. Kay on June 30. Not soon enough, but it will do!

I officiated a track meet yesterday and only had a couple of short flutter spells. It was overcast and drizzly most of the day. In fact, it got a little chilly by early afternoon. It is days like those that makes it hard to want to officiate. This is an instance where I would rather be running in it.

I don't have any other blog items so I will shutdown for a while...have a good week!

Tuesday

After a night and morning of rain, it was nice to get out at lunch and get in about 7 miles. I woke up to flutter this morning (a rarity). I had a short bout before running and some after. I did not notice anything different during my run. I have had a few episodes this evening...kind of touch and go.

By the way, I got a new ride. I will post a picture later...in fact, you can see it behind Tom and me in the picture below. While it is not new, it sure is in good shape and should last a while. Plus it gets much better gas mileage than my truck. I am trying to sell a 2004 Toyota Tundra crew cab truck...any takers? Leave me a comment and I would be happy to give you a good deal!