Snack Me.

My test was today, Thursday Feb 16^th, 2012. This test is one of those long-named word diagnostics. I believe it was called a Myocardio Perfusion Test.

This was the dreaded Stress Test. Remember the one where I envisioned Regan flailing on the gurney, blood spraying everywhere?

Well it wasn’t like that at all.

I will admit to feeling bewildered for a little while. Especially when one considers that I was told that I had to fast: no caffeine, no nothing. All I could have was little sips of water. This alone is hard to bear for a person who regularly drinks double shots of espresso. Sigh.

But I made it. I was doing well until I checked in and was sent to the 3rd floor. As I was about to walk onto the elevator I heard my name called and I turned and there was my Golden Heart#1 (the one we'll call Susan, waving to me and wishing me well in my test! Out of all the people in the hospital, here she was, waving at me! Wow, and I waved back).

Of course, I had been sent to the wrong department. Then I was sent back to the woman that misguided me, and she redirected me. When I got to the correct department, they asked for my paperwork, which of course, I had none, since I was just sent there. So again, I was returned to the front desk a third time, and this time she sent me around the corner to the “booth.”

These are the booths that have a chair and a counter and on the opposite side of the counter sits a person at a screen with a key board, and stacks of papers and pens on chains, not the big flowers taped on their pens like at the front desk. You know you are entering into Accounting Zone, and you sit down and prepare to sign everything away, because even if your insurance balks at the last minute (you won’t know this for at least 5-6 mo. when the decision making actually takes place); you still need the procedure done today so it is very easy to sign everything now.

After signing 7 or 8 times I was asked to verify my birthdate, and then to extend my right arm outward and a plastic bracelet was snapped on and the tag cut off. I now belonged to the hospital, and was being directed back to the front desk for a fourth time.

The woman told me to go into a different room to watch a video about the procedure that was going to be performed on me. At this point I need to tell you, that it was only the day before, that I had found out that the test would take 3-4 hr to complete, so finding out about the video quickly became a new sources of bewilderment for me. Being sent in to watch a video of the procedure that was going to take place quickly became my 2nd source of bewilderment. A video? In my mind anything that takes a video to prepare a person, can’t be small. All this time I had thought that my stress test would be one of those treadmills tests that last about 45 min from going in to coming back out…..Nope, not today.

As the video started, my vision of Regan slowly entered my mind when the video talked about a machine hugging my body and that I wasn’t allowed to move at all for 15 min or so…. And these people would start shooting hypodermic needles into my IV… oh man… yikes….

I have to say that I am very lucky. I have discovered another Golden Heart in the Gym. We’ll call him John. John also works up in the Cardio diagnostic center that was conducting my test today, and he is the one that originally enlightened me yesterday as to the proceedings of my test and the duration of time it would last. John is familiar with the type of test that what was being called for. He discussed it with me and made it easier for me to understand the process before I found out this morning. So my only real surprise was the video, of course it had the visuals, and had I not been pre informed, I might have freaked out even more once I realized that I had to watch a video of the whole thing in the first place.

Once I got back in there, they gave me a gown with no discernable garment shape which had snaps all over it and I finally figured out the the snaps constituted the shoulders of the gown and was able to make clothing out of it.

Everyone was very nice, polite and friendly. I mean they had better be, I was in Nuclear medicine!

First, they IV’ed me and taped a Y shape port into the affixed IV line now taped to me and I think he injected something nuclear into me….. and once I was on hospital O2 (directly from the wall, something new for me), they snacked me. I was given cheese and crackers and cranberry juice, to get my digestion working to help move the chemicals through my system. It was explained that the food would get my organs working and they would be farther away from the heart and not impede the images, or something like that. OK.. Then I waited about 20-30 min for this to take place.

I watched some scenic flip book travelog on TV, about Oregon like the shows that air on Easter… Then all of a sudden John showed up!

We talked for a bit and he handed me a remote control for the TV. He let me know that he had talked to my tech and that they had tried to inform my Dr’s in WA, that my high speed pulse may not need the drug push to elevate me, but it was to no avail. My surgeons in WA have a protocol to follow, so I was good with that. What it meant was that I would not need to walk on a treadmill to elevate my pulse, and that they’d inject me to do it.

So John made sure I was comfortable and he went on with his daily work. It felt really nice to know that there are people that I see down on the first floor in the Gym that actually go out of their way to stop in when one of their charges is up in the hospital having testing. Who does that? My Golden Hearts do!

So I watched Star Trek New Generation on TV in the waiting room.

My tech came and retrieved me from TV and I was taken into the testing room for images of my heart. Things were taped to my body (they look amazingly like the snaps on the shoulders of my gown), and then I was laid back on the table, and the big machine was moved up over me. It lasted a total of about 7 min of exposures. No problem, I almost dozed off. Then I was told that this part had now finished and I was wrapped in hot blankets and taken back out into the lobby for more TV.

By the way, I happened to have been the only person there today, so the remote was mine, all mine.
I waited another ½ hr or so, before they came out and retrieved me again. This was the big one, where they would be injecting me with things that would speed my heart up.

This part of the test is where two techs work as a tag team, one on a screen the other running the test. Together they work in tandem, and they have to be on the ball for this. Watching and timing everything perfectly or it doesn’t count. And believe me, when it involves a persons heart beat you really don’t want it to “not count.” These techs were savvy and they were both very nice women and we all got along quite well. There was laughter and bright attitudes which I found very helpful.

I’ll tell you this about the drug they used, the techs said it was referred to “Exercise in a bottle”……. And I say “Boy Howdy, isn’t that the truth!”

They gave me one drug that pushed my heart beat up to the speed they needed and when it was obtained they then injected something else (don’t ask me). After a prescribed time it was over….But during that time, I was instructed to inform them every single feeling I had especially chest pain, tightness, arm pain, jaw pain (all those scary symptoms they advertise on TV) plus anything else I felt during this time…

Well, I feel everything..so I wonder just how much they really wanted… and I let them know when it felt like I could feel all the nerves in my face wake up and wiggle. And when my scalp tickled I told them too. But I had none of those dreaded symptoms so that was good. It was quite strange to feel my heart beat inside my chest without my having done it with my own movement on a treadmill though.

Since I do run at a fast heartbeat this test was quite easy for me and I was up at the required heartbeat very quickly with no need for the atropine that is sometimes used to boost the heart beat speed up. I am glad for that. I also didn’t need a nebulizer treatment that many do need since some of the drugs interfere with breathing. I sailed through it. My O2 saturation stayed up the whole time!

After my heartbeat race, I waited in the room for my heart to go back to normal, and then once again I was taken back to the waiting room, but not before we discussed websites, blogs (I told them about this blog) and jewelry making. When they returned me to the waiting room they told me that this time I could have coffee!

YAY!

So I was ‘snacked’ once again, in addition to heaped with wonderfully heated blankets. This time on TV, I noticed that “The Talk” was on and that told me that one o‘clock had been reached. I saw no clocks anywhere on the walls though I am sure that every screen had the time even if it was 24hr time or gmt.

Another half hour or so and I was retrieved a third time. We went back to the first room of image- taking and repeated the process so they could see how my heart operated after being stressed.

This time I laid down, the same as earlier, but for only half the time and then the bed was lifted and I completed the time in a sitting position, and then it was all done.

It did take quite a while, but none of it was as bad as I had envisioned.
It was just . plain . weird.

I walked out to my car, my day now completed and the only residual effect was that my arm vein hurt a bit, and I had a slight headache, but that’s nothing.

I came home, took some Advil, rested for a moment, and then I called Seattle to inform the case manager that the test had now been completed, and went back to my life….

I had fantastic people working in me all day long, And they really helped me get through a test that may have been a bit frightening and I have my now 3rd Golden Heart, John to thank for giving me the “head’s up,” before I found out the hard way.

And finally, I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Tillamook Cheddar Cheese, Premium Saltines and Cranberry juice! A wonderful way to “Snack Me.”

I really don't like fasting.

Toning and Trimming, Preparation for LVRS

So in order to have an LVRS surgery a person must qualify, did I mention that before? You have to be able to handle the surgery because it is very hard on the body, or so I am told. I have also seen and heard of those that are completely prepared, only to be sent home because they are 1) too old, 2) too young, 3) not sick enough 4) they are too sick and the surgeons feel that the surgery will not benefit them or 5) the damage is in the wrong area of their lungs, 6) they are too overweight, or underweight (which account for the being healthy enough to withstand the surgery). And I am sure that there are many other reasons such as not having COPD emphysema, and/or having other medical issues that would impede the healing or get in the way of the surgery itself as it might for any surgical procedure.

In order to be accepted a person must be in the best shape possible. Of course the surgeons understand the course of this disease and that usually a long period of time passes as a person declines in health, their lung capacity diminishing year after year long before they are actually diagnosed, many like me diagnosed with asthma for years prior to graduating to emphysema status. Naturally as they decline, so does their body, and as their body declines so does their ability to do the daily things they were accustomed to day by day, year by year, until they become house bound and car bound, barely able to move around without becoming winded. It is a terrible thing to see, much less endure.

I have seen it on more than one occasion, and I have lived it, too. I have hiked, biked, rode horses, water skied, and been very active only to end up feeling like a blob, unable to walk very far without becoming completely incapacitated.

One of the requirements for surgery (in addition to fitting into the criteria above) is to be a recent graduate of Pulmonary Rehabilitation…… Pulmonary Rehab consists of classroom instruction and physical exercise in a wholly supported environment. The respiratory therapist and instructors are the most supportive group of individuals and I feel extremely lucky to be there. I consider Pulmonary Rehab to be a whole body, mind and life style altering course. Classes cover that lifestyle change and it has a lot to do with acceptance that our lives will never be 100% again. But we learn that we can still do things and we learn to make the most of what we do, and alter our lifestyles to enable that to happen for us. And we exercise, like crazy, if we are in the planning stage for an LVRS. Even if we are not planning for surgery, being fit helps everything in the body work better. So we get fit, any way possible. Luckily for me, my Rehab is held at our local hospital which just so happens to be brand spanking new and everything is beautiful! After completing pulmonary rehab, we are then allowed to join a program at the hospital (in the Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Wellness Center) for a very good rate, and we can continue with our exercise program indefinitely. For me this is wonderful because it is my nature to abhor exercise.

My facebook opening statement that accompanies my name says: “If you want me to exercise you had better have diamonds sprinkled on the floor below me…..”

I think that pretty well describes my attitude about exercise. And as far as jogging, I have always been quick to say “If you see me running you can be sure that I am running away from something.” I do not run for fun. I run from things.

I have always been that way. I do not jog because I value my knees, and in the past will opt to swim miles if necessary rather than jogging. I would rather ride a bike for miles, than jog.

There are 2 basic reasons I do not jog. One comes from deep in the South Pacific islands where a friend (a local islander) mentioned once that American tourists would come to visit their island, and these locals just couldn’t understand why it was that those folks had so many invisible spirits chasing them! That was good enough for me.

The second reason I do not jog, is very simple: I have never seen a single person jogging that appears to be having a good time, not a smile to be seen, unless they know they are having their picture taken. (See below, click on the image.)

They look like they are in great pain, pushing their bodies to the very edge, ready to collapse. They run in place at signals they get all sweaty and bend over looking like they are about to vomit. How can this be good for a person? They look half dead or dying. And what happens? The very next day they go back and do it again, and they even feel ill if they do not do it……That, in itself is an indicator to me that there is an addiction present!

Up until August of last year I felt the same way about treadmills. People walk on rubber to nowhere. Why?

Now I know. I walk on a treadmill every single time I work out. I use it to wake my body up, a warming up before I get down to the exercise machines. I still do not like the treadmill, no way. It is a disgusting having to walk on a rolling mat….But at least it is not jogging! I set a countdown timer because I am so reward driven. When I finish the treadmill I reward myself on the other machines, which I do like.

In my gym once a person graduates from Pulmonary rehab, in order to stay fit we must continuosly exercise. The exercise program is called SEP or Supervised Exercise program. We can go in any time we choose from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm as many times per week as we want and we have access to any of the machines and any class instruction that they offer, like Tai Chi, Yoga, Chair Yoga, Pilates, Feldenkrais, Qigong, and several balance classes (this array of classes caters to the Cardio Pulmonary patients and the ilk like me.

The gym is not open to the public unless they have a Medical Referral, though I do believe that there are some hospital employees that can sign up to use it. For a while I was probably one of the youngest persons in the gym! But not any more. However, I am probably one of the weakest members, other than the very elderly, that have assistive devices and such. Many of the 60-80 yr olds are much stronger and this is a real eye opener for me. But that’s OK, because so far everyone has been incredibly friendly and all of the staff are superb and very supportive, and seem to love what they do.

I started Pulmonary Rehab on Sep 15, 2011 and graduated November 3, 2011. I went directly into the SEP program a week later on Nov 10, and have been there ever since, 2 times per week. I have made my own routines always starting on that damned treadmill, to warm up, then directly to the NuStep. After the NuStep I venture out into the other machines, changing up, each time. Sometimes, I use a leg press, sometimes a pull down reverse military press (not sure what it is called) and sometimes I use a core building weight machine. I also use a recumbent bike machine occasionally, and also free weights. I like to push my limits a little bit. Then I stretch.

It is now January 2012, I am awaiting a call from the surgeons to drive up to Washington to confer with them about surgery. I have been working out since August 2011 (5 months!!!).

So a couple of nights ago, I shook my arm and suddenly realized that my flab isn’t there! I asked my husband, where’s my flab. I flexed my bicep and tricep, and proudly said “Look no flab! I have muscle tone!”

Then it dawned on me that maybe I had burned it off! I was in bed when I noticed this. Oh, I realized that by holding my arm straight upward, all my flab had sunk back into my shoulder! HA! No wonder I didn’t see it or feel it wagging…. It had fallen back on to me!

The next morning I flexed in the mirror…There is was, I still had some dimples in my biceps. Dimples as in cellulite. Only a couple but it was still present. I am a lot more toned though! So that is good.

I have joined a group called Better Breathers Club. The Better Breathers Club is actually a nationwide club system, (most cities have them locally), and we meet once a month. This month we had a nice meeting and the 2^nd half was spent in a sample class of Chair Yoga.

This chair Yoga had been recommended to me in the past, because of my weakened state, and as a great introduction to yoga, which is very beneficial to folks with COPD. It was great, and what I liked the best about it, was that it ended with a short meditation.

I need that meditation, because after exercising even though I stretch and relax for a while, quite often I am still SOB. I have had issues with some high blood pressure and one of the breathing techniques we were taught helps to lower blood pressure. The day after the chair yoga introductory, I worked out, and I used the breathing technique, and found my blood pressure lowered! I decided to try taking the chair yoga class, thinking that this is the best way to get some good stretching non invasive and not too strenuous exercise.

So this morning, because the class is early, I came to the gym even earlier than that and did my workout at 9:00AM (oh boy, that’s early for me), figuring I would do my hour of workout, stretch and then go directly into chair yoga, which would give me a slower workout and finish me with a meditation, which sounded perfect for my system.

I found a full tank of Oxygen, I had a brand new cannula, and I got to work….for an hour, then I stretched, and walked down the hall to the class that had just started, and opened the door. I was welcomed in and the teacher set me up with a mat on the floor. Hmm; and I joined in. We were stretching all over the place and I felt things moving in my body, muscles that hadn’t moved in years and I thought to myself “Sheesh, maybe I bit off more than I could chew,” but I kept going...because I am no quitter~!

I could tell that once I was used to this I would get better, and all the women in the group had been in the class for a long time and while I was in my first class I could tell that I would become more limber as time would pass. I sweated, phew, and got some workout, though I did not push myself too hard. The teacher took into account that I have had a cervical fusion and tailored my mat to accommodate this. I had my feet in the air with a ball between them. I rocked on my hips side to side, stretched and attempted to hold my feet in the air while lifting my head…..

At the end of the class, I was waiting for the cool down meditation, but instead of that we did stretching of the right side and then the left sides of our bodies. We balanced. Then the teacher said, Ok that’s it. Hmmmm odd.

One of the women walked around collecting the balls, I rolled up my mat as the other women were doing. And the teacher asked me, “So how did you like the class?” And I answered “well other than discovering a bunch of muscles I forgot I had, it was fine. But I miss the meditation.”

The women looked at each other….And the teacher looked at me and said “Meditation?”

Yes, I said, at Better Breathers Club, we finished with the meditation. I could hear some chuckling beginning.

The teacher then looked at me and said “Hon, this isn’t Chair Yoga, this is Pilates. Chair Yoga starts next!”

oh boy.....

Now me, not being a quitter, I stayed an additional hour and participated in Chair Yoga.
I was sore for 3 days afterward!

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why?