Three a Day

One year ago today I wrote in my journal. I had signed up for Buster Benson's 750 words site a few days before and was waiting for him to process the wave of invites that had hit him after the article on Lifehacker. I too had read the Lifehacker article and figured I would give it a try. I was already a believer in the power of writing three pages a day. I was always on the lookout for something to make it easier or more pleasant to do. I used to feel foolish when I would transfer electronic journals from one program to another. What was the big deal? find something and just stick with it. I figured the 750 Words site might be something to get me back on track. I hadn't been writing all that much and I had been inconsistent with the length. While I was waiting for my invite I figured I would start the month on my own. Back then I was writing on MacJournal primarily on my laptop. I still think that MacJournal has the best full screen entry of anything I've tried. I wrote about the fact that my life was just starting to go through some big changes. I had been spending most of my nights at Kelly's and had just given notice on my apartment a few days earlier. We were just starting to make plans for the wedding. What a year I had ahead of me: the move, the engagement party, my dad and a whole other family, the wedding, the honeymoon, changing my name, losing my job, the kitten, trying to find my calling, making serious changes to my health and diet and finally the pacemaker as my old heart issues resurface. If I ever had a year where life was happening to fast to get a perspective on it was this past one. But I kept at it. Events, illness and state of mind never kept me from sitting down and writing. Along the way I did run into some bumps with 750 Words. I had to have streaks reset when I couldn't get access because of Internet issues. The last time I asked on the forum for this I didn't get a response. By this time I had actually broken my streak on the site by literally falling asleep at the computer sometime after the second page. Early this year I abandoned my account. I was in the process of moving between two of the first programs I used on the mac to journal: Notebook by Circus Ponies and Devonthink. Right now I do almost all my writing in Devon again. Although I do keep up an archive in MacJournal. Who knows when some new feature will call me back and I switch again. As for 750 Words I can't be more grateful. It was there that I was able to solidify the habit. I can't imagine skipping a day now. It's a part of who I am. Now I have this record of this incredible year of change that will stay with me the rest of my life.

The Hospital

So I did end up calling that right. I'm writing this from my bed at St. Mary's Hospital. This morning I had my first pacemaker in almost thirty years installed. I'm pretty sore from the operation and I'm getting sleepy from the fact that I didn't sleep much last night as well as having been taking pain medication since early this morning. But through all of that I actually feel pretty great. My heart rate is double what it was last night at this time and that fog in my head that seems to have been with me all the time has lifted. The worries and concerns of the last week are all in the past now. The thing is done. It's time to get back to the living. All my restrictions are related to keeping the wound safe. My heart is back to being fine. I'm hoping start taking short walks again this weekend. I want to get out and take some more pictures with the new lens (as long as I can hold it up).

The hospital was great. Everyone was so helpful, friendly and efficient. All of my friends on Facebook kept track of the day's events and gave love and encouragement all along the way. Thank all of you so much. Finally I am struck with just how amazing my wife is for having gotten me to make the appointment for a physical in the first place and then have it moved up when my dizziness started getting worse. I am as ever grateful for all she brings to my life.

So I'm here for a night and then home in the morning. I'll be sore for a few days but it shouldn't be anything I can't handle. (besides they are sending pills home with me)

Kathy took some pictures from inside treatment room. I'm going to clean them up when I get home and post a little gallery tomorrow. Till then.

The Doctor

So I start the year off on a health kick. As usual I ignore the advise not to start a diet or exercise regime without first consulting a physician. I mean really what is he going to say? Lose some weight. Stop eating so much. Stop eating so much fat, salt and sugar. Exercise more. You are overweight and your blood pressure is high. See, what do I need a doctor for? But the fact is that I'm getting older. I've been overweight for quite a while. I have a history of congenital heart disease and I've got it coming down the pipe from both sides of the family tree. All of that has been true for a while. What was new was the fact that I've gotten married. Kelly had made me promise to go and get checked out and she wasn't letting go of that. Also the dizziness that I've been experiencing on and off for the last few years was beginning to grow more frequent and the onsets were getting more severe.

So last week I trooped off to see Kelly's doctor. After the usual struggle with forms and such they took me in to read my vitals. The blood pressure machine wouldn't give them a reading and I made the comment that I had the same trouble when I bought one or used one at the drug store. There must be some problem reading my arm because they always gave an absurdly low heart rate. There was no way that could be real. They said that the doctor would take it manually in the exam room. So I went to the exam room and after awhile Dr. Selle came in and we did a history. I immediately liked the doctor. No white coat authority, just an intelligent two way conversation. We went through the my childhood history with my pacemakers and some of the things that I've been dealing with in the last couple of years. He congratulated me on losing twelve pounds in the last month and encouraged me to keep it up. He recommended that I read Michael Pollan's Food Rules (Which I did yesterday. Sound advise in a quick read). At the end he took my blood pressure. It was high. Higher than I like and higher than I expected. Still I did expect it to be high. What neither of us like was that he confirmed that my pulse was indeed pretty darn low. Like thirty beats per minute. So he broke out the EKG and that confirmed not only the low heart rate but a return of my childhood heart block. He had his staff make me the next available appointment across the hall at the cardiologist. Dr. Selle would call me that night after he had a chance to consult with the cardiologist and ask me not to drive or exercise until then. Since then I've pretty much been at home. It's like being sick but not feeling sick. It is a foolish feeling. 

So it looks like I'm probably getting a pacemaker again. I had several between the ages of four and twelve but haven't had one since. I could be wrong and they may interpret it another way but I really don't think so. I've spent the last couple of days preparing myself mentally for a procedure next week. And that’s where it stands right now. We’ll see what the next couple of days bring. 

Health Month

Well January is coming to a close and I’m finally ready to comment a little on my health kick over the last month. For Christmas Kelly got me a pair of great Brooks walking shoes. The next day we went and bought an exercise bike at Sports Authority with some holiday money. On the 27th I weighed myself, which produced a number I had never seen on a scale before. That afternoon I started using the bike and writing down what I ate. Over the next week I would check out a couple of different apps and websites before setting on Livestrong for tracking my food (and fitness) and RunKeeper for my walks and stationary bike time. Both sites have accomplished iPhone applications so I would never have an excuse to not keep track of what I’m doing. RunKeeper in particular is an amazing application. It tracks automatically uses the GPS in my phone to track my walks noting how far, fast and how much climb in elevation. It has helped make for much more accurate recording of how much exercise and how many calories I’ve burnt. Kelly and I have linked our accounts together to form a street team. It helps us keep each other motivated. You can check out my profile page here. Leeahaynes's Profile | RunKeeper. So far I’ve completed 30 activities for a total of 88 miles. Five and a half of those miles were in Big Basin where RunKeeper came up big. There was no cell service whatsoever in the park, no phone, no internet. But the GPS still worked so it kept perfect track of our walk and downloaded the maps and uploaded the walk as soon as we got back to service. I recommend it highly. The iPhone app used to cost $10 and I think I would have been happy with that. They ran a promotion for the new year announcing that it was going to be free for the entire month of January. I little help to kick start New Year’s resolutions I guess. Anyway they had such a groundswell of users in response that they have made Runkeeper Pro a free app for good. I heartily recommend it. Special thanks to Sarita for giving me the heads up about it early in January.

There is a third site that I’ve found very helpful early in this health quest. That’s Buster Benson’s Health Month. Buster is the one that developed the 750Words site that has prompted me to go on an eleven month unbroken journal writing streak. Health Month is a game. You play by choosing rules that you plan on following for the coming month. You choose what the rules are, how often you are going to do them them is and how difficult you think it is going to be for keep on track. For example my rules for January were as follows:

Exercise for 30 minutes at least 5 days a week. 

Walk at least 15 miles a week

Stay under my recommended daily calories at least 5 days a week

Allow added sugar 4 days a week

Drink at least 42 glasses of water a week

Write 3 pages in a private journal every day

Meditate for 20 minutes at least 5 days a week

Read a book for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week

Track my meals every day.

You start the month with 10 life points and you lose points when you miss a goal. You also get points that you can spend to heal yourself or someone else. Everybody is split into four brackets depending on how hard and how many rules you have and then ranked with a points formula. It sounds complicated but in practice it’s pretty easy and the site does most of the work for you. There are times that I’ve done things on my list just to make sure that I don’t lose a point. If that happens just a couple of times a week it’s worth it. It also is nice to see your goals every day when you check in. It’s another site that I recommend highly. 

All in all this morning I stepped on the scale and the number I saw was 12 pounds less than that first scary one at the end of December. I have more energy than I have had in many years. I can’t thank Kelly enough for all here help and support this month. Besides she is the one that got the whole thing kicked off by buying me these fantastic shoes. 

Jack LaLanne

Sad to hear that Jack LaLanne died yesterday. Kelly and I had run into coming out of a restaurant on what was his final birthday while we were on our honeymoon in Morro Bay. I remember thinking at the time that this guy had more energy than I did even though he was ninety-six and in a wheelchair. Lately Kelly and I have been taking our health and diet much more seriously. I can honestly say that I haven't felt better in years. Kelly and I were in the middle of a 4 mile hike along the bluffs when Jack died yesterday. I'm sure he would have approved.

Lou

So we have a new kitten. His name is Lou and he came to join our family for Kelly's birthday. This is really my first time living with a kitten and it's been an adventure.


He likes to sleep a lot but sometimes not as the same hours as the rest of the family. Many a morning we have been woken up before the alarm with a kitten pouncing from place to place on the bed.



He seems to have a fascination with Seymour. Seymour, I think would be happier if he didn't. He gets along with Sparky, although Sparky just gets fed up with him and demands to go outside to escape. Lucy is another story. Lucy has been insistent on letting Lou know who is the queen of this jungle and it is only very recently that peaceful coexistence has broken out.



Anyway that's Lou. Special thanks to Kim for bringing him into our lives.

Location:Mirador Terrace,Pacifica,United States

Insomnia

As my time away from the working world has gone on I've found myself waking up earlier and earlier. From not always getting up before Kelly left at seven, to beating her alarm at six, to yesterday at my desk writing by five. That actually worried me. I didn't want to push that time back any further. So what do I make of this morning waking up and writing my morning pages by 2:45. I figured that would put me back to sleep but no dice. It's 3:20 and I'm lying here awake typing this on my phone. I'm not even worrying about anything. I had a good productive day yesterday. Went to sleep by 10. What the heck? I think I may be coming down with something. I think I'm going in search of the Tylenol PM. Kelly just informed me that she took the last too. There is something else in the medicine cabinet that supposed to be all natural. I'll give it a try. Or maybe I'll be back here in a half an hour.