Tralfaz

Category: Health

For health or healthcare related posts

  • An Ominous Anniversary

    An Ominous Anniversary

    The date was Sunday, January 3, 2010. The day started like most. I got up, read the news, ate my usual breakfast (coffee, a bowl of Grape Nuts) and I then got myself to the gym to do an hour on the elliptical trainer.

    It was an off day, I just couldn’t get in a groove, and I struggled to get my heart rate above 100. I was sucking wind, to say the least.

    Alas, I bailed out during the 5 minute cooldown after the hour, and headed home. I got back home about 8:30 AM, and then stepped into the shower.

    KABAM

    It hit me like a ton of bricks. Shooting pain down the arms, and it felt like Dom Delouise was standing on my chest.

    I stepped out of the shower, and hobbled my way down to my wife’s office and I told her I needed to go to the emergency room. NOW.

    Fortunately, she freaked out, and called 9111.

    I daubed off most of the water and slipped on some sweats, while waiting for the EMT’s to show up. They checked me out, and they thought I had just overexerted myself at the gym. Fortunately (again) my wife insisted that they take me to the hospital.

    I got to the hospital, and they hooked me up to an ECG and I was having a heart attack.

    Let me tell you, that gets the staff moving. I was put on a gurney, wheeled to the Catheter lab, to get a stent put in. I had 100% blockage in the descending node of the right coronary artery.

    I got a three night stay in the hospital, and 16 weeks of cardiac rehab2.

    The really weird thing is that I was arguably in the best shape of my life. I was running 5-7 miles 5 or 6 days a week. I was doing aggressive hikes on the weekend (if you have spent time in Tucson AZ, you know that the hiking there is epic).

    But I still had a heart attack. If I hadn’t gotten to the hospital, I would have died.

    This morning is the 14th anniversary of that fateful day. I still view each day as a blessing and a gift.

    Celebrate life. Spend time with those you love, and take nothing for granted.

    1. Turns out, that is the best advice I can impart. If you or someone you are with is having an event that may be heart (or stroke) related, the ambulance ride will be your ticket to being seen immediately. ↩︎
    2. Eight weeks to the day after the event, I hiked down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and when I walked out I felt like I was on the top of the world. ↩︎
  • Whatta Week…

    Whatta Week…

    It started out bleak. A sharp pain behind my left ear, had grown and covered the entire left side of my head, I had a high, and rising temperature, and I was SICK. A quick telemedicine visit and I was scheduled for a Covid test.

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  • Public Transit in the age of COVID-19

    Public Transit in the age of COVID-19

    I am a huge proponent of public transit, having blogged about it several times before, and being fortunate enough to work for an enlightened company who sponsors my transit pass.

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  • The Decade Challenge

    The Decade Challenge

    There’s been a lot of side by side comparison of people from the beginning of the 2010’s, and the now start of the 2020’s. I don’t have pictures, but, I do have a story.

    The story begins the week before. I was getting started on a diet and a renewed vigor. Daily exercise, caloric intake reduction, etc.

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  • Hand Dryers – The Dyson Airblade

    Hand Dryers – The Dyson Airblade

    An embarrassingly long time ago, I had my first encounter with a Dyson Airblade hand dryer. I don’t remember when, or where, but I do recall it being the only touchless, air dryer that actually friggin’ worked to get my hands dry.

    The amazing Dyson AirbladInsert your hands past your wrists, and slowly withdraw, and BAM, your hands were dry. As dry or even drier than using 3 paper towels. Awesome.

    Fast forward to today, and obviously, the patent has expired, because at every public bathroom on my recent trip overseas was a similar hand dryer. I was thinking to myself how cool this was that it had become mainstream.

    Then I used one. First in the public bathroom in the Frankfurt airport. Wash my hands, and insert them into the faux-Airblade, and … (more…)

  • Recipes and Inaccuracies

    Recipes and Inaccuracies

    I enjoy cooking. Always have, heck, I worked my way through college in a commercial kitchen as a chef. So, when I get a hankering for something, I just cook it. Either learn to cook it, or just dive in.

    A few weeks ago, my sister was visiting, and I decided to make a Dutch Baby, and I found this recipe on the Epicurious web page.

    The recipe is simple, the ingredients aren’t esoteric, and I had an appropriate cast-iron pan to make it. (more…)

  • Reflections of 2017, and looking to 2018

    Reflections of 2017, and looking to 2018

    Ah, December 31, the year is about done, and there are some thoughts clanking around my head. Time to extract them before the temptation to eat myself into a coma wins the battle.

    Number 1 – Work

    It has been a good and busy year at work. I am currently in the certifications group at Cisco, and while it is product management, it is different from my prior roles. In many ways that is refreshing, as it brings new challenges, and opportunities.

    I started the year as a contractor (or C-Worker, short for contingent worker), but in July I was converted into a full time employee, a pretty significant development. That reduced some (ok, a LOT) anxiety in my status. Being a contractor had some benefits (as in, 8 hours are done, turn off and unplug), but unpaid holidays and unsubsidized healthcare really made it touch and go. (more…)

  • Bicycle Dreams

    Bicycle Dreams

    Lately, I have been back in the saddle again. Riding, at least on weekends, it gets my heart rate up, and I enjoy putting the miles on. But, I begin to get ideas. Could I ride to work? What would make that more pleasant? This bike is old, I need something new.

    Yeah, that is pretty much the discussion I have with myself. My roadbike, reviewed here (my most read blog post by far) is getting old. A 2002 vintage Lemond Buenos Aires, a reynolds steel frame, Shimano Ultegra equipped, road bike. Minor upgrades, the standard bottom bracket failed early (it was a cheap downmarket unit), and replacing the standard Bontrager wheels with much better Fulcrum Racing units. (more…)

  • The downside of Public Transportation

    The downside of Public Transportation

    I am lucky. I get to ride public transport to the office. Heck, there is a tax break, so my employer even gives me a pass to ride for free. About a mile from my house to the train station, so I even get a little exercise. What’s not to love about it?

    Well, I will tell you. I seem to share the air in the train with anywhere from 2 to 40 of my peers within the human race. That means that at any one time, somebody is sick on the train.

    And many of them are probably contagious.

    So, every bug that runs wild through the population is likely to come to my nose.

    So far, this year, I have been sick 3 times, twice enough to miss a day or two of work. That is more in 5 months than in the prior 10 years. Ugh. I doubt it is because I have suddenly an impaired immune system. It is just the proximity with disease vectors.

    This last week, I took a combination route twice, starting with the bus, which is about 2 blocks from my house. Turns out that a parcel of school kids gets on at Snell and Blossom Hill, and ride for about 5 stops. That was enough to give me a gnarly head cold. Congestion, sneezy, sore throat. Yep, I am miserable.

    Thanks Obama.

  • Diet Update

    Diet Update

    Update – 1/15

    Continuing on the thread of finally losing some of this weight I gained that I wrote about first on 1/8, today is the weekly update.

    On 1/2, I kicked the effort off. That day, I stepped on the scale, and it was an eye-boggling 263.2 pounds.

    I will be honest, I had been hiding from the scale, and this number shocked me, but I was not surprised.

    While it isn’t a New Year’s resolution, as I know that would be doomed to failure, it was a wake up call.

    Today, when I woke up and stepped on the scale, it read 254.4 pounds. Of course, in the first week, I lost about 5#’s of probable water weight, so that lead to a precipitous decline that wasn’t real. Now I am settling into a routine.

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