Thursday Things 09.14.17 + An Update

Health Update

I am flying back to Minneapolis today and will be meeting my heart surgeon later this afternoon. Eek! The countdown to open heart surgery is on: 4 days to go.

Since my last update I have been feeling better and stronger. Everything with the ICD continued to heal well and I am pleased to say that the scar isn’t terrible. The placement of the ICD is better than I expected, meaning that it isn’t super noticeable.

I still try to get out for daily walks – I’m up to a full lap around Sloan’s Lake now, 2.6 miles! I purchased a Garmin Vivoactive HR so that I could monitor my heart rate during my walks and throughout the day. This has given me (and Michael) a huge piece of mind. I make sure to keep things below 115 bpm. Sometimes it sneaks up higher, but only for a second or two. I’ve never had a fitness tracker before, because with my all of my previous running and strength training I was never too worried about getting in enough activity per day. Now that my lifestyle is more sedentary, making sure I get in all my steps has been a fun little challenge.

One of the downsides (there is more than one) to this whole thing is that I have had to cancel a lot of fun plans – a trip to California for a friend’s wedding, a 14er and camping trip with the Feral Ambassador crew, a trip to Banff with my best friend, a camping trip to Rocky Mountain National Park for the elk rut with Michael, a girl’s trip out to the sand dunes, and Great American Beer Fest in Denver with my Brewery Running Series team to name a few. Not to mention I’ve had to stop hiking and stop doing any sort of workout aside from walking. Laziness feeds laziness, so I just feel really… lazy. Also, boring. I just go to work, go on walks, eat, read, and watch shows on my iPad (because we don’t have a TV).

With all that said, I am grateful to be here to complain about not doing the things that I want to do. I know it’s just a matter of time before I’m back to planning fun trips and adventures. I have been able to do some fun things like dinner with friends, a Labor Day picnic in Rocky Mountain National Park with Michael, a friend’s wedding in Boulder, and a lot of quality reading time. Maybe the universe is just giving me the opportunity to take time to slow down and I should take advantage of that. It’s really not the worse situation ever. I just had to vent about it a little bit.

Other than that little downside, I’ve been in pretty good spirits. It’s odd to say this, but I am actually excited about Monday’s heart surgery. I am eager to get it done with and to start the recovery process. Let’s just hope everything goes well. I will take all the prayers and positive vibes that you are willing to offer! If you are feeling generous, please send some over to Michael, my mom, and the rest of my family as well. They have been the ones helping me along the way, listening to me, encouraging me, and putting up with me. They will be the ones sitting in the waiting room anxiously waiting as I’m getting operated on. I have the luxury of being out and unaware of anything that’ll be happening. So yeah, vibes and prayers to us all if you don’t mind.

Recommendations

I’ll be having a lot of couch time coming up. Can you help me?

• TV: Just finished watching Game of Thrones and am currently on The Handmaid’s Tale and Master of None.
• Books: Just finished Again to Carthage and am currently on The Glass House. I have Sourdough and The Heart’s Invisible Furies in the que.

If you have any recommendations, please leave them in the comments!

Some Other Things:

And of course, some fun links from the internet this week.

• Yes to tahini chocolate chip cookies and espresso chocolate chip cookies.
• Who wants to start a dinner club with me? (Seriously)
• In case you need a new hobby.
• The Magic School Bus is back!!
• I want a giraffe to join me for breakfast.

Also, my Sweet Potato toast recipe was posted on Healthline. Check the post out here!

xxxxoooojd