MarkKO's training log

[Hardartery]

Damn, that is a kick in the shins. It's good that you no measureable bad things going on like a blockage or anything. Aortic dissection, I get queasy just typing it, ugh. When you go, you go all in, it should be something you can recover from with no issues at least. Being out of the gym will suck, but aortic dissection hadn't even crossed my mind as a possibility for you. All those test show you are taking pretty good care of yourself though, so that's positive regarding your training and lifestyle. Food poisoning is kinda out of your comtrol usually.

[MarkKO]

Mark, tough news. I hope you are getting the best care and get better quickly.

The hospital has been great. As soon as they figured out it was a cardiac issue everything went up several gears.

I'm looking forward to hearing from the doctor today with hopefully a concrete plan going forward.

[MarkKO]

Damn, that is a kick in the shins. It's good that you no measureable bad things going on like a blockage or anything. Aortic dissection, I get queasy just typing it, ugh. When you go, you go all in, it should be something you can recover from with no issues at least. Being out of the gym will suck, but aortic dissection hadn't even crossed my mind as a possibility for you. All those test show you are taking pretty good care of yourself though, so that's positive regarding your training and lifestyle. Food poisoning is kinda out of your comtrol usually.

Yeah, I'm still getting my head around it. I'm waiting to talk to the doctor today to get a more solid idea of where things are going.

The funny thing is with what brought me to the ER, NO ONE thought it was a heart issue until I had an ECG.

How the shit I manage to get a viral stomach bug that then causes this crap I don't know but I guess I'm just unlucky.

I'm crossing my fingers that the doc will say I'm only going to be walking on eggshells for a month or so but at least it seems like I'll be allowed to work if I'm careful in a couple of weeks.

I'll just have to work with what I get given though. Three months is peanuts in the long run.

[Hardartery]

Damn, that is a kick in the shins. It's good that you no measureable bad things going on like a blockage or anything. Aortic dissection, I get queasy just typing it, ugh. When you go, you go all in, it should be something you can recover from with no issues at least. Being out of the gym will suck, but aortic dissection hadn't even crossed my mind as a possibility for you. All those test show you are taking pretty good care of yourself though, so that's positive regarding your training and lifestyle. Food poisoning is kinda out of your comtrol usually.

Yeah, I'm still getting my head around it. I'm waiting to talk to the doctor today to get a more solid idea of where things are going.

The funny thing is with what brought me to the ER, NO ONE thought it was a heart issue until I had an ECG.

How the shit I manage to get a viral stomach bug that then causes this crap I don't know but I guess I'm just unlucky.

I'm crossing my fingers that the doc will say I'm only going to be walking on eggshells for a month or so but at least it seems like I'll be allowed to work if I'm careful in a couple of weeks.

I'll just have to work with what I get given though. Three months is peanuts in the long run.

Tropical climate. This is a thing that happens in those climates. We forget that when it is also a developed nation, but it is just a thing that happens sometimes and I feel like it is more prevalent in tropical climates. It's also a thing some people get from Covid, and several other things. In the long run I think it becomes no big deal. In the short run it freaks you right out though because it's a freaky thing damnit.

[MarkKO]

Damn, that is a kick in the shins. It's good that you no measureable bad things going on like a blockage or anything. Aortic dissection, I get queasy just typing it, ugh. When you go, you go all in, it should be something you can recover from with no issues at least. Being out of the gym will suck, but aortic dissection hadn't even crossed my mind as a possibility for you. All those test show you are taking pretty good care of yourself though, so that's positive regarding your training and lifestyle. Food poisoning is kinda out of your comtrol usually.

Yeah, I'm still getting my head around it. I'm waiting to talk to the doctor today to get a more solid idea of where things are going.

The funny thing is with what brought me to the ER, NO ONE thought it was a heart issue until I had an ECG.

How the shit I manage to get a viral stomach bug that then causes this crap I don't know but I guess I'm just unlucky.

I'm crossing my fingers that the doc will say I'm only going to be walking on eggshells for a month or so but at least it seems like I'll be allowed to work if I'm careful in a couple of weeks.

I'll just have to work with what I get given though. Three months is peanuts in the long run.

Tropical climate. This is a thing that happens in those climates. We forget that when it is also a developed nation, but it is just a thing that happens sometimes and I feel like it is more prevalent in tropical climates. It's also a thing some people get from Covid, and several other things. In the long run I think it becomes no big deal. In the short run it freaks you right out though because it's a freaky thing damnit.

You're not wrong. I know I'll be fine but it's taken me way more by surprise than I would have expected.

[MarkKO]

Ok, so things are moving.

Cardiologist came and spoke to me just now. Confirmed all heart vessels, heart muscle and the atrial sound were all completely normal so the myocarditis hasn't caused any damage. Win.

I also get to go home some time today. Win II.

I'll be able to go back to work mid next week but need to take it easy for two to three weeks, nothing strenuous. I'll be able to start very, very light training in about a month and then very, very slowly and carefully ramp up but nothing hard for three months.

The doctor basically said what strenuous is varies from person to person so I just need to be sensible about what I do. I can do that.

I'll also be on colchicine for a while (few months I think).

This is a much better outcome than I was expecting.

[Hardartery]

Ok, so things are moving.

Cardiologist came and spoke to me just now. Confirmed all heart vessels, heart muscle and the atrial sound were all completely normal so the myocarditis hasn't caused any damage. Win.

I also get to go home some time today. Win II.

I'll be able to go back to work mid next week but need to take it easy for two to three weeks, nothing strenuous. I'll be able to start very, very light training in about a month and then very, very slowly and carefully ramp up but nothing hard for three months.

The doctor basically said what strenuous is varies from person to person so I just need to be sensible about what I do. I can do that.

I'll also be on colchicine for a while (few months I think).

This is a much better outcome than I was expecting.

Win!

[MarkKO]

Ok, so things are moving.

Cardiologist came and spoke to me just now. Confirmed all heart vessels, heart muscle and the atrial sound were all completely normal so the myocarditis hasn't caused any damage. Win.

I also get to go home some time today. Win II.

I'll be able to go back to work mid next week but need to take it easy for two to three weeks, nothing strenuous. I'll be able to start very, very light training in about a month and then very, very slowly and carefully ramp up but nothing hard for three months.

The doctor basically said what strenuous is varies from person to person so I just need to be sensible about what I do. I can do that.

I'll also be on colchicine for a while (few months I think).

This is a much better outcome than I was expecting.

Win!

It definitely put a spring in my step

[slowmotion]

Sounds good!

[MarkKO]

Sounds good!

For sure. It's been an interesting couple of days

[BenM]

Shhhiiiiittt man. I can only imagine how scary that must have been. I'm glad you're ok. Training can wait. Damn.

[MarkKO]

Shhhiiiiittt man. I can only imagine how scary that must have been. I'm glad you're ok. Training can wait. Damn.

It got significantly less scary after they confirmed it wasn't a dissected aorta. Then it just got strange. The endone and methoxyflurane probably helped with the strange part.

I'm cleared to walk now and for very light weights in two weeks. Then a month until light training. So I'll be able to keep busy. As long as my heart isn't put under any pressure for the first month I should be OK and that's something I can work with.

I will say one thing about this experience. Canberra has apparently been going through a period of over-strained healthcare services with what are apparently unacceptable waiting periods, lack of beds, etc.

I suspect that while the healthcare system is over-strained, they are performing FAR better than they're given credit for and this is why I think so:

- I show up in extreme pain but no outwardly terrible vitals: I can breathe normally, blood pressure and heart rate are normal and I have no fever. So they give me pain relief that works very quickly and say to wait;
- after a couple of hours, during which maybe four or five people get called all of whom were there before me and who also seemed to be in no immediate danger I get called in;
- the doctor listens to my account, says she has no real idea what is happening based on that and takes blood, urine, the usual poke/prod/listen and gets an ECG done and orders a chest x-ray. She sends me to wait at imaging. At this stage, there is still zero indication that this is anything cardiac;
- I wait at imaging for maybe 15 minutes, if that, at which point a nurse comes out at the same time I'm getting called to get x-rayed (I'm guessing by some luck not many people were needing x-rays) and tells me the doctor is concerned by my ECG so there is a bed ready for me in the resuscitation section;
- x-ray is done, I get set up in the bed and hooked up to all the monitoring stuff and everything starts moving very fast. Within an hour, from memory, I've been taken to do a contrast CT and they rule out a dissected aorta.

So my point is, the moment they realised something was going on with my heart, there was no waiting. Shit got done, and done quickly. I suspect the majority of these reports of unacceptable waiting times come from people who have no life threatening issues and are just sick and in pain. I've been in that situation in the ER too, and TBH never had an issue with waiting around because I wasn't at risk of carking it. I got given pain relief, and waited my turn. ER is just that, emergency. If your emergency isn't so serious you're going to have to wait a while.

[Wilhelm]

You work so hard too.
Sorry to see this happened.
Glad you got the good care you did.
Good healing to you.

[Hardartery]

Shhhiiiiittt man. I can only imagine how scary that must have been. I'm glad you're ok. Training can wait. Damn.

It got significantly less scary after they confirmed it wasn't a dissected aorta. Then it just got strange. The endone and methoxyflurane probably helped with the strange part.

I'm cleared to walk now and for very light weights in two weeks. Then a month until light training. So I'll be able to keep busy. As long as my heart isn't put under any pressure for the first month I should be OK and that's something I can work with.

I will say one thing about this experience. Canberra has apparently been going through a period of over-strained healthcare services with what are apparently unacceptable waiting periods, lack of beds, etc.

I suspect that while the healthcare system is over-strained, they are performing FAR better than they're given credit for and this is why I think so:

- I show up in extreme pain but no outwardly terrible vitals: I can breathe normally, blood pressure and heart rate are normal and I have no fever. So they give me pain relief that works very quickly and say to wait;
- after a couple of hours, during which maybe four or five people get called all of whom were there before me and who also seemed to be in no immediate danger I get called in;
- the doctor listens to my account, says she has no real idea what is happening based on that and takes blood, urine, the usual poke/prod/listen and gets an ECG done and orders a chest x-ray. She sends me to wait at imaging. At this stage, there is still zero indication that this is anything cardiac;
- I wait at imaging for maybe 15 minutes, if that, at which point a nurse comes out at the same time I'm getting called to get x-rayed (I'm guessing by some luck not many people were needing x-rays) and tells me the doctor is concerned by my ECG so there is a bed ready for me in the resuscitation section;
- x-ray is done, I get set up in the bed and hooked up to all the monitoring stuff and everything starts moving very fast. Within an hour, from memory, I've been taken to do a contrast CT and they rule out a dissected aorta.

So my point is, the moment they realised something was going on with my heart, there was no waiting. Shit got done, and done quickly. I suspect the majority of these reports of unacceptable waiting times come from people who have no life threatening issues and are just sick and in pain. I've been in that situation in the ER too, and TBH never had an issue with waiting around because I wasn't at risk of carking it. I got given pain relief, and waited my turn. ER is just that, emergency. If your emergency isn't so serious you're going to have to wait a while.

My experience with socialized medicine matches this. You wait in an ER no matter where you are, you don't wait if they determine that it's serious. Complainers are paople that have never been anywhere and feel that waiting is some sort of social injustice. I have spent longer waiting for stuff in the US than anywhere else, and it cost me a damn fortune at the same time. By comparison Canada's system is light years ahead and I think that most of the UK/European/Western but not the US systems get slagged on unjustly.

[BenM]

So my point is, the moment they realised something was going on with my heart, there was no waiting. Shit got done, and done quickly. I suspect the majority of these reports of unacceptable waiting times come from people who have no life threatening issues and are just sick and in pain. I've been in that situation in the ER too, and TBH never had an issue with waiting around because I wasn't at risk of carking it. I got given pain relief, and waited my turn. ER is just that, emergency. If your emergency isn't so serious you're going to have to wait a while.

Yep, totally comports with my experience too, and our system down here is constantly being lambasted, particularly my local hospital which has very high rates of ambulance ramping. People don't understand the value of health care and expect to be seen immediately for every cut and bruise. We're drama queens. Everyone wants immediate service, but most expect the government to pay for it all. The people with chronic minor health conditions drain the system disproportionately (not always their fault, to be fair). Everyone else who very rarely uses it tends to suffer through long waiting times if they have non-emergency health scenarios but the system is very, very good at triaging. Personally in the last ten years I've had a few different non-urgent medical things dealt with, mostly in the public system but some in the private and I can honestly say that apart from having one operation postponed while I was in a bed waiting for anaesthetic (which was inconvenient, but nothing more) my experience was very good all the way through.

As of a year or so ago we have a non-emergency care centre here now which is a handy alternative to the Emergency Department, it costs money obviously but if we ever have a kid with a broken arm or something we'll head there instead of waiting at the hospital. Obviously not everyone can afford to do that and we are lucky, we're not rich but don't mind paying a little more to take the load off the public system in that situation.

[MarkKO]

You work so hard too.
Sorry to see this happened.
Glad you got the good care you did.
Good healing to you.

Thanks for those kind words. I appreciate it.

Actually, I think how I train and eat etc might be one reason my heart didn't get too messed up. It might have been a somewhat protective factor for all I know.

I'll come back. I've realised that's something I can do. It's a bit disappointing that I'll miss the March meet, but I have ample time to work back to do the September meet and put together an improved total. My back and shoulder problems probably derailed things more because of how long it took to get back up to speed. This time I won't need to rehab anything.

I'm very, very fortunate that I'll be able to at least keep moving while I wait to train again. My understanding is that even the smallest, lightest amount of activity does a lot to prevent muscle loss. Work capacity is easy enough to rebuild, as is strength. If I can keep muscle loss at bay or at least to a bare minimum I'll be in a very good position when I can start really working back to training in a month.

[MarkKO]

Shhhiiiiittt man. I can only imagine how scary that must have been. I'm glad you're ok. Training can wait. Damn.

It got significantly less scary after they confirmed it wasn't a dissected aorta. Then it just got strange. The endone and methoxyflurane probably helped with the strange part.

I'm cleared to walk now and for very light weights in two weeks. Then a month until light training. So I'll be able to keep busy. As long as my heart isn't put under any pressure for the first month I should be OK and that's something I can work with.

I will say one thing about this experience. Canberra has apparently been going through a period of over-strained healthcare services with what are apparently unacceptable waiting periods, lack of beds, etc.

I suspect that while the healthcare system is over-strained, they are performing FAR better than they're given credit for and this is why I think so:

- I show up in extreme pain but no outwardly terrible vitals: I can breathe normally, blood pressure and heart rate are normal and I have no fever. So they give me pain relief that works very quickly and say to wait;
- after a couple of hours, during which maybe four or five people get called all of whom were there before me and who also seemed to be in no immediate danger I get called in;
- the doctor listens to my account, says she has no real idea what is happening based on that and takes blood, urine, the usual poke/prod/listen and gets an ECG done and orders a chest x-ray. She sends me to wait at imaging. At this stage, there is still zero indication that this is anything cardiac;
- I wait at imaging for maybe 15 minutes, if that, at which point a nurse comes out at the same time I'm getting called to get x-rayed (I'm guessing by some luck not many people were needing x-rays) and tells me the doctor is concerned by my ECG so there is a bed ready for me in the resuscitation section;
- x-ray is done, I get set up in the bed and hooked up to all the monitoring stuff and everything starts moving very fast. Within an hour, from memory, I've been taken to do a contrast CT and they rule out a dissected aorta.

So my point is, the moment they realised something was going on with my heart, there was no waiting. Shit got done, and done quickly. I suspect the majority of these reports of unacceptable waiting times come from people who have no life threatening issues and are just sick and in pain. I've been in that situation in the ER too, and TBH never had an issue with waiting around because I wasn't at risk of carking it. I got given pain relief, and waited my turn. ER is just that, emergency. If your emergency isn't so serious you're going to have to wait a while.

My experience with socialized medicine matches this. You wait in an ER no matter where you are, you don't wait if they determine that it's serious. Complainers are paople that have never been anywhere and feel that waiting is some sort of social injustice. I have spent longer waiting for stuff in the US than anywhere else, and it cost me a damn fortune at the same time. By comparison Canada's system is light years ahead and I think that most of the UK/European/Western but not the US systems get slagged on unjustly.

Absolutely.

This didn't cost me a cent. This is including being in a private room for two days in the cardiac unit, and I know the actual cost is not small. I got the bills when I had the finger done because it was done under worker's compensation insurance and healthcare is not cheap. This would have been horrifically expensive if I had to pay for it.

I am so grateful we live somewhere emergency medical care is paid for by our taxes. It makes paying the taxes so much less painful.

[MarkKO]

So my point is, the moment they realised something was going on with my heart, there was no waiting. Shit got done, and done quickly. I suspect the majority of these reports of unacceptable waiting times come from people who have no life threatening issues and are just sick and in pain. I've been in that situation in the ER too, and TBH never had an issue with waiting around because I wasn't at risk of carking it. I got given pain relief, and waited my turn. ER is just that, emergency. If your emergency isn't so serious you're going to have to wait a while.

Yep, totally comports with my experience too, and our system down here is constantly being lambasted, particularly my local hospital which has very high rates of ambulance ramping. People don't understand the value of health care and expect to be seen immediately for every cut and bruise. We're drama queens. Everyone wants immediate service, but most expect the government to pay for it all. The people with chronic minor health conditions drain the system disproportionately (not always their fault, to be fair). Everyone else who very rarely uses it tends to suffer through long waiting times if they have non-emergency health scenarios but the system is very, very good at triaging. Personally in the last ten years I've had a few different non-urgent medical things dealt with, mostly in the public system but some in the private and I can honestly say that apart from having one operation postponed while I was in a bed waiting for anaesthetic (which was inconvenient, but nothing more) my experience was very good all the way through.

As of a year or so ago we have a non-emergency care centre here now which is a handy alternative to the Emergency Department, it costs money obviously but if we ever have a kid with a broken arm or something we'll head there instead of waiting at the hospital. Obviously not everyone can afford to do that and we are lucky, we're not rich but don't mind paying a little more to take the load off the public system in that situation.

Our two hospitals have a similar issue, which you'd be aware of having lived here. They service a large-ish portion of surrounding New South Wales as well as Canberra. That gets overlooked as well.

I think you hit the nail on the head with triaging. People don't understand that in an ER just because you feel like garbage and are in pain it doesn't mean a lot. Neither of those things will end your life, so you'll get pain relief and get seen when the people whose lives are at risk are taken care of.

We have walk in centres here run by ACT Health but they aren't super useful outside of the most basic stuff. They have no doctors, so what they can is limited.

[MarkKO]

I'm experiencing something of a quandry here.

I feel normal. Maybe a little tired, but barely.

I might go for a walk today to see how I pull up because honestly, if I feel normal it's going to be really GD hard to not do normal shit.

I'll talk to my GP about this when I see them on Wednesday. It isn't my usual GP, because he's away but the practice doctors are all good. We've been going there for years.

I understand why the recommendations are there, because you don't mess with your heart. I'm just trying to reconcile feeling normal with the idea that I'm significantly unwell.

I can get my head around missing the meet. That's a lot of stress on my whole body in the three-odd months leading in. A bummer, but it is what it is.

It's doing nothing for several weeks that I'm having a hard time with, unless of course I suddenly start feeling like garbage.

[Renascent]

I'm experiencing something of a quandry here.

I feel normal. Maybe a little tired, but barely.

I might go for a walk today to see how I pull up because honestly, if I feel normal it's going to be really GD hard to not do normal shit.

I'll talk to my GP about this when I see them on Wednesday. It isn't my usual GP, because he's away but the practice doctors are all good. We've been going there for years.

I understand why the recommendations are there, because you don't mess with your heart. I'm just trying to reconcile feeling normal with the idea that I'm significantly unwell.

I can get my head around missing the meet. That's a lot of stress on my whole body in the three-odd months leading in. A bummer, but it is what it is.

It's doing nothing for several weeks that I'm having a hard time with, unless of course I suddenly start feeling like garbage.

When do you find out how light exactly is "light training" supposed to be?