And the Beat Goes On

Howdy folks!! 

I hope that you're having a great week so far!

I'm having an interesting one, to say the least!! 

I'm still experimenting with the pressure cooker that I got for Christmas. So far, the verdict is that it's AWESOME!!  Last Saturday, after running 6 miles then shopping/running errands all day, I came home tired and worn out. I had to work on Sunday so I just wanted to sit down and relax, but something had to be fixed for supper. So, I threw some stew meat in the cooker on the brown setting. While it browned, I prepared onions, carrots, potatoes and celery. After the meat was brown, I added beef broth, onion, garlic, and spices. I cooked it for 15 minutes, then I added the veggies and some frozen peas and cooked for 15 more minutes. It was so easy and delicious!!  We had a hot, hearty meal in an hour and I still had time to rest before work on Sunday! I found the recipe for the stew here. To keep it GF, I used cornstarch instead of flour. And I like tomatoes in my stew so next time, I will use tomato juice or canned tomatoes.

So, in other news......for about 2 weeks now, I've been having heart palpitations off and on. I'm having what are called PVC's. A premature ventricular contraction (PVC) is a too-early heartbeat that originates in the ventricles and disrupts the heart’s normal rhythm. The pattern is a normal beat, an extra beat (the PVC), a slight pause, then a stronger-than-normal beat. The heart fills with more blood during the pause following the PVC, giving  the next beat extra force. This pattern may occur randomly or at definite intervals. Almost everyone has PVCs at some time, from childhood through adulthood. Healthy people of any age can experience PVCs. In most cases of occasional PVCs the underlying cause cannot be identified. PVCs that occur frequently or for longer periods of time are more likely to be related to heart disease, an injury to the heart or other, non-cardiac conditions such as a chemical imbalance in the body.  Certain medications, alcohol, illegal drugs and high levels of adrenaline due to stress, exercise or caffeine also can cause PVCs. They were occurring randomly and didn't seem to correlate with my exercise or caffeine intake. They've been occurring mostly in the morning while I'm getting ready for work. It's been a daily occurrence but they usually don't last very long. Well this week on both Sunday and Tuesday mornings, the episodes were sustained for 1-2 hours. On Tuesday, when I arrived at work, my co-workers insisted that I go to the ER to get it checked out. That was an ordeal!!

I got in and was seen quickly. An EKG was done, an IV was placed, and labs were drawn, then I waited! I got the results of my labs/EKG about 2 hours later. All was normal but they wanted to keep me for observation. There was no way I was staying in the hospital overnight, so I arranged an outpatient follow up with a cardiologist and insisted that they discharge me. I followed up with the cardiologist yesterday. He drew some additional lab and put me on a heart monitor that I will wear for the next 30 days. I'm also having an exercise stress test in 2 weeks. So, hopefully this will be an issue that can easily be fixed with a little medication and hopefully not life altering . I did my back and biceps workout last night without difficulty except the monitor started squealing like mad during the warm up "light jog" Tonight, I'm coaching the Pathways group. It should be interesting with this thing in place. I suspect that it will mistake the increased pulse rate for an arrhythmia and squeal the whole time. We shall see!

The ER was an interesting experience. The doctors saw fit to keep reminding me that "you're not getting any younger" and one portly physician actually told me "unless you're Whole Foods #1 customer and I highly doubt it, then you should be taking supplements" I wanted to say "Well listen here mister! How rude!!  You obviously don't know who you're talking to and don't have the right to make such judgements or statements. And it looks like you could benefit from shopping at Whole Foods a little bit, then maybe you wouldn't need those supplements!!" And its funny how all my co-workers/friends have suddenly become doctors. They've all diagnosed me with anxiety, panic attacks, stress and told me I exercise too much! UGH!!  We'll see what the professional that I entrusted my heart to has to say in a few weeks!!  I suspect they'll all be wrong and this is just some anomaly. At least that's what I'm hoping for! I'll keep you all posted!

Until next time--get up, get out, and get moving! Make today ridiculously amazing!!

Your friend,

Theresa