The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • I Still Have a Defective Heart

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    Ruth Carter

    Atrial Septal Defect - Image from Wikipedia (Creative Commons Image)
    Atrial Septal Defect – Image from Wikipedia (Creative Commons Image)

    Let me start this post with a correction: I misheard my cardiologist last week. I thought he said I have a ventricular septal defect. He actually said I have an atrial septal defect. Today when we went over the results of my tests, he told me I have, not 1, but 2 holes between my atriums.

    The human heart isn’t that big. How is it possible that I have 2 holes in one little area?

    The rest of my tests were unremarkable. Nothing unusual showed up when I wore a heart monitor for 24 hours and my stress test looked good. Overall, my doctor is unsure what’s causing my symptoms – the chest pain, the fatigue, and the night sweats. He prescribed me a low-dose beta-blocker and said I can go back on ibuprofen for pain. (Yay!) My beta blocker dose is so low my pharmacy had to special order it. Since I’m so small, my doctor’s having me only take half a pill every other day for the first five days to see how I adjust to it. (He said it could make me tired.)

    My cardiologist also referred me to another heart specialist to evaluate whether my heart defect is causing my problems and whether they should be surgically sealed. Apparently this guy specializes in these types of defects. I hope it doesn’t take weeks to get an appointment. If my defect should be patched, they go in through the groin, not open heart surgery. That was good to hear.

    My doctor said I’m allowed to try running again. I was pretty nervous to see how my stamina is after not running for nearly 3 weeks. I was slated to do 5 miles today and I opted to do it on the treadmill where I could control my speed. I ended up doing a run/walk combo and finished in 53:58. I think that’s a good start. My chest hurt a little bit at first but settled down by mile 3.

    I’m scheduled to do 14 miles on Saturday and I think I’ll do it on the treadmill again where it will be easier to manage speed, take breaks, and have snacks. For now, my plan is to keep following my marathon training program, but modify it by walking and running my miles as needed.

  • Marathon Training Week 13 Recap: Walking Sucks

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    Ruth Carter

    This was a challenging week of training. I saw my cardiologist on Monday and he said I could only walk, not run until we got the results of the tests he ordered (ultrasound, stress test, and heart monitor). There are two main challenges with walking: (1) it takes a lot longer than running and (2) it’s boring!

    Walking with Heather
    Walking with Heather

    I’m still sticking to Hal Higdon’s marathon training program for novices, but walking my miles. I hope I can still do Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona in January.

    Monday: Rest Day.

    Tuesday: I had work commitments early in the morning so I opted to do my 4 miles in evening – on the treadmill. That thing still feels like a human hamster wheel. Maintaining a 4 mph pace was pretty challenging.

    Wednesday: I walked 9 miles today. It took 2.5 hours. It’s so frustrating that I can’t run. I think it’s starting to make me batty.

    Walking with Lawton & Oscar
    Walking with Lawton & Oscar

    Thursday: I was scheduled to walk 5 miles today but I ended up walking 5.4. I did it first thing in the morning which made it less painful. I also had my stress test that morning, so I had to be caffeine-free for 24 hours and not eat for 4 hours before the test, so taking a walk kept me occupied.

    Friday:  Rest Day.

    Counting Loops
    Counting Loops

    Saturday:  I walked 19 miles today, and it took over 5.5 hours to finish it. I walked from my place to ASU Tempe campus, walked 4 loops around campus, and then home again. My friends Heather and Lawton (with her adorable dog Oscar) joined me for part of the walk which made it much more bearable – Thanks so much! Every time I finished a looped, I marked it on my wrist with a Sharpie pen so I wouldn’t lose track of myself. I kept myself energized with water, GU Chomps, and an energy bar.

    Here’s another reason why walking sucks – when you’re walking long distance, you feel the pain of your first miles before you’re done with your last mile. When I run, I’m done after a few hours and I’m home before the pain sets in. My hamstrings were killing me by the time I got home.

    Sunday:  Yesterday’s walk gave me heat rash on both my feet and ankles – sexy I know. The last thing I want to do is put on socks or shoes. I’m technically supposed to do cross training on Sundays, but I walked 19 miles yesterday. I’m not doing anything today. (I think the heat rash is nature’s way to saying I’m not meant to be a long distance walker.)

    I’ll see my cardiologist this Thursday. So far he’s said I have a hole in my heart and that my heart skips beats. I hope he’ll know what’s wrong with me and that he says I can run short distances so I can alternate running and walking for the rest of my training and through the race.

    Weekly Totals:
    Running:  0 miles
    Walking:  37.4 miles
    Push-ups:  0 push-ups

  • I Have a Defective Heart

    ·

    Ruth Carter

    Who has two thumbs and a heart defect?
    This guy!

    Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) - Creative Commons Image from Wikipedia
    Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) – Creative Commons Image from Wikipedia

    I feel like I’ve been living at my cardiologist’s office this week. I was in this morning for my stress test when my doctor pulled me aside to share some news about my ultrasound. (That raised a big red flag since I wasn’t expecting any results until next week when all my tests were done.) He told me that I have ventricular septal defect (VSD), better known as a hole in my heart. It’s a genetic defect where there’s a hole between the ventricals of your heart. My doctor said ~10% of the population has it, and not everyone has health problems as a result, so we don’t know if mine is causing or contributing to my chest pain at this point.

    (Of course you know the moment I got out of my doctor’s office, the first thing I did was call my parents and say, “It’s all your fault.”)

    Then he reminded me not to run this weekend – I can walk instead.

    Once I was done talking with my doctor, I got to have my stress test – that’s the one where you run on the treadmill with electrodes attached to your chest. They gave me a half gown thing to wear over my electrodes, but I was in a sports bra and I have no modesty issues so I opted to run without it. I had 8 electrodes on my chest and a blood pressure cuff on my arm where my tech periodically took my blood pressure. We had to go up four levels to get my heart rate up high enough – the speed and incline increased with each level. At each level, the machine produced an EKG printout. When it got challenging, the real issue wasn’t the speed, it was the incline. My calves and hamstrings were burning. I’m glad it only took 14 minutes to get through this.

    The worst part about doing a stress test is you can’t have caffeine for 24 hours before the test. I popped a caffeine pill the moment my test was over.

    My Holter ECG
    My Holter ECG

    After my stress test, they stuck a Holter ECG on me for 24 hours. It’s a heart monitor with 5 electrodes that connect to a recorder box that clips to my hip. When I saw the box, my first thought was “1990 called. They want their pager back.” With all these cords hanging off me, I feel like I’m wearing 5 iPods. For the duration of this test I’m not allowed to shower or sweat and they gave me a log to record any pain, dizziness, or other symptoms. I ‘m afraid one of the electrodes will come loose so I keep pushing on them. I probably look like I’m molesting myself. We’ll see how easy it is to sleep with this on my body.

    I’ll see my doctor next Thursday to get the results of all my tests and hopefully he’ll have a proposed plan of action to deal with my pain. Until then, I’ll still train for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, but I’ll be walking my miles.