Today I wasn’t even five minutes into my walk around the Park before the chest pains started up. I walked the first quarter mile and started into the second before deciding it was probably not wise to keep going and get stuck having to walk all the way back. As much as I had wanted to take my usual mile and a half turn about Chavez Park, I decided to walk back to my usual post-walk perch (a bench looking out at the city of San Francisco) and note my observations about the pains, take my pulse (it was 124), and enjoy the beautiful Bay area day. (Pulse went down to 80 a little while later.) These chest pains are a somewhat serious phenomenon, as well as being irritating and inconvenient. Although I ignored them for a while (Chamblees tough things out), I have recently been in the process of getting myself checked out, with the strong encouragement of my physician sister. Of course doing this on somewhat limited health insurance has proven to be more costly, and I am reminded once again of the blessing and luxury it was to have employer-paid health insurance. I am grateful for the insurance I do have and shudder to think what this cardiac testing would have cost without any insurance.
Yesterday they put me on a treadmill with all these probes and things attached to measure my heart rate. Every three minutes the speed and incline of the treadmill automatically increased and after only ten minutes I was huffing and puffing and having almost nonexistent pain–my legs gave out before my heart did. They did an ultrasound of my heart before and after exercise so they could compare and see if it looked and acted any different after exertion than it did at rest. And darn it if there was almost no pain. The technician sent me on my way with confidence that I am basically okay. So how come today when I went to the Park and took my first few steps the chest pains returned? That’ll be the question I ask the cardiologist when I have a followup visit with him next week. Walking at Chavez Park has been such a wonderful part of each week over the past six months; being temporarily sidelined with heart stuff has been really challenging. I am reminded how very fortunate and blessed I am to be as able-bodied as I am. Like many women my age, I have my share of aches and pains, hot flashes, minor illnesses, etc. But throughout my life I have been blessed with full use of all my limbs, my senses, and mental and emotional capacities. I am grateful for having enjoyed good health. It is not something I take for granted.
Today I didn’t walk very far and get much exercise. But it was a beautiful day and I was able to bask in the beauty of the Park. My niece gave me a new camera for Christmas and I took some spectacular photos of squirrels and birds and bridges and buildings and of course the water of the San Francisco Bay. It was a good day. I am grateful.
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