Last week I told you about Dad’s adventure that ended with him getting a pacemaker. This week I’d like to talk about the rehab involved. As a healthy, fit 87 year old, the pacemaker basically solved the problem.
Even as they wheeled him back to his room, his heart was beating a steady, unchanging 60 beats per minute. Even though that might be pretty low for most folks, I can’t remember the time his heart rate was that high.
Pacemaker recipients have to be pretty careful of their arm for awhile. Since they put it on the left side, Dad had to wear a sling to keep his left arm immobilized for 48 hours.
A LOT OF HEART
Posted: February 13, 2011
I was planning on writing this article over the weekend like I usually do, but something came up. Actually it went down. We got the call from the E.R. nurse at Paris Community Hospital Friday night around 11:00 pm. They said that Dad had passed out and hit the floor at Wal-Mart and now he was out at the E.R.
He’d hit his head, which produced a healthy bump that required 2 staples, so they were doing a CAT scan to make sure there wasn’t any internal bleeding. The real worry though, was the fact that he blacked out, which caused the fall.
Now Dad’s heart rate is exceptionally low, especially for an 87 year old. But that night, it hit a new low. I watched the monitor hover around 45-46 beats per minute, and once it dipped as low as 43 bpm! They kept him overnight for observation and after further testing, transferred him over to Union Hospital in Terre Haute so he could be seen by a cardiologist.
A NEW YEAR, A NEW YOU–PART 5 (LASTING CHANGE)
Posted: February 07, 2011
Since Monday was the January 31st, I thought perhaps we could squeeze one more article out of this series before we can’t call it a new year anymore. Technically, we were still in January so it works for me.
Anyway, we’ve talked about how to start the year off right by setting goals, finding things that work for you, and doing things you like. All of these things will help you get what you really want: lasting results.
This is probably even more important than the initial changes themselves. Here’s why. I’ll bet you’ve heard of the yo-yo syndrome. This is where people take the weight off, and then put it right back on.
A NEW YEAR, A NEW YOU–PART 4 (DO WHAT YOU LIKE)
Posted: January 29, 2011
Not everybody loves working out. It’s tough for me to understand, because it’s fun for me—maybe even more than fun. I guess it stems from me not being able to workout as a kid.
Back then, my asthma was so bad, just about anything at all triggered attacks. They didn’t have much in the way of medicine back then, so the doctors were very cautious. Basically, I couldn’t do anything.
A couple years ago, I had a chance to go back to Angola and do a concert at the same church I grew up in. Afterward, they had a little get-together and I had a chance to meet many of the people that came to the event.
A NEW YEAR, A NEW YOU–PART 3 (WHAT REALLY WORKS?)
Posted: January 18, 2011
Have you seen those ads with those new devices that you hold and shake, that are supposed to take the place of all those machines and exercises that you’d do in the gym. Do they work? Well, it depends. Let’s take a look at it.
Of course the model demonstrating the device in the ad is absolutely ripped, and having a great time using it. But do you think they got that way with that particular device? Most likely it was lots of hard work doing all the traditional things in the gym.
But there is actually some science behind those things. When we started sending people into space, they discovered that they came back with smaller, weaker muscles.