Yeah .... we've been quiet the past couple of months in terms of kayaking. Not only has the south coast been pounded by winter storms, we even got some snow this past weekend here in balmy Victoria, BC. Just as we were getting all geared up for a busy couple months of playtime and completing our Paddle Canada Level 2 certification our kayaks sorta got yanked from beneath our butts. At least for the next little while.
Some of you might have known that I was experiencing a condition called Atrial Fibrillation (A-Fib) for the past several months. Gradually it has gotten worse and this week I was expedited into the the Victoria Atrial Fibrillation Clinic program to get it looked at and hopefully fixed. What is A-Fib you might ask? Well it simply is when the electrical impulses in the heart create a condition that cause the right side of the heart not to work in the same rhythm as the left side. In my case my left side has been beating about 2.5 x faster than my right side which over time weakens the heart muscle, increases the risk of stroke and just makes doing normal activities uncomfortable.
So what does this mean? Well in four weeks time I will go through a procedure called cardioversion where a defibrillator will be used to shock my heart back into rhythm. It's a common procedure in cases like mine and if successful I'll be back to feeling great about 6 weeks later. In the meantime I'm taking meds for rate control of my heart to try and give it a little rest. As my doctor said yesterday "It's like your heart has been running a marathon 24/7 for the last 7 months and it's tired". Ya .... me too!
Anyway ... 9 weeks and 6 days from now (May 6th ish) it should be all taken care of. Yes I'm counting the days down until I can get back to pushing the envelope a bit in my kayak. If I can convince Robyn in the meantime, we might just do a little shoreline super relaxed paddling and she can work on her towing skills with me. :-) Ya right!!
So what does this mean? Well in four weeks time I will go through a procedure called cardioversion where a defibrillator will be used to shock my heart back into rhythm. It's a common procedure in cases like mine and if successful I'll be back to feeling great about 6 weeks later. In the meantime I'm taking meds for rate control of my heart to try and give it a little rest. As my doctor said yesterday "It's like your heart has been running a marathon 24/7 for the last 7 months and it's tired". Ya .... me too!
Anyway ... 9 weeks and 6 days from now (May 6th ish) it should be all taken care of. Yes I'm counting the days down until I can get back to pushing the envelope a bit in my kayak. If I can convince Robyn in the meantime, we might just do a little shoreline super relaxed paddling and she can work on her towing skills with me. :-) Ya right!!
We're sending good thoughts and vibes your way, Mark. You'll be back and blogging from the kayak cockpit in no time at all - with a perfect cadence in both heart beat and paddle stroke. :) Warm wishes to you and Robyn.
ReplyDeleteThanks Duncan & Joan,
DeleteSorry for the delay in responding. I had the moderation approval turned on due to some spam responses lately. :-)
Now is the perfect time for reflection on what is important in life. Waiting is the hardest part to get this thing fixed. I'm hoping for 9 weeks at this point but it could be longer if the procedure doesn't work which is 50/50. They say patience is a virtue .... I'm being tested on that one. LOL
I have been using some of the down time learning more about social media and have some plans for the evolution of the Gecko Paddler blog.
Cheers,
Mark
Become an armchair kayaker. We have some kayak training videos and would love to have you and Robyn join us for an evening of viewing those with snacks.
ReplyDeleteLOL .. you mean more of an armchair kayaker which is what I usually do when I'm not on the water. Yes .... a great opportunity to soak up training reference material to fix the little things on the water.
DeleteMark