An Opportunistic Heart

What keeps me moving is necessity, opportunity, flexibility, and the simple joy of being outdoors. I have always taken pleasure in outdoor activity and have been fortunate enough to have rural or suburban streets and sidewalks around me that were fairly safe to walk on. To this day, most of my activity is done outdoors, mainly walking and biking. Events in 2014 and 2015 and, now COVID-19, have, despite everything, led me to increase and vary my exercise.

2014 was a stressful year for me. Although most of that was “good stress,” it was still a tense and uncertain period in my life. I bought my first house and moved, albeit only about 40 miles. Also, my beloved cat almost died weeks after I moved, necessitating days of emergency vet care. On one summer day, when my cat, Cinder, was clearly on the path to recovery, I had a serious dizzy spell. On the advice of a cousin, I took my blood pressure. It was 204/125. I drove myself to an urgent care clinic, then to the emergency room. Several prescriptions and a visit with a cardiologist specializing in congenital issues later, I was diagnosed with a bicuspid aortic valve. This should not have surprised me because two of my first cousins on my mother’s side have the same condition. It is also prevalent among women who, like I do, have Turner Syndrome. Since I had gained a significant amount of weight for a woman my size, I knew that one thing I could do to alleviate my situation was to get more light or moderate aerobic activity. I started making a point of not only taking 30-minute walks around my neighborhood but taking shorter walks around work and doing opportunistic things like using the bathroom on the second floor at work.

This worked well enough and the doctor was happy with me but I did start to backslide a bit and become complacent until, a year later, my car died. It overheated and stalled when I was driving it. As some of you may know, that pretty much means an engine replacement and, as you may also guess, the fact that I bought a house and spent thousands of dollars at the vet the previous year, meant I couldn’t really afford either another engine or another car. New Orleans is many things but it does not have good public transportation. However, it is flat and there are bike lanes and a park on most of the 3.5 miles between my home and work, so I became a cyclist. This did take some adjustment. For example, I didn’t really have the ability to shower at work but I found that a change of clothes or, at least, shirt, combined with wet wipes, facial cleanser wipes, dry shampoo, and travel deodorant kept me from being offensive, even in the heat of a Louisiana summer. I thoroughly enjoyed being a cyclist and biked to grocery stores, coffee houses, and restaurants as well as work.

COVID-19 changed my situation yet again and gave me another occasion to change and increase my activity. Unfortunately, I don’t have as much impetus to get on my bike because there are so few places I want to go to now. However, working from home has given me the freedom to increase my walking. Since the quarantine began, I have been walking at least twice a day and one of those walks is for an hour. Also, I unearthed my old step platform and have regularly done 15-minute episodes of step aerobics to supplement the extensive walking and the odd bike ride I still do.

It can also be helpful to find tools that will spur you to activity. I have had a Fitbit for years. Seeing that step-count go up makes me much more likely to take shorter, bonus walks, which add up. WW is also a good tool because you can convert those daily steps to WW points. Find what works for you, though. My mother found a free app that counts her steps. There are a lot of apps out there that help track your activity. If nothing else, such aids will help you see even small bouts of movement as opportunites to add steps.

The result of all this is that I have stayed very active and have turned challenges into opportunities to stay in movement. This may not cure a congenital heart defect but it has helped me stay generally healthy. There was talk, at my last cardiologist appointment, about getting off of one of my blood pressure medications and I have lost weight. Activity also improves my mental state, particularly if it is outdoor activity. Necessity keeps me moving because humans are animals and there is a deep instinct to not expend energy if we don’t have to. Seeing opportunities to move and taking them is also important. Establishing routines is important but having the flexibility to create new routines quickly when challenges arise will keep you from getting derailed.