Yesterday was my orientation to cardiac rehab. They discussed the program, asked me a boat load of questions and gave me a tracking sheet where I have to enter EVERY MORSEL of food I eat for a week....A WEEK!

The nurse and exercise physiologist were happy with the notes they were given on my condition and expect that I will be able to handle the program without any trouble. That was yesterday...

Today I took my first turn on the "track". It is a taped off oval on the floor of the fitness room where rehab takes place, so to call it a track is a bit of an overstatement.

The hour goes like this:

• I weigh in. Yep I actually weigh myself every time. Oh, and by the way, did I mention I have lost over 15 lbs since November 22?
• I put on the leads for my portable EKG. I will wear this every session so that they can constantly monitor my heart rhythms.
• 10 minutes of warm-up and 40 minutes of workout; again, a bit of an overstatement, gentle walking.
• Finally 5 minutes of cool-down and stretching

Went pretty well, my heat rate stayed below 110 the whole time. My BP was normal, & my blood oxygen saturation was improving. I hope to be getting much more aggressive as the weeks progress.

Okay, let's get back to the story...

Sunday, Nov. 22 - 11 am

By this point, I have gotten the blockage cleared and a stent put into my Left Anterior Descending Artery (it is called the "widowmaker"). In addition, I have a balloon pump inside my heart. It is beating in rhythm with my heart to prevent overstressing the muscle. Lucky me, apparently most people don't get to have this one.

If you are trying to picture it, I have a tube in my wrist that goes to the main artery of the most important part of the heart. I ALSO have a tube in me that goes from my leg, up the femoral artery, into my heart with a balloon on it, that is basically pumping for my heart.

I am on 100% oxygen, dopamine to keep my heart rate "low" (if you can call 90 low) and a low does morphine drip to keep the pain down.

Because of the catheter in my leg, I was on my back, with my leg cocked to the side like a figure 4 and not allowed to move for about 10-12 hours. The cramp in my leg was so bad, that 2 added doses of morphine didn't touch the stinging pain. Imagine your whole leg cramped from your hip to your knee for a few hours and you'll get a sense of how it felt. Oh, and guys....I can't get up to use the restroom, so I have one OTHER thing sticking out of me.

None of those things hurt like the chest cramps though. These were odd and no one knew why they were happening. Periodically, I would just cramp up from my chest to my waist; every muscle, every nerve ending would just fire off & contract. The pain in my breast plate was so intense I had to try breathing exercises just to get through it, I tried to deep breathe, then I settled on short, breaths making sure I got them in and out....ladies? sound familiar?...You guessed it, Ashley said it looked and sounded like I was having labor contractions. So, I guess that puts me n pretty rare company, a man who has experienced SOME degree of labor pains.

These last few days, you have read and tried to picture what a I looked and felt like. If you will come back tomorrow, you will get to SEE what I looked like & hopefully get a sense of how I felt. I'll be posting some pictures of myself in the Cardiac ICU.

God bless.