Okay, fine. I guess I'm just going to have to be a happy "heart patient." On one of my last visits with my PCP, I argued that I wasn't one, but she just told me we could disagree on that point. Today, for the second time, I asked the cardiologist to reverse the CHF diagnosis. No surprise - it was a "no" again. His nurse did tell me I have the better kind of  CHF though and she agreed with me that it is mild - but must be managed. So I suppose I will just concede and be content to be a heart patient....at the Oklahoma Heart Hospital. Sigh. But there is some real good news today and still a few modifications to be made. He had all the results from my tests they did last week. The worst of it is not really all that bad - but several things that just need to be closely monitored. I guess I'll be making more trips out to OHH. I do have a leaky valve but it's not bad - just gotta keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get worse on me. My blood...

I hope your screen is big enough to see the faded out 1 - that's an 11:19. That's pretty slow for some of the young pups I know - but for a fat old lady diagnosed with congestive heart failure - it's good to see those double ones out front again. After nearly a year and a half of not feeling good, I'm finally feeling so much better. I'm still off my blood pressure meds and feeling wonderful still. I've been taking it easy but am feeling well enough to push it just a bit. How will I know my new limits if I don't? Three weeks of my meds and actually, my heart rate is still too low some nights to even take it according to the cardiologist. His orders were to not take it unless my pulse was at least 55 but most nights I'm running around 51 or 52. My blood pressure is totally fine too. No spikes! I'm so happy - and being so so good. I don't think I've ever used "happy" and "good" in a sentence in a positive connota...

Well, it's off and in the mail on its way to the cardiologist. I called the nurse today and she had me send my blood pressure and pulse for the last two weeks in so the doctor can look it over. I confessed that I never started the blood pressure meds again even though my pulse came back up. I promised to monitor my blood pressure closely if he will "okay" me staying off the meds. Fingers crossed and hoping! The second test came when I jumped on the treadmill this afternoon to get in a 10 miler. I lived! Actually, I don't know when I've done that many on the treadmill before but I did it today. I felt pretty strong for almost the whole run and still feel fine now. This was a big test for me - of course I don't always know until the next day if it's an overdo or not -- have to wait 'til morning. I can't believe the energy I've had and been able to maintain. I've also continued to take it a little easier than I would want to but for righ...

So today I had one of the worst days I've had in awhile. I actually haven't felt really good all week long. I was excited to get out and get a run in since it was my first "official" run to begin my marathon training even though I haven't settled on a good plan yet. I'm still looking and tweaking to see what's going to work best. That's okay since I planned on starting after I finish the OKC half here in another week or so. I'm thinking I have a little time yet to decide. I did get in 3 miles this morning - well it was early afternoon really. It was a little warm but the clouds made it bearable for the most part. I just felt so sluggish. My chest was really uncomfortable but by about mile 1.5 I started feeling better. I still didn't push it much because I really don't  want to overdo it. I know that causes the biggest setbacks in training and in how I feel. Actually, I'm not real sure why I don't feel real good now. I've been ...