Sharon’s blog: DayBooks
Have a heart. Well, with luck. I’m typing this post from Valparaiso, with a sweeping view down a cat-encrusted hill down to the harbor. Life seems good. Just a month ago I was iffy — hanging by a portable defibrillator. Thinking our summer travel to South America (what we retired for) might be out of reach. Even though I gave the device a name, it was hardly a pet. It dragged me down.
As I felt better and better (after my winter hospitalization for pneumonia) it seemed unfair to lug around this reminder of illness — everywhere, all day (except for the daily breaks for shower and handstands). I felt internally whiney. I felt outwardly cranky. And the ongoing tests did not improve my mood. I had always been so well! Even in sickness.
One more test: in the nuclear medicine department. Injection with something radioactive. Then I have to lie completely still for half an hour or so under some sort of scanner. I am good at this. I do yoga after all. Meditation has never been my strongest limb, but I’ve been working on it of late. I completely wow the technician. He’s never known someone to do this so well: lie still. I take it as a sign.
And yes, I ace the test (almost). My ejection fraction has risen to almost normal range. I can kick Henry to the curb. Few things have given me more pleasure than packing him up and taking him to the UPS store.
And here I am in Valparaiso, doing my yoga practice while I look at freighters in the harbor. To my two great life thrills of 2014: getting out of the hospital and getting rid of the defibrillator I can add a third: being in South America yet again, understanding and speaking Spanish better every day. And Argentina is in the World Cup final!!!!!!
I know soon enough I’ll feel annoyance at something. I’ll be bored for a bit. I’ll have an ache and/or a pain. But for now I’m breathing freely, even with pleasure.
My electrophysiologist (heart electrician) said I should stick to drawing feet — and leave the hearts to her.