Running Retro Sport Therapy

The hardest part post heart attack is finding your new normal while you recover.

This time last year I was racing at Oulton Park, this year I am working the event. I have worked with many of the crew since 2015 so know I am in safe hands. Check out OP Events (they do some fabulous races) Limited lifting and having a little chair on my marshal position if I need a rest.

The sun is out, I am having a good chest day where the pain is very low and feeling abit like my oldself. The layers are on so I keep toasty and warm to (as the cold can aggravate my chest).

Have a fabulous Sunday.

Forgot to give an update post hospital visit. I had a few people panic message me. Don’t worry still ticking along.

I was kept in for the night on a random side room ward just off A&E. It certainly gave me more content for my book. It was confirmed another flare up of the Dressler syndrome. Not another heart attack. Hurrah. We do not want to repeat heart attack.

The doctors have changed my medication again to see if that helps. The issue with an autoimmune response is the body can just decide to go, ‘oh heck no, we are going back into ninja 🥷 mode’.

Still haven’t been pain free since my heart attack but it doesn’t feel like I am walking with an elephant sat on my chest.

I have a CT scan due next week so that will give abit more information on what the next phase is.

Here we go….again. Bored now!

I am back in A&E with another flare up. Tightness in my chest like I have an elephant sat on it. Pain radiating along the sternum (chest bone) and a dull ache where the SCAD occurred. Had to have an ambulance ride from Urgent Care to A&E. I just wanted some stronger pain killers. Nope it all got very dramatic and they were like you can’t leave. I was put in a room and they watched me so I couldn’t leave.

Ambulance 🚑 crew when they saw me was like ‘we don’t get many of you’. I explain that it’s not the first time that someone has said this to me. 😂 Quite quickly they realised there are not many of me. 😂

I am on a new ward. This hospital is a maze. It’s a bad sign that I am starting to recognise the staff 😂 instead of the sights of A&E I am in a little HUB ward. This is exciting! I have a blanket and comfy chair.

Bloods have been taken. ECG has been done. Well I have actually had three of these. Just waiting for the results of the bloods and review with the doctor.

In my time here I have managed to find a local plastering short course that looks fun 😂 and it looks to target women which is also pretty cool.

Where has all the this rain come from!? Not going to lie. I actually don’t mind the rain. My all time favourite rain is when you are walking in the woods.

Lots of positive news today. ❤️‍🩹💜

My cardiologist has said I am ok to return to work! But, there are rules! I have to avoid extreme exertion. It will be a phased return to work so I am not putting too much stress on my body too soon. This means the MRI has come back positive.

Today I attended a cardiac rehabilitation classroom session. The majority of the presentation was about healthy diet. I follow all the items suggested in the first anyway, but the cause of my heart attack is t unhealthy lifestyle. They did heavily talk about mental health and mindset. I feel like I have spent years managing my mindset through all my training and races so I overall feel pretty good. I just have to work on my confidence through the rehab to trust my body again.

The best bit is the Cardiac Rehab team have requested my MRI results so that they can look at getting me into cardiac rehabilitation sooner! Hurrah. Now it’s going to be low level stuff to start with but excited to get a routine back. I love being active and it’s one step to get myself back to doing the things I love.

Watch this space. Like a phoenix 🐦‍🔥 I will get back to thriving again.

Today I was supposed to be racing at Ironman Estonia. Life can be humbling sometimes. So instead I ate a scone the size of my face, did a short walk to breathe in some sea air along the Anglesey coast, read some of my book and had some alcohol free Prosecco while watching a jungle telly.

Considering walking up the stairs when I was first home from my heart attack was overwhelming, I am proud I am getting better each day.

9 weeks post SCAD

Doing this zen thing people talk about. Needless to say after one hmmm song, my very active brain was like right, completed that what’s next 😂😂😂

As you can see I am home. Hurrah! The finish line wasn’t a hospital bed as a medal. I got to come home. Completed over 28 hours in A&E and was awake for 41 hours straight with 30min in total of napping time. I most certainly feel like I have completed an ultramarathon.

Essentially they did another blood test to confirm that there was definitely no change in my heart troponin and no sign of an infection. It has all come back clear. Between me and the consultant we are following up with Liverpool to get my scans dates. There is scope to change my medication but as my liver function is slightly off they want to do the scans first to check everything and then make a plan.

❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹Things I learnt ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

🩷 If I wanted to do a 24 hour or longer timed ultramarathon again, I have the capacity to stay awake.

🩷 I taught 9 people in a meaningful conversation about SCAD which could help people in the future.

🩷 I have great mental resilience and even when worried, tired and hangry I have the ability not to be a dick.

🩷 I am great at creating my own entertainment when I am on my own. Life will always be an adventure 🥰

🩷 I have absolutely no issues talking to anyone within my proximity. I most certainly am not shy.

🩷 I will continue to live by the quote that ‘Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History’. Once this heart is ‘fixed’ I am going to continue to be bold with my ideas.

🩷 I am going to write a book called ‘Skip a Beat’. It will be an Adrian Mole inspired diary adventure of a women that had a heart attack. It might sound familiar to some people 😂

I most likely need to catch up with sleep at some point. But riding the positive wave that I haven’t had another heart attack and it’s just my body trying to keep fixing itself. One day at a time