Tuesday night: first walk since Sunday's almost-heart-attack. I marched straight out of the office, through the neighborhood between me and the Yangjae Creek, followed the Yangjae to where it met the Tan Creek, followed the Tan Creek out to the Han River, then turned around and marched to my place. Didn't stop once.
The walk route in itself wasn't special, and if I'm not mistaken, starting from the office made this a short 7K stroll (starting from my apartment = 9K). No—what made this walk special was that I experienced not a twinge of chest pain the entire time. I started walking and kept right on walking. So this leaves me to wonder: am I currently nitroglycerin powered? How long do the effects of a dose of nitroglycerin last, normally?
A quick and superficial bit of research reveals that nitroglycerin is a vasodilator: it widens and relaxes your constricted blood vessels, easing the heart's burden. The effect occurs within 1-5 minutes of placing the pill under the tongue... but I'm having a devil of a time finding information on how long nitroglycerin, as a chemical, stays in the body and keeps producing effects. This page suggests that, after the initial immediate effect, the tablet's metabolites (byproducts of metabolism) can remain in the body for longer. Whether these metabolites produce lingering effects is unclear. This page, and many like it, concentrates exclusively on unwanted side effects, not salubrious reactions.
Of course, I'm assuming that tonight's awesome walk (there were times when I felt I could have broken into a run) was thanks to the nitroglycerin. It might not have been: I also fasted all day yesterday and today (I did eat a keto snack late last night and again tonight after I got back from the walk), so it's possible that the lack of chest pain had to do with fasting and not the little miracle pill. But I've fasted and then walked before, and I can say with assurance that there was chest pain every time I did that. Walking totally pain-free, since leaving the hospital, is new to me.
Tonight was the first time I could walk at my usual, pre-hospitalization pace and not feel a blessed thing. The walk was special precisely because it was normal, and I'd almost forgotten what a normal walk could feel like. My next walk will be Thursday night; I'll be curious to see how that one goes. And no, I'm not going to try to narrow the variables down by taking another pill when I obviously no longer have to.
I'll report again with more bad theories after Thursday night's walk. In thinking out loud about the problem as I write this entry, I'm coming to realize that the lack of pain might not be thanks to that tablet. Maybe it was psychological: when I left the hospital, my heart had a clenched and tentative aspect to it, but after taking the nitro this past Sunday, my body "realized" it didn't need to clench so hard, so everything relaxed during tonight's walk.
Hey, it's a theory.
When I see the docs on July 12, I'll ask them about the problem. Here's hoping I understand the answer: I'm at the limits of my Korean when I talk to docs.
Upshot: for the moment, I feel great. What a difference.
Great news. Whatever the reason/cause, it is good to be unburdened with pain and worry. Do you carry a nitro tablet with you when you hike?
ReplyDeleteSo, if you're full of nitroglycerin, does this mean if I whack you with a hammer you will explode?
ReplyDeleteC,
ReplyDeleteNext time we meet, bring a hammer.
Don't believe the metabolites from nitroglycerin remain in your bloodstream for long, but it certainly sounds like you're experiencing a very positive reset. And going carb-free (or nearly carb-less) will definitely help. Things are looking up.
ReplyDeleteNo more explosive machinations of the intestinal kind, I'm hoping?
Intestinally, things seem under control. But you know the 새옹지마 story of the poor old man and the horse? I'm expecting something very bad to follow on the heels of this good news. Colon cancer, maybe.
ReplyDeleteHad to look that one up, actually. So, I'm guessing it equates to something along the lines of "the silver lining," "the light at the end of the tunnel," or "a blessing in disguise"?
ReplyDeleteIf anything, I'd say your colon is probably on the very healthy side and the timing/dosage of the meds were probably to blame for last week's misadventures.
Perhaps outfitting your lower half in some appropriate attire (may I suggest https://www.kolonsport.com/, the very finest in local sportswear, with an obvious eye towards the discriminating yet intestinally active outdoorsy type) may leave you better prepared for any future episodes?
Well, that's my daily dose of failed humor. (Makes me appreciate the wry humor on Hairy Chasms and John's LTG all the more.)
But whatever the cause, fingers crossed this break from heart pain and stomach distress becomes something more permanent. All's well that doesn't end in a runny, heaping lump of you know what being deposited where it shouldn't.
I think 새옹지마 originated in China. The old man represents equanimity in the face of good and bad fortune because the central lesson is that fortune turns on a dime, and when life is that precarious, the best attitude is one of balanced aplomb. However, in Korean culture, the meaning changed slightly if subtitles are any indication: I saw and heard "새옹지마" used in the series "The Great Queen Seon-deok," and the subtitles translated it as "irony." I can't explain the change in meaning, but such a change is often what happens as a cultural trope passes from one culture to another.
ReplyDeleteI've written about this elsewhere on the blog.
Ha ha, yes—I'll try to be more intestinally careful. Thanks.
Will need to look that up. Thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteFate is indeed a cruel and often unpredictable mistress. I'll leave you with a link to Seneca's Epistle 54, which ranks right up there with Ecclesiastes and Camus' Myth of Sisyphus as one of the wiser treatises on the human condition..
https://digressionsnimpressions.typepad.com/digressionsimpressions/2021/11/senecas-last-gasps-meditating-joyful-and-brave-thoughts-letter-54.html