Ride on

So, you’re reading this and The Ride for Heart 2013 is history. Thirteen thousand people rode for Heart and raised over $5 million. With your generous donations, I brought over $1 000 to the game. I rode for research. I rode for Heart and Stroke education programs. I rode for everyone who has heart disease or suffered a stroke, including family and friends and friends of friends. However, at the early registration for this year’s ride, I didn’t know I would “almost” be riding for me.

This year has been stressful for me. There have been a whole lot of changes in my family’s dynamic and it nearly brought me to my knees, by times. On a Sunday in April while dining with the youngest COM and LOML, I experienced double vision. Stunning, exciting, heart pounding and frightening all at the same time. One moment we were sitting around the dining room table enjoying a family meal and the next moment my youngest daughter became twin daughters. My viewing pleasure was doubled. If you know me, and many of you do, I’m not often at a loss for words. I did managed to squeak, “Holy Moley, two Gracies!” COM and LOML were not amused. I was too blown away by what had happened to be concerned and as quickly as I had become the mother of twins— in the blink of an eye, so to speak—my singleton was back. One Gracie. Seconds later, it happened again. The second arrival of twins was as stunning as the first time and maybe a bit frightening.

COM is, among other things, a St. John’s Ambulance First Responder. She was not amused. Vital signs were checked. Wine was ignored. Vegetables wilted. Chicken congealed. The word “stroke” was mentioned more than once while dessert languished on the counter. A promise to “get it checked ASAP” was extracted from me. At the end of the evening, my bossy kid went home. LOML gave me “the look”. We cleaned up and called it an evening but, I was possessed by the word “stroke”. The child had mentioned “stroke” and she would know, right? Have you ever had a song stuck in your head? Well, “stroke” became my ear worm. Not a great tune. Every time I tossed or turned, bent to pick something up or climbed the stairs, I was sure I was going to “stroke out”. Throughout the night, I must have said “stroke” a hundred times in my head. In my dreams I wrote and rewrote my will. I fretted and fussed.

In the course of the next four weeks—bless my family physician, the cardiologist, the diagnostic technicians, the phlebotomists and my Optometrist – I had a complete eye examination (the second in three months), a fasting cholesterol test, a neck artery ultrasound, a head CT (yes, I have a brain in there), a complete physical (you have no idea what complete really means until you’ve had one) and a consultation at the Quinte Stroke Prevention Clinic in BGH. Sleeping during those four weeks seemed to be optional. The “stroke” song played, over and over, in my head. The Google search engine and the Heart and Stroke Foundation website became my newest obsession. Lipitor loomed. During all of this, I got four pieces together for an art show. I worked. I baked. I smiled a lot. I prayed a little bit. I actually cleaned my studio. LOML had cataract surgery and I chauffeured and fretted over him. I fielded questions from COM and tried to “workout” my angst at the gym.

At the end of it all Dr. Curry Grant, cardiologist at the Quinte Stroke Prevention Clinic, zoned in on the problem. Optical Convergence Insufficiency caused by stress and eye strain. I had dodged the bullet, so to speak. But, I walked “the walk” in a bizarre sort of way. I was “on the edge” and high alert. In a month I learned a lot about stress, stroke and TIA’s, cholesterol levels, getting rid of the flab, eating right, exercising and seeing double. Did I mention cataracts? While I was stressing, LOML got a brand new lens at Trenton Memorial and now, in addition to my obsession with Heart Disease and Stroke, I know a bit about cataracts. My next eye examination is in 2014. Goodness knows, cataracts will likely be my very next ear worm.

So, my 50-km Ride for Heart is done for 2013. Many of the riders wore shirts “in memory” of a friend or family member. They rode for a cure. I decided my Ride would be for prevention. From the bottom of my Healthy Heart, I thank everyone for your words of encouragement and generous donations to The Ride.

theresa@wellingtontimes.ca