Training and Rich

Rich and I have been talking about consolidating our gym membership and usage for a while now and we finally did it.  We joined National Fitness Club and it is just a little over a mile from home - wouldn't be that if it weren't for our winding roads!  LOL 

Part of our membership package is a free assessment about where you are, fitness goals, and to help you get to know some of the machines, etc.  One of the other other reasons, I'm sure, is to try and get you to hook into their trainers. 

Well - I have been talking about getting a trainer for a while and Rich had one at the cardio-pulmonary rehab at the hospital and since we're a little anxious about our transition we decided to go with one of the training packages and see what it can do for us. 

When Rich had his assessment he had barely done any of the exercises when he became ashen color, very dizzy and light headed.  The trainers thought it was probably low blood sugar as he hadn't eaten for a few hours before coming.  He was so out of it and miserable.  They gave him some orange juice, let him lay down for a few minutes, and then I took him to eat and over a little while the episode subsided.  We figured it must have been the low blood sugar.  However, yesterday he went to his regular trainer appointment and had the same reaction.  This time I got him to the car (he actually wanted me to call 911 - that's how miserable he was) and drove him to the ER - less than a mile away.  I was a little concerned that the episode would have faded like the previous one did, by the time we got there and into the ER - but it hadn't.  His blood pressure was 80/50, pulse was 46, and his pulse ox was 82.  No wonder he was light headed!  The ekg revealed no "p waves" meaning that the heart wasn't beating in the right place.  They ran bunches of blood labs, more ekgs, ct scans and xrays.  I really liked the ER dr.  I learned more from him in the few minutes we had to see him than in all the time we have seen Dr. Sharma, Rich's cardiologist.  In the end, the ER doc gave us a choice of having him admitted or coming home, resting, and checking in with Sharma this morning.  We opted for the latter, even though we have no confidence in getting through and seeing Sharma today.  We both think it would be a good thing to try and find another cardiologist - one that isn't so difficult to get in to and one that seems to know Rich. 

Well - calls to Sharma's office did go through - the person who took Rich's call said they would pull his record from last night and get right back with him - that was 3 hours ago - still no word.