Post a Comment On: Transplant Athlete

It was a beautiful day for a bike ride today; blue skies, white puffy clouds, cool temps, amazing views. I rode with Paul (Maggies Dad) out to Luckettsville, VA. I was suffering the whole way out, but not in the usual way. You see, I woke up at 2:30 AM unable to breath (uh yeah...again, blame it on McDonalds). I had to sit up for 2 hours before I felt well enough to go back to sleep (or so I thought). I dry heaved a bit, sweated profusely, then froze. I was pretty darn close to asking ABL to call 911. I tried to lie horizontally to get back to sleep, but immediately started feeling sick again. I did eventually fall asleep sitting up in bed. I wasn't any better when the alarm ripped me from my short slumber, but I knew a bike ride would do more for me than taking Lasix would. We had a headwind heading west on the W & OD. I was clearly huffing and puffing at a pace that should have been easy to maintain. I did get better as we went, but that low hematocrit is really slowing me down. After Leesburg, we headed north to Waterford, climbed up Stumptown Road and stopped at the gas station on 15 in Luckettsville. With the cool temps and the amazing views over the Virginia farmland I really felt blessed to be riding. I had restricted my fluid intake to one bottle for the first two hours. That got rid of much of the water in my ankles, by the time we hit Luckettsville. I didn't want to say anything to Paul, but my chest felt really bad. Climbing back over Stumptown Road, I was thinking the smart thing to do would be to call for a SAG. I thought to myself, "You're pushing it Lamoureux" I had no idea how much stress I was putting on my heart (was it dangerous?). When we got to the Rte 7 bypass, it was like a switch flipped and I felt fine, the pain in my chest was gone. Once on the W & OD, we had a pretty good tailwind and we were able to cruise east at a much higher pace. It's hours later, and my chest pain is back. Maybe I should see my doctor...