I love walking. That, swimming and horseback riding are my absolute favorite form of exercising. I have not been swimming for years thou, mainly because lack of access to a pool. Not much horseback riding either sadly. But walking is something I still can do. To a certain point at least. Due to my weird conditions I’ve had to do shorter walks than I want. I prefer to do a 5 mile power walk but after several times collapsing before I made it home I cut back on the distance and I also start bringing the dogs for two reasons. First of all, they enjoy the walk and secondly; BamBam can’t walk so fast so he will make me not push as hard as I can and want. Maybe sounds weird but since I had to step back on the distance I decided to step back to basic all together and build myself up from there and see what happens. So for a while I’ve been taking walks with the dogs that are around 3.7 miles. It’s been going pretty well. I’ve learned for how long time I have to sit down and “recover” when I get back. I have gotten a kind of routine that seems to work most of the time. For July I’ve made me the goal to take a walk with the dogs on every day I’m off work and also on the workdays that allows me (such as if I work a night shift or just an event). I am going to take the same route every time so I can compare myself and also because that makes BamBam more comfortable as he does not like new things and surprises. It’s also a great route since there is a spot where Twix can run off leash. So with this goal in mind I went into July. I didn’t walk on July 1st because it was a work day and when I came home from work it was HOT. But what I did was that I mowed the yard. It takes about 40 minutes and a part of it is a ditch that is kind of tricky so it gives you some workout anyway. I was glad that I got it done and certainly needed a shower afterwards.

Friday, July 2nd. I had all the motivation in the world, and so did the dogs. So we were out early in the morning and got the walk over and done with. The temperatures was nice but it was quite muggy. You could tell that the rain was lingering not far away.
When I got home I did my normal routine, sat down for about 45 minutes and drinking a bottle or water. Just letting my body re-adjust and cool down. Took a shower and actually felt pretty good. Nothing concerning at all and I was good.

Saturday came around and my mind was just not on board of my new July goals. My right hip was aching a little and I was just not in the mood to walk. But I was not going to let myself down day 2. That was not going to happen and after taking my morning meds and changed clothes I was proud of myself that I was doing it. Twix and BamBam just loved it. Twix had so much energy and he got them all out at the cemetery. The temperatures was nice, in the lower 70’s. A little better pace than Friday yet a little lower heart rate. But I had a great feeling.

Until… I came home and sat down, drank my water, checked some social media, watched TV. Didn’t feel anything different at all. But then I was going to stand up and get to a shower. I remember standing up and taking a few steps and I got dizzy.

Have in mind that I have a pacemaker that is set on 60 bpm. That means that I’m not supposed to be able to have a lower heart rate than that. Yet this happens quite often but I don’t pass out every time thankfully. But when it happens in accordance to workout, I very often go out because my blood pressure is so low at that point.

I estimate that I was out for a couple of minutes. It wasn’t long and I didn’t hurt myself thankfully. But it is always confusing to wake up and wonder “where did I pass out this time?” Twix was laying next to me and looking at me, probably trying to keep me safe. I wish I had my phone close because his face was so adorable.

Despite the event yesterday I was not going to let this stop me from trying reach my monthly goal. As I didn’t have anything planned until late afternoon I figured that if anything would happen I had enough time to recover. So I gathered up the dogs and went for a walk. The temperatures was even better today! I walked faster without even being as sweaty as yesterday. BamBam and Twix was also into a faster pace today. It was almost a pitch perfect walk!
And when I came home I was just sitting down again but this time adding some watermelon. I love watermelon! It was so good! I was a little dizzy as I sat there so I was taking it quite easy when I stood up. And nothing happened. It was all good. It’s passed two hours now since I got home and I’m still good so I don’t expect anything dramatic to happen now.

It is so frustrating that I can’t be able to do what I want to do. And every time is unpredictable of the aftermath. Will I be okay or will I pass out again? If I pass out, will I hurt myself? Will anyone find me? But despite the risk and all the questions I am determined to get better. Since my new medications are making me gain weight I feel it even more important than ever to take the walks. To at least try to do what I can to get better. To just sit on my ass and watch TV is not going to help. Well, that’s what I did all afternoon yesterday but it was more of a precaution than anything. And the people I had arrangements with had bailed out on me so it didn’t matter.