My guest post on Medical IDs

My guest post is now up on the blog for Lauren's Hope medical IDs:

http://blog.laurenshope.com/medical-id-jewelry-blog/bid/50610/Can-a-Woman-In-Her-40-s-Have-a-Heart-Attack

If you have a medical condition and don't already have an ID, I recommend one. If not from them, from somewhere -- the Internet will toss out a million options if you type the phrase "stylish medical IDs" in your search engine of choice.

Thanks again to my cousin, a retired EMT, who first convinced me that I needed one. He said that because of my gender and relatively young age, a first responder who found me unconscious wouldn't think "heart disease" first.

(For those of you playing along at home, I've posted the link above to my FB page and to the WomenHeart and heart disease communities on Inspire, as well.)


(Photo (c) Paul Cory, my husband.)

Medical IDs, and SCAD discussion

At the local WomenHeart meeting last night, my group leader was admiring my new medical ID bracelet. I already had one, but this one is my new dressy one, with lavender and purple beads.

My feeling on medical ID jewelry is this: just because it's functional, doesn't mean it has to be fugly. ;)

Here are the two places where I got my bracelets, Fiddledee Ids, and Lauren's Hope.

I already have a plain black leather strap bracelet for everyday wear--the Kingston, from Fiddledee Ids. For swimming, I have a waterproof one of these, in purple.

My new one looks similar to this style from Lauren's Hope. I did the build your own option and chose two different shades of purple for the beads. I also have this purple adjustable waterproof bracelet.

So yes, I have four. Two for daily wear, and two for exercise. Both of the exercise ones are waterproof and both of those have been tested in swimming pools and the ocean.

I'm happy with the quality, engraving, and shipping speed from both Fiddledee IDs and Lauren's Hope; you can't go wrong with either place. They both have plenty of options for men, women, and children, and lots of choices to make your medical ID jewelry pretty as well as functional.

On another topic, I'm trying to round up as many SCAD survivors as I can and get them posting in one place, so we can find each other easily. The discussion I started over on the WomenHeart board is here: All the SCAD Ladies Put Your Hands Up.

The heartbeat of an elite athlete--without the matching body

So, I went in for my cardiac treadmill stress test this morning. As usual with these things, it took more time to set up and take down all the blinky, beepy, sticky, ouchie monitoring stuff than the actual test itself.

Now that I'm on all sorts of medications, my resting heart rate tends to be incredibly low. Elite-athlete low. As in, 49 bpm. And my blood pressure, not high to begin with, is likewise amazingly low, like 90/58. After getting really winded on the treadmill, my heart rate was all the way up to 94, and my blood pressure had hit 108/70.

Today was also the first of three one-hour educational classes that I need to take before my cardiac rehab exercise program begins in earnest next month. Today's was about making changes, and not to my surprise at all, the first Powerpoint slide was Prochaska's Stages of Change (though it didn't mention Prochaska by name). I first learned about these when I was working at MicroMass in Cary, at the brief tech writing job in late 1999-early 2000.

Over the weekend, my medical alert ID bracelet came. I'm wearing it now, but I'm not used to it yet. When I opened the package, my first thought was "it's a little small." Other thoughts: "It's kind of like a pet's rabies tag." "Didn't think I'd be one of those people with one of these." I figure I don't need to have it on all the time. Don't need it when Paul's around, for example. Do need it if I'm by myself, or at work, or out with friends and Paul's not there.

When I was a teenager, I used to have one of those bracelets with my name engraved on a plate. This is like that, only... not.

Also found an online store selling lots of low- and no-sodium products, the Heart Healthy Market. Additionally, I'm trying out a low-sodium crock-pot sloppy joe recipe--I'm using ground turkey breast to make it even more healthy; it's simmering away even as I type and will be ready for supper tonight.

ETA: Two thumbs up on the low-sodium sloppy joe recipe! Tastes great, and has around 105 mg of sodium/serving, compared to ... holy shit, 800 mg in my previous favorite pre-made sloppy joe mix, Hunt's Bold Manwich Sloppy Joe sauce. 800 mg! WTF???