GWS ColinJ.. DVT/Pulmonary Embolism

[Deleted member 1258]

Well done

 

[DCLane]

Great news @ColinJ

You're looking like your avatar photo now. Don't over-do it and hopefully there'll be a forum ride soon.

 

[longers]

Nice one Colin, keep up the good work!

 

[ColinJ]

Thanks everyone!

Your bike is too clean, you need to do something about that

That's my fair-weather, not-too-hilly bike. It doesn't have the super-low gears of my Basso, nor any mudguards.

When I first got the Cannondale, I did 100 mile rides on it including stretches of 15-20% climbing and was able to cope with its 39/29 bottom gear. I think I may be forced to lower its gearing now my veins are so fragile. Even though I'm not keen on them, I might put a compact chainset on. I'll wait and see how I feel when I'm fit again.

You're looking like your avatar photo now. Don't over-do it and hopefully there'll be a forum ride soon.

My face is slimming down nicely. The old waistline is lagging behind somewhat, but at least it is now high-30s (inches) rather than high-40s!

 

[potsy]

And already done more hills than potsy all year.

That's only cos there are no hills around here

Colin did hint somewhere earlier/yesterday that he was going to be on his bike today, so glad it happened and we can all look forward to him getting fitter and getting some of us lazy buggers cycling up some hills again

 

[jazzkat]

Way to go go!

You'll soon be flying up Cragg Vale and over Blackstone Edge!

 

[coffeejo]

That's great news.

 

[GetAGrip]

very very good news!

 

[summerdays]

Well done - how are you feeling this morning!

 

[ColinJ]

Well done - how are you feeling this morning!

Not too bad, actually - I was surprised how well I felt when I woke up. I will ride further next time and see how I get on with that.

I think that the resistance I have been using on the gym bike is equivalent to riding quite quickly on the road so I wasn't having any problem riding slower on the flat. It was just the tiny hill that was making my legs suffer - I used to charge up the hill in the same gear that I was using on the approach to it, but I will have to change down for it until I get stronger. (It's a bit embarrassing to have to call it a hill because it only takes 10 seconds to ride up but it is doing the same damage to me now that a 30 minute climb would have done a year ago!)

 

[Pale Rider]

...I will ride further next time...

Is that wise?

I don't think the roadie mentality of 'harder, longer, faster' is appropriate for someone trying to rehabilitate themselves from a serious illness.

You will get nowhere without some determination, but in my non-medically qualified opinion, a balance needs to be struck.

 

[ColinJ]

Is that wise?

I don't think the roadie mentality of 'harder, longer, faster' is appropriate for someone trying to rehabilitate themselves from a serious illness.

You will get nowhere without some determination, but in my non-medically qualified opinion, a balance needs to be struck.

That's why I stopped when I did, yesterday. I wanted to do twice the distance but decided to be sensible.

The truth is that I have been ultra-cautious all the way through my recovery. I had people telling me to do more even when my heart was doing 150 bpm when I was just lying in bed! I ignored them and waited until I felt ready, which I finally do.

I am going to build up gradually. I did 5 miles before I do 10, and I will do 10 before I do 20. I will not do a hilly ride until I have already done a flat ride of the same distance. If I feel any ill-effects from what I am doing then I will back off for a while.

It has actually been hard holding myself back the past couple of months. In the early days of the illness, I was so bad that there was no question of me doing too much. Walking up one flight of stairs pushed me to breaking point. Recently though, I felt myself getting better and the temptation was to do too much.

You will notice that I have been organising forum walks rather than rides recently ... I am probably at least 2 months away from being able to cope with even the easiest of my normal ride routes so I have been walking instead. It might be longer before my cycling really picks up but I will not know until I try.

I specifically told my consultant that my dream was to be doing hard, hilly 100 mile bike rides again. He said 'go for it' subject to a sensible period of training and watching out for any ill-effects.

I am not going to be falling off my bike with exhaustion if I can help it. Tired is okay, damaged isn't!

 

[postman]

I have done ten days of a two week rest ordered by the Hospital and i am stir crazy already.Last two days i have been watching the wife riddle homemade compost.
Exciting eh what?

Good luck and best wishes Colin.

By the way i have been getting compliments on my new 'look'.I can now look people straight in the eye.Will be great when the double vision wears off when the double vision wears off.

 

[ColinJ]

I suppose it is time for another update here! I've been leaking out bits of news here and there, but I want to keep this thread going until I make a full recovery, or officially don't, so that anybody else who suffers these problems can see how the process goes.

[Overdoing things on the bike] Is that wise?

I don't think the roadie mentality of 'harder, longer, faster' is appropriate for someone trying to rehabilitate themselves from a serious illness.

You will get nowhere without some determination, but in my non-medically qualified opinion, a balance needs to be struck.

I specifically told my consultant that my dream was to be doing hard, hilly 100 mile bike rides again. He said 'go for it' subject to a sensible period of training and watching out for any ill-effects.

I am not going to be falling off my bike with exhaustion if I can help it. Tired is okay, damaged isn't!

Okay, well, er, as I have mentioned elsewhere on the forum - I had a problem out on the bike last week. I ended up on my back at the side of the road with the world spinning round! Not good ...

I felt that I was below par in the days before the ride, and I haven't felt much better in the week since so I was thinking about contacting my GP or consultant. Some people have said that I should have been on the phone to the local health centre straight away, but they do not have a clue what this kind of condition is like. There have probably only been a handful of days in the last year where I have been symptom-free. I would have phoned the doctor over 300 times by now if I did it every time I felt bad! The problem is how to work what is just 'bad' and what is 'REALLY BAD'!

My otherwise steady recovery has been interrupted by 3 or 4 significant setbacks, on top of which there are random daily fluctuations. It is very hard to work out what is going on. Scary things can be happening one minute - rapid pulse rate, heart rhythm problems, shortness of breath, a swollen leg ... 2 hours later and I can feel fine!

Recently, despite all that I had read about other people going through this process, I was beginning to think that I was now almost in the clear. Evidently I am not! Oh well.

I had decided that I'd get through this weekend and if I still felt rough on Monday, I would phone the doctor. Well, I have been waiting for blood test results since 25th April and today I finally got a letter from my consultant and the result is that they are very sorry, they have some bad news for me ...













... they f***ed up the tests and need to do them again!

It's really annoying because if something is wrong, they might have spotted it 5 weeks ago. The good news is that if something has gone wrong since the original samples were taken, the new tests should spot it!

So, I'll book myself in for the tests next week and I'll ask the consultant to prioritise them because I don't want to wait 5 weeks to find out if I am clotting again. If I need to go back on Warfarin, I want it to be before things get serious. If nipped in the bud, a clotting problem doesn't have to be the end of the world, but I know from last year's experience what can happen if treatment is delayed too long!

 

[Scoosh]

Not doing too much, too soon is very difficult but there is no doubt at all in my mind that trying to do too much, too soon ends up taking far, far longer to full recovery than being 'impatiently patient' !

Keep taking small steps ...