Got bored of the gym so I joined Karate! (yikes)

[Bionic Man]

Orange belt finally!

Orange belt finally!

Yay, we finally promoted after a 7 month stretch of my wife's surgery and me getting sick for a bit. Anyway we're finally making progress again. When I went to the tournament last, my main competitor (same age as me but 1 belt higher) had a long break from karate for some reason or another and so was still only 1 belt ahead. I guess us old people are thrown curve-balls by life now and again.

I've been having a harder time keeping my heart rate in bounds since my doc switched me to lysinopril again claiming that it does much better for Marfans people. She's an expert on it so I guess she must know what she's doing. I complained about having a high pulse just kind of randomly through the day and overall higher than normal so now I'm taking a mixture of Toprol and Lysinopril. See if that does the trick.

My wife actually asked for a staff an a pair of nunchucks for Christmas. (Is she a dream-girl or what?)

 

[sknydave]

I'm not familiar with marfans.. How does it differ from something like my situation (bicuspid aortic valve + aneurysm) ?

And it's great you're staying active. I feel this makes a huge difference!

 

[Bionic Man]

Sooo... Finally back at it

Sooo... Finally back at it

How can I possibly catch up on this post after everything that has happened. I got walking pnumonia and was back in the cardio ward almost going under the knife. I had no cough, no sign of being sick other than I was losing weight and then in an echo and subsequent scans I had fluid in my heart area. (turned out to be fluid in my lungs) One day out of the hospital my stupid boss at (evil medical company in Boston) laid me off after promising me he'd give me 3 months notice. As soon as I taught someone about how my medical cost prediction software worked he sent it off to India and laid me off a week before Christmas. So here I was out of work, in the hospital and about to get cut open. Somewhere during all that I developed a little afib that's followed me since. Anyway, needless to say I had to suspend karate for a while and then I started work again and had to work two jobs for a bit to keep afloat. In the end I found work with a decent company again and have been able to resume karate. I think I feel worse when I don't get exercise and I know I'm out of shape now.

Despite my inevitable desire to avoid hard mental and moderate physical exercise I enjoy what karate does for me too much to quit.

I'm back at it with a little catching up to do.

I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[Blanche]

So glad that you posted

So glad that you posted

Bionic Man:

I wondered about you for a long time. I had become accustomed to your posts on a regular basis.

It is nice to see you and to know that you have found something that works to encourage, sooth, and keep you focused on positive aspects.

I'm so glad that you are back here, but I am very sorry for all the problems and concerns that you have had to deal with.

Kind regards,
Blanche

 

[Bionic Man]

Purple belt now!

Purple belt now!

It's been a million years (or about one anyway)... and I finally got it! After my wife's surgery, my illness, my job loss, the start of my new job and the dozens of business trips I finally had enough classes under my belt and my form memorized!

So now we're finally starting sparring as purple belts so I'm ordering a full face-mask and probably a sternum protector. Ultimately I will be super careful and the teacher is very much aware that I need to spar with one of their black-belt instructors so that they have sufficient control.

The thing I'm most worried about is my neck and back may not be too happy if I take a shot that makes me want to run to the chiropractor.

I had been concerned about bruising etc but having recently shot a .50 Cal BMG and not having a bruise from that I don't see a sparring-padded foot giving me any significant bruise. But I'll watch it and if I take a shot I don't like I'll make an immediate post and let y'all know and I'll wave the white flag on sparring.