Cardio rehab offers valuable lessons

On Thursday, I will complete 10 weeks as a participant in the St. Luke’s Cardiac Rehabilitation program. It has been an inspiring and physically challenging experience.

Those of you who know me well do not usually connect me with exercise. So it’s not surprising that I approached this program with some trepidation.

Having transportation provided by MedVan with its group of competent, caring drivers was so important. The Cardiac Program meets three days a week for one hour, divided into time on the treadmill, the exercise bike, nutrition lectures, and stress.

The staff monitors exertion level, blood pressure, oxygen use and heart rate, noting the data on individual progress logs (and as my friend Joan says, “They answer the questions we didn’t ask the doctors”). I am dazzled by the staff of the clinic: Heidi, Renee, Monica, Deborah, Kasey, Leona and Jonelle; two EWU interns, Valerie and Amanda; and one stalwart male, Tyler. They create an atmosphere of professionalism, vitality and caring.

As participants, we have each experienced heart problems. One of my friends, Ellen Schirmer, wrote that “the camaraderie and friendships that develop among us meeting together to attain the same goal is a great reward all its own. Now if I could just develop the same relationship with that treadmill.”

We are a mixed bag, but we all know the fear that comes with heart problems, the impatience with recovery, and the desire to be as healthy as possible. It is easy for me to see the progress being made each week by my new friends: Janet, Joan, Ellen, Floyd, Robert (who had a complete transplant) Louie, Gail, Patricia, Omer, Tom, Dorothy, and handsome Mark, who always reminded me that young people can have heart problems, too.

I “graduate” on Thursday and take with me a water bottle and a carb counter, but more than that, I take knowledge about my body and how to “put it first to make it last.”

St. Luke’s is a great community resource and it has my gratitude and affection.

Elevator observations

I’ve been riding more elevators since my heart surgery and I’ve observed some odd behavior on the part of elevator users.

They want to get in the elevator the minute the door opens. They start entering even if the elevator is already full. People rush into the elevators as if an arm is going to be severed if the doors close.

This is against logic, of course, because doors will not close if there is an obstacle in the way.

Also hard to understand is the fact that those waiting to enter usually stand directly in front of the opening door, leaving no path for those exiting. It’s true that in some larger cities, elevators are often crowded, with a line waiting, but this is Spokane – elevators are plentiful and often empty.

Julie Barnard, a well-traveled good friend, has a theory that because Spokane has never had the mass transit systems found in larger cities, we have no experience in getting on and off in a speedy (but orderly) way. My conclusion is that some people are actually afraid of either getting stuck in the door if they don’t move fast enough or being left behind by some malevolent “elevator elves” straight out of “Harry Potter.”

I can understand some temerity when approaching an escalator, but elevators should be old hat by now. So, let’s all move briskly, step to the rear, face forward, and smile at our fellow passengers.

Rather than lament the loss of summer, I recall this poem by Emily Bronte.

Fall, leaves, fall

Fall, leaves, fall

Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, away;

Lengthen night and shorten day;

Every leaf speaks bliss to me,

Fluttering from the autumn tree.

I shall smile when wreaths of snow

Blossom where the rose should grow;

I shall sing when night’s decay

Ushers in a drearier day.