Three weeks ago I had a discussion with the heart specialist. After all the tests I’ve taken, he is 100% certain I have atrial fibrillation. That said, I’m in very good shape. In fact, I killed it on the stress test. In other words, I have a runner’s heart.
He said I could continue to run. I was very upfront about my exercise habits; it is in my best interest to not hide anything from the doctor in this case. Surprisingly, he also encouraged me to push myself if I want to. With the caveat that I should listen to my body. Usually I say my body is a big crybaby and I’m better off not listening to it, but in this case, I am going to pay close attention to my chest. In my defence, it has not been in pain or discomfort lately, but I do notice that I don’t have as much energy to push. In fact, for the first five minutes of any run, I am feeling out-of-breath.
I am going to get an ultrasound of my heart in a couple of weeks (an Echo test). He is going to give the hospital warning that I will have very thick heart muscles.
After that, there are two ways this can go to get my heart back to normal. I will either takes some medication and then try to wean myself off of it. Or they will sedate me and jolt my heart. (CLEAR!) Honestly, the second option sounds exciting and cinematic, but the first one is probably safer.
I’ll just do what my doctor recommends.