Mark's Posts

55 Moments per Heartbeat Oct. 19, 2011 This happens to be the last day I can update the jalopy journal and not have gone for two whole months since the last one. How's that for artful procrastination? Coincidentally it's my 55th birthday which clearly deserves some combination of recapitulation, introspection and celebration. Besides sheer avoidance of writing, and the perfectly good excuse of being back at full-time work plus working out, I've been waiting for the right theme to bring me back to the keyboard. It finally became pretty obvious as the approaching numerology matched up with the biology for me. To wit: trying to just do the speed limit, keeping the jalopy on cruise control at 55, not too fast and not too slow. Staying on the sweet and steady speed is the quest right now, not easy by any means because this vintage model doesn't actually _have_ cruise control. I wish it had a bit more self-regulation, but it's never really run that way. Instead it's a constant fluctuating adjustment for the engine recovery, the road and the weather. I will admit that the flow of daily traffic now also tends to keep the jalopy moving at the upper edge of comfortable. Mostly the rebuilt motor is OK. It needs regular highway speed to stay in shape but there's a noticeable fine red line between cruising happily along and straining the envelope. Even when the engine is purring , there's the tires and the suspension and so on… It's just a lot of maintenance and watching the gauges with this working rattletrap. Anyway, since the last postcard: I did make it to the west (i.e. best) coast in early August for a splendid immersion in the fog and ocean mist. The climate shift was a very great relief to my DC-baked body and home was a relief for my soul. No red tomatoes were to be add yet, but otherwise it was a great trip including two Giant's games (both wins), David's 25th birthday, the miracle of Zeuffy, magical music in the redwoods, Point Lobos, and deep Molino Creek. It was a pretty fast-paced trip and I was in fact teleworking on DC time many of the days. But still there was enough quiet time and oceanic space to get a look back and realize that I had emerged from the surgical tunnel with a fresh vista ahead. Although it was way too short, I was not loath to return to DC. With the homesickness abated, I wanted to come back to resume my trajectory. Mercifully, late August was mostly quite pleasant weather and good air. The earthquake hit — a very bizarre event, equal parts amusement and ominous vibration. That was followed within days by Hurricane Irene. On top of the ongoing debt/shutdown political dramas, DC has just been tensely speeding along above the abyss, careening across the lanes but so far not crashing over the guardrails. I finished my cardiac rehab program right around Labor Day. The last few weeks of the program were all about calibrating the limits of exertion, correlating the subjective and objective indicators, defining the speed limit. I was a bit sorry to graduate, but my regular gym is quite good and it's only 90 seconds away instead of the 60 minutes to the rehab studio. So I'm on my own trying to keep up my minutes on the machines, keep down my blood pressure and my weight, hit the target heart rate. Reading the dials, tweaking the controls. Of course it's a busy time at the Dept. of Ag. There's one insurmountable opportunity after another, a challenge just to keep track of it all, let alone act on all the things to be done. I am very grateful for a very supportive workplace, and a lot of encouragement to take care of myself despite the pressure we all feel. I will give due celebration today, thankful for another trip around the sun. Every birthday is a bonus now. That realization can easily get lost in the daily grind but in taking just moment to stop and feel the beat, the tidal swoosh, the gift returns. Mark

Jalopy's Road - July Aug. 20 Hmmmm, two months since the last post here (summer solstice). I knew it was a while but I'm just realizing quite how fast life has sped up. Which is to say, I'm just getting perspective on how different it was when I had all that time for reflection and writing. Here's the quick recap of my first half of solar summer: Just about back to full time work by July 1, stretching out my rehab workout frequency while increasing the DC life-exercise regime of walking and biking. I realized I was clicking back in to beltway mode the first time I was annoyed by the slowness of the holiday tourist crowds on the subway. Really I don't mind the DC tourists, I like watching them absorb their capital city. But I no longer was one of the slowest people in the stream and it surprised me. Since the solstice (61 days) DC has had 14 days of "good" air quality vs. 17 days of "unhealthy." Of the 30 "moderate" air quality days, I'm guessing about half of those would be "unhealthy" under the new EPA standard that is overdue to be implemented. The summer air is a pretty big problem for me, requiring the frequent strategy of indoor confinement until after dark. Great highlight of July was seeing the Dalai Lama in DC and catching a couple of teachings during his 12-day Kalachakra (empowerment for world peace). The Kalachakra took place against the historically toxic debt ceiling debacle and all the rest, so it's hard to overstate the irony and tension pervading the town. Not to be overlooked in the mix was Harry Potter providing escapist relief for a large swath of the DC professional class (definitely including me). His Holiness' talks gave me some wonderful perspective on being present where one happens to be — a timely thought for transitioning from my recuperation. I was sort of preoccupied with being intensely homesick for the farm and home community, not to mention the Pacific coastal regime. Dialing that down was not too hard but only because I had a ticket to go home on August 1. The jalopy heart continued its path of recovery. Cardiac rehab therapy is really amazingly effective and has been essential in many ways. Should be almost automatic for anyone who's had heart surgery. I worked up to a 16-minute walking mile, 5-6 minute bike miles, and regular weight-lifting with all parts of my frame. I've also had a steady regime of complementary holistic therapy: acupuncture, deep Integrative Manual Therapy, and Qi Gong movement. Also totally essential, especially for all the body and mind support systems enabling the cardiac rehab. I didn't quite get to finish the rehab program before heading west for two weeks of visits and teleworking, but I did feel that I had timed the trip successfully to feel almost back to normal strength and stamina. I certainly was more than ready for some cooler air, and the bracing touch of marine fog. Left DC on July 28, with 5 days yet to go on the debt sweat melodrama, thinking the fundamentalists were fully prepared to crash the country in order to think they were saving it. I packed a sweater and jacket for the California fog, dusted off the travel briefcase, and got a flight at dawn (temp 88 at 5am) for first stop in Dayton OH.

Gearshifting Dear friends, I know it has been a long time (more than a month!) since my last transmission, but the Jalopy Heart journal is definitely not yet done. Thanks for standing by, and thanks for listening now. I let a lot hang out in the last couple posts, back there in early May. At the same time I was shifting gears - different speeds, directions, locations and perspectives all at once. So it's been a bit chaotic. As I was trying to convey, it was a time of limbo, suspension between one phase and the next. In late May I took the jalopy out for some road testing. Flew to Lincoln, NE for niece Sara's graduation from high school and a great weekend with some of the Lipson clan. Despite the tornado cluster that made for a very long day getting home, I felt not too worn out by the excursion. Back in DC from Lincoln the priority was continuing my physical therapy rehab program, pushing up the exertion level and re-conditioning all the atrophied parts. The increase in my stamina during early May seemed to indicate that each new increment of extra effort was itself producing the beneficial energy to fuel the next stage. At the same time I felt I was ready to start putting in some regular time on work (and work was definitely ready for me). But just as I was accelerating into high second gear and about to shift into third, I got some flashing lights on the dashboard, gauges going into the yellow warning zone. I had a couple short episodes of atrial fibrillation and the rehab medical team told me I was pushing a bit too hard in my workouts. So at that point (late May) I slowed back down into low second gear. I held back from increased time at work, kept my exercise effort steady, a kept a close eye on the dashboard indicators. I had to remind myself that I was not even three months out from the surgery and despite how well things were going, I needed to respect the limits of the jalopy. As this was also the time of exquisitely beautiful Spring weather in DC, I focused literally on taking time to smell the roses. Capitol Hill has block after block of fine flower gardens with rosebushes everywhere, in full bloom for the last two weeks of May. I made it my quest to smell every rose on Capitol Hill (that my nose could reach from the sidewalk, anyway). I did not completely fulfill the quest, but I strolled a lot of blocks around my neighborhood and smelled a lot of roses. Sadly, I must report that 90% of the rosebushes have no scent whatsoever. Seems as if all the gardeners went to the same place one year and bought varieties that looked good but just had no nose at all. The 10% that had some olfactory (usually the peachy-coral color) were surprise packages of sensual pleasure to reward the effort. The recalibration worked as hoped and by keeping things slow I caught up with myself. After a couple weeks of feeling that my recovery had plateaued, things then took another jump up. That cycle has now repeated again, so the pattern appears to be one of little quantum changes more than a continuous climb. Cruising in solid third gear now, green lights on the dashboard, four weeks of physical rehab to go, a steady beat thumping along. Thanks for all the good thoughts. More soon... xo Mark