Another weekend and a few more lessons learned. It started as a unique weekend, as it was the first weekend in the longest time that I was going be a Bachelor Caregiver to the four cats and the beagle. My wife was off to a conference in Ajax, and I was to be Master of the House.

We had a good weekend. There was the monthly contemplative service over at the Galilee Centre; unique in many ways but particularly interesting in that it involves periods of silence. One of the readings was from John’s Gospel where the risen Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Three times! So, was Jesus slow on the uptake, or was he just a little conceited and liked to have the disciples grovel a bit? Or is there more to it than that? Is perhaps Jesus saying that following his lead of loving your enemy and not seeking revenge and not loving commercial stuff is a hard road to follow and you had better think before you really say that you are on the road? But is that right? I have no idea but it is good to think about it.

So - on Saturday I did my first running since October 24th of 2009. I did 7 cycles of one minute of running and a two minute walk. I felt good about that and even posted my deed on Facebook, enjoying the little positive affirmations that my friends sent me. I even stretched after the run! I had the okay to start jogging from a few folks – my cardiac surgeon and my fitness person from my regular doctor's clinic. On Monday (today) I got my first call from my Mentor from the UOHI. It is her function to help me with my exercise and rehab. She was aghast that I was running and told me that it is way too early. I must say that I felt a little crushed – is it okay to run or not? In my mind I had the okay, and was doing it very cautiously and did not expect the rebuke.

But one thing that I have learned about being upset about comments, is that I usually feel the person has a point and I just don’t like admitting it. Here is what happened. I felt a bit arrogant by Sunday afternoon. I had done the run, walked the poor beagle over 6 km on the weekend and was already planning to hop on the bike. Just before my wife got home late Sunday afternoon I developed a pain in my side while adding to the dog’s waking regime. It felt like a runner’s stitch or pulled muscle and was on my left side, about half way down the chest. A year ago I would have either done nothing or popped a couple of Robaxacet . But now I am a bit smarter so it was off to the local hospital to the ER. I was chewing on Aspirins and getting an ECG within 10 minutes of checking in. As the ECG was normal, the STEMI Protocol, prominantly displayed on a poster next to my ER gurney, was not activated. I was grateful. The blood tests showed nothing in the marker enzymes, but they require a second test 6 hours after the first, which would have been 2:00 a.m. ; in the local hospital the lab is closed long before then. So I lay on the ER gurney until 2:30 a.m. and then was checked into a hospital room / bed. Laying on the little gurney was a great time to contemplate and think about life, and readings, and meanings. I thought of all the ER has seen and yet again, how blessed I was. To make a long story short – I was out of the hospital by 1100 a.m. with a clean bill of health. It may have just been a muscle strain. Sooooo, maybe my UOHI Mentor had a point. I will take a little easy.

Again my poor wife did all the heavy lifting. She was the chauffer and then had to go home to retrieve my drugs. (no drug list, no check into hospital). She gets a break away weekend and then is back to minding and worrying about me. I am one lucky guy.