Written July 8, 2023
There I was, you wouldnāt believe it, I thought I was going to die!
I was only a dozen feet up the wall on a more difficult rock climbing route and I started having strong chest pains!
š§āāļø Rock Climbing
We havenāt been rock climbing in over two years. I believe that I am ready to try it again, since I have 70 pounds less on my body to lug up the wall. I am also in much better shape after diligently working out with my trainer three times a week, plus bike riding and hiking the hills of Palos Verdes Peninsula. So a month ago when Stan's daughter Tiffany and granddaughter Juliet invite us to join them at Sender One gym near LAX on Tuesday, June 6, we readily accept.
Tiffany is busy giving climbing lessons to a professional stuntwoman, so 13-year-old Juliet is in charge of us. The easier route that I had always climbed before is in use, so Juliet takes us over to a more difficult wall where the holds are fewer and farther apart.
I am picked to go first. Stan and I are a bit rusty in our climbing techniques, so I say that I want Juliet to belay* us.
* Belaying is the act of managing the safety rope for a climber. Belaying involves taking in the top rope** slack as a climber progresses upward, so the climber is ācaughtā by the rope in the event of a fall.
** The top rope involves two people, a climber and a belayer, both wearing harnesses. A top rope feeds through an anchor system at the top of a climbing wall, with the ends running back to the ground where one end is attached to the belayer and the other end to the climber.
The climber is not supposed to rely on the top rope for assistance during the ascent.
I have two rock climbing handicaps ā I have shrunk six inches from my former 5ā 8 Ā½ā and I have long, manicured fingernails, making it much more difficult for me to reach and grasp the holds.
As I start up the wall, my legs are struggling to lift my body from one hold to the next, as the holds are spaced farther apart and higher up the wall than I am used to. As a result, I start to overly rely on my arms to pull myself up.
I am excessively exerting my body which evidently exacerbates a heart condition that I don't know I have. I start getting strong chest pains (6-7 on a scale of 1 to 10).
Juliet keeps yelling encouragingly to me, "Come on, Grandma, you can do it!"
At only a dozen feet up, I finally convince Juliet to lower me to the mat. My chest pains are still strong even after I am on the ground for a while, but I ignore them and don't say anything to anyone. My heart has always checked out perfectly, so I must have pulled some muscles.
In a bit, we are able to return to the easier route where I am able to make it to the top with some difficulty, even though my chest pains are still just as bad.
In the photos below, you can see that the climbing holds are spaced farther apart and get smaller the higher you climb. At the last part of the climb, the wall even tilts outward a bit at a negative slope. Also, each route is denoted by different colored holds which often overlap with each other, and a climber should try to avoid using a different color.
Left: Juliet tightens the top rope as I start up the easier route.
Right: I am nearing the top of the easier route.
Stan makes it to the top of two different routes relatively easily after my climbs.
Left: Stan and Juliet head toward the easier wall (not the wild blue one that Juliet climbs).
Right: Juliet belays Stan on the same route I just finished.
After we finish our climbs, we join Tiffany for some photo ops where she is still belaying her stuntwoman.
Left: Stan & Tiffany show off their muscles.
Right: Juliet, Stan, Tiffany and Barbara at the conclusion of another great climbing day.
At this point, Stan and I call it a day and head for home.
My chest pains persist the rest of the day and night. Late the next morning on Tuesday, June 7, I text our concierge doctor. When he gets back to me, he wants me to immediately get a blood test and EKG.
āµļø Sailing
My son Mike has invited me to go sailing this afternoon. It will be the first afternoon with decent weather in months, and I haven't yet been out on his recently purchased 34ā Catalina sloop.
I have only an hour or so before I need to leave for the dock. If I have the tests done now, I will have to cancel the sail. I decide that I will get my tests done early the following morning instead. I am still having chest pains, but they have lessened a bit (4-5 on a scale of 1 to 10).
Mike and I spend a wonderful afternoon sailing. It feels so good to be at the helm of a sailboat again ā I sold the 26ā sailboat I owned with three guys 45 years ago in 1978. It is also great to spend three hours alone with my son ā something we havenāt done in a coonās age (as we used to say back on the farm).
Left: I spend a lot of time at the helm of this beautiful boat.
Right: Mike sits in one of the Captainās seats in the stern.
š Heart Attacks š
First Attack: Early the next morning on Thursday, June 8, I go to the lab for my blood draw. My doctor has written STAT* on the order.
* STAT is used as a directive to medical personnel during an emergency situation. It is from the Latin word statim, which means āinstantlyā or āimmediately.ā
When I go to get my chest X-ray at another facility, I am told that they arenāt taking walk-ins for another hour and a half. In the interim, I fill up my car with gas and do my grocery shopping.
As I am about to reenter the X-ray facility, my doctor calls and tells me he has my blood results and to GET TO THE ER IMMEDIATELY! DO NOT DRIVE! My blood enzymes are 80 times normal indicating damage to my heart muscle, and that I have had or am about to have a heart attack.
I am only two blocks from the ER, so I tell him it will exert me more to walk there than to drive. I am admitted to the ER immediately. My cardiologist visits me and is able to schedule an angiogram late that same afternoon.
ā”ļø Thursday, June 8: I am in the ER awaiting test results.
The angiogram shows that I have no blockages, so my āheart attackā is not the typical one. However, an echocardiogram shows damage to my heart muscle on one side, which results in it sending out the warning enzymes. The most likely cause is that I have a viral infection affecting the heart, and the exertion while rock climbing exacerbated it.
I am released from the hospital the next day with heart medications and told to go home and rest ā I will take some time to heal.
I had wanted to make it to my granddaughter Charlotte's high school graduation that day, but I don't get out of the hospital in time.
ā¬ ļø My granddaughter Charlotte between her parents Gretchen and Mike at her high school graduation.
I was really foolish to ignore my doctorās request to get an immediate blood draw, and to wait until the next day.
Second Attack: Three days after I am released from the hospital, Stan and I go out to dinner at the China Buffet. I am not able to eat much and start feeling badly with some chest pain. When we return home, the pain keeps increasing. When it hits a 7-8 level, I ask Stan to call 911 and I am taken to ER by the paramedics. This time I am hospitalized for four days.
Recovery: I am now in the recovery phase at home for four to six months. I have learned the hard way that every time I try to do too much, my chest pains increase. One day, I drove to my hair appointment and stopped to do the grocery shopping afterwards. That was too much, and I suffered for two days afterwards. Another time, I drove to have my nails done, and then suffered for two more days.
So no more doing anything but sitting and working on my missives. Stan has taken on all of my chores plus his own.
Twice my chest pains have nearly caused me to call 911 again ā even two evenings ago. We have called off all social engagements for the next several months.
Sadly, I just canceled my airline flights for the trip to my annual family reunion in Michigan next week ā it is the only time that I get to see most of my ten younger siblings each year.
š Gratitude ā¤ļøāš©¹
I am so grateful to our family physician Dr. Scott Tong and our personal trainer Jennifer for their support and insistence that I listen to their instructions in the future.
ā¬ ļø Jennifer, Barbara and Stan in our gym in the stable
I am still seeing Jennifer three days a week for an hour. My training now is limited to light stretching while lying or sitting, with frequent blood pressure and pulse ox measurements. She will very gradually increase my movements with weights as I improve.
Twice a week I also see Lisa, a physical therapist from Home Health Care, who puts me through a different set of exercise routines for an hour and takes my measurements.
Most of all, I am grateful to my husband Stan for once again being there for me, cooking three meals a day for us, doing all of my household chores (meal prep & cleanup, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry), driving me to doctorsā appointments, etc.
Stan has had to do this so many times before through all of my many surgeries and injuries over the past 30+ years due to osteoarthritis and accidents ā 3 foot operations, a pulmonary embolism, 4 knee surgeries including 2 total replacements, 2 total hip replacements, 3 spinal fusions, 1 broken arm, 2 fractured wrists, and several fractured ribs (twice).
I am grateful to be alive and finally able to give my granddaughter Charlotte her high school graduation present when she and my son Mike and wife Carrie visited.
ā”ļø Barbara and Mike watch Charlotte open her high school graduation gift ā an iPad Air.
Charlotte will be starting college at my alma mater Michigan State University, majoring in veterinary biology. I received my bachelor's degree in electrical engineering there over 60 years ago.
š Epilogue ā¤ļøāš©¹
I am very lucky. Hopefully, I have survived without a lifelong disability.
I donāt know if I will ever be back rock climbing again, but I hope to, as well as resume all of my other activities.
š§āāļø Postscript
On July 9-16, Juliet will be competing in the bouldering,* lead** and speed rock climbing events over the course of the eight-day Youth National Championships in Salt Lake City. The winners can one day vie to compete at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
* Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses.
** Lead climbing (or leading) is a technique in rock climbing where the lead climber clips their rope to the climbing protection as they ascend the climbing route.
In order to qualify for the nationals, Juliet had to first place in the top group of climbers at her local, regional and division events.
ā¬ ļø Juliet, age 12, climbing a difficult route in May 2022. Click on the photo to watch the YouTube video.
š§āāļøš The End āµļøā¤ļøāš©¹
that's as close as on can come. i had three and managed to survive. please take it really easy. sleeping with your legs raised is a good idea. you guys are living the life; good for you.