Quick And Not Much Else

I figured out that I'd have just enough time to get a quick "workout" in today (including shower time) after I dropped my son off at school, and before I had to drive several miles into Westchester to see the retina specialist. Today, it being my first day back at the gym since Wednesday's surgery, I manage to get on a recumbent bike and leisurely pedal for 20 minutes.

I spend my time reading the news on my phone, and only put my hands down on the handles to get a heart rate (pulse) reading at the end of the 20 minutes. The monitor says 108, which is about 65% of the theoretical maximum heart rate for a 58 year old. Online sources state that normal adult resting heart rates range from 60-75 bpm. So 48 is extremely low, and 108 is high. But I'm not really resting while I'm lazily pedaling, am I?

Even though the map and driving apps tell me that the doctor's office is only 22 min away, I know better. I have to take I-684, which is always clogged with traffic and construction delays, and that automatically adds another 15-20 minutes to my travel time. I leave the gym at 9:12 and arrive at the doctor's office at 9:57 for a 10:00 appointment.

The doctor is an extremely pleasant man, with a lot of staff and specialized equipment. After a slew of different types of inner eyeball imaging, he tells me that I have a freckle (choroidal nevus) inside my eye, on my retina. What? I know my dad had a mole inside his eye. I wonder if that's the same sort of thing? (It turns out, from online research, that it is.) The freckle itself has little yellow globules (aka drusen) stuck to it's surface, but the doc assures me that this is normal. Oh, okay. Everything looks okay, but we need to keep check on it so I'll get a reminder to set up an appointment for 6 months from now. Just to make sure it doesn't turn into something else. Like melanoma. (Yes, I knew someone who had a parent develop and die from that as well.)

The technician shows me what "cupping" looks like on my optic nerves (the classic sign of glaucoma), and points out the freckle. I've been told my optic nerves are cupped for over 20 years and three doctors ago. Somehow they look better now, and I'm not sure if it's just better equipment (and imagery) or if my healthier lifestyle (exercise and key vitamins) are helping. The flashes of light most likely have been caused by the "jelly" of the eye being moved forward. It happens as we age and is benign. Whew!

I'm afraid to ask about Kickboxing the Nexersys, as in impact exercises, so I don't. I know, I shouldn't be so reticent to tell people what I like to do, but I am...

My right eye is healing quicker from the surgery than the left did, because it suffered a lot less trauma from efforts to fit the equipment onto someone with tiny eyeballs and eyelids. The side of my face is still sore though, from where the doc injected the nerve block. However, my arm is not bruised at all from the IV and catheter, because this time the nurse (different from the last time) inserted it into a vein on top of my forearm near my wrist instead of into my elbow. Veins are quite prominent on my hands and outer wrists, not so much on the inside arms.

Freckle, from: eyecancer.com

My IOPs are of course, like every measurement about me, all over the place and fluctuate daily. Yesterday they both read 14. Today they're at 14 and 16 (left and right). A few weeks ago they read 15 and 19. Well, I'm resigned to a few weeks of lazy biking, and without time constraints, I could do it for 30 minutes or longer. I don't really like the treadmill because it's really hard to read the phone regardless of how slow you're going. Seriously.

Friday post surgery
20 min recumbent bike
Level 1
Miles 1.55
Calories 43
HR 108