A Change of Plans...

Today I found out that my running plans are no longer mine to control. In June I experienced some heart palpitations (the sensation of my heart racing while in fact it was beating normally). Throughout July I had several appointments starting with an EKG, then a Echocardiogram and finally was scheduled for an MRI. The EKG came back normal. The ECHO showed some abnormal thickness in the heart and the MRI revealed everything.

This morning my Kaiser cardiologist contacted me over the phone at work and discussed the results of the MRI. Unfortunately my heart formed abnormally at birth and as a result the heart fibres in my left ventricle run perpendicular to the flow of blood instead of with it and the muscle is "soft" or spongy. Diagnosis- Noncompaction cardiomyopathy.

The reality of this hit me when he made me promise not to run the Santa Rosa marathon August 26th which I'd been planning for all year long. The tears came down. It was a very sad day for me. I've been recommended to not run more than 5 miles at a time. I have a second opinion scheduled with our family friend and cardiologist in Boise, ID at the end of August. I hope to find out more about this and what kind of exercising I can do. For now, the marathon is off.

Hard pill to swallow. Very disappointing.

Update from my Dr 8/20/2012. The American Heart Association published a general risk assessment and exercise recommendation plan for people with similar heart disorders. Jogging is considered moderate... Marathon training, running and sprinting is high risk.