Happy tears

I did it. I jogged today! I made it 1.5 miles in my cardiac rehab class today and I did it in 13 minutes. I'm not going to lie... there were a few tears involved when I was finished. It's been SO LONG and I had a little gremlin on my shoulder telling me it may never happen. It did though. It did! I'm going to be a jogger again. My day 1, ground zero, was today. My max heartrate was 174, not great, but I'll be working on keeping it down and I know I can push through it.

I'm going to miss my rehab guys! I have a little over a week left then I'm set free. I'm the last to go and there's all new people. See this picture of me? This is what happens when you lend your iPhone to a new heart buddy to check out your music. Somehow the dude managed to take 5 pictures. 3 of his thumb, one or his neck, and this one. Gotta love tech crippled people. I found it when I got home and had a good laugh.

Know what's great? When I started rehab I was so sad. I'd never been more stressed or felt so bad. Every day there was a struggle, mentally and physically, that I just had to push through. Now I see that same look in the faces of my new heart buddies. They look to ME as a success story now. Can you believe it? I have so much more to do but I get it. I've got my spark back. It was just a dim little flicker and now it's coming back. My new heart buddy who took this picture is like that. I can look him in the eyes today and tell him that it DOES get better. I get why he hates it there. I did to. The gym is great, the people are wonderful, but it's hard being in a rehab class when you thought you were healthy. Maybe because I've been there so long I just see it more. All us new people have the same stunned, upset, tired look. It's rough. We keep it up though and slowly we perk up. We're just scrawny azalea bushes waiting to bloom.

I'm still going to have hard days. I get tired quickly and out of breath sometimes. I still have chest pain and have to take my pills but all those baby steps are paying off. Today was my first leap. I can do it! I may never be the fastest, or even finish, but I'll be the most stubborn. No one is telling me no anymore after this!