Back On The Trail

I'm here again with some better news this time! My health has taken a dramatic turn for the better! So maybe now I can begin writing a few normal posts here and there. It seems like after I made a big point of writing that obnoxious "ATTENTION" statement over on the right I've written almost nothing but things about my health. This will be another one, but hopefully that's about to change.

I left you last time after telling you of serious problems with chest pains I was having, and a related problem while I was on a nature trail trying to get back to my adventuring ways. I went to the doctor for many many tests where they couldn't find anything wrong, again. I routinely visit more than three different doctors since the car accident.

After the visit where I had the tests my chest was hurting more than ever. Then for some reason I was struck by a very odd thought. Maybe it was some of the medicine I was given. There is a particular pill they give me to help me sleep. The pain in my head makes sleeping difficult. I thought maybe it was the culprit. Sure enough, the next time I took one of those pills the chest pain increased again!

So I stopped taking them. These particular pills had been prescribed by my neurologist, so I called him to find a solution. I was given a rush appointment and prescribed a different medication. It turns out that a rare side effect for these pills is chest pain and trouble breathing. That was my exact problem. And now, after about a week of not taking those old pills, I feel much better.

Of course, the other problems are still there, and I'm still recovering from the accident. But it's much easier now that I can breath with ease and there are no intense chest pains to deal with. With my new found better health I was able to go back out for another short hike. The pictures today are from this newest trip.

The biggest improvement is that the joy I feel while in the middle of nature is back! It is a particular feeling that hits me when I realize I'm fully in the heart of nature and all alone. It's the good feeling that everyone should be able to know as often as possible. The feeling makes me think that everything is in its rightful place and any problems will be alright. Nothing better than that.

While taking those bad pills, all I felt was bad while I was out there and I just wanted to go back home. The most disappointing thing was the loss of that good feeling I already described. I thought maybe it would never return. I may experience similar thoughts in the future, but I hope they don't come anytime soon.

But like I said before, that wonderful feeling of joy is back, so now maybe I can slowly get back to telling a few better stories. I have exactly three blog type websites right now, and they have all suffered because of one car accident. Nature Center Magazine has been seeing steady updates because of other writers, but no improvement from me personally. That has now changed. Rat Tales was moving along okay until my chest pains brought it to an abrupt halt, so I hope to be able to begin writing the next episode of my current serial fiction story there now. And The Everyday Adventure has suffered the most because I can't go outside like I want to do. I hope that will get better as time goes on now.

I'll be back tomorrow with something more fun than this, but in the meantime go ahead and enjoy the pictures from today.


Nature Center Magazine - A seahorse giving birth? Yup, that's our video for this week. Quick and educational entertainment. And it's free too!

I'm Still Here

Well, it's been longer than I had hoped since my last post. My activity had to slow down just about everywhere for awhile because of a few problems. Let me explain by telling you what happened on my last short hike. This should be a lesson for anyone to watch your health closely before doing any outdoor activity.

Most of you already know that I've been struggling to get back to my old everyday self since a car accident some months ago. I was thinking exactly that when I was finally able to go hiking two days in a row. That first day felt a little tedious for some reason, but I didn't think much about it at the time. I was just happy that I had been out.

I was a little disappointed when I got home because my camera didn't cooperate that day, giving me some very bad pictures. It turned out that I had some of the settings wrong from some previous experimentation. If you think the pictures I have in this post look bleak, you should see the bad ones. So I decided that more pictures was good enough reason to go back out a second day.

I wasn't sure I wanted to go out again, but I felt okay before I left so off I went. But when I pulled my truck into the parking lot of the nature park I could sense there was something wrong. I felt tired and my heart just wasn't into the whole thing this time. That's when I wisely decided I'd make this trip a little short. I'd see how it went when I got out there.

You long time readers know that I was out at these places all winter long last year with no problem. But this time it just felt colder to me than I thought it should. I walked only about 2/3 of the way through the park and decided I should go ahead and turn back. I just couldn't shake that tired feeling.

Then about halfway out I began to feel strange. All of a sudden I couldn't catch my breath and I was beginning to get very dizzy. I decided to stop so I wouldn't fall over. So I leaned against a snow covered park bench for a few minutes. I began to feel a little better so I methodically, but quickly, made my way out of the park to the warmth of my truck. There were no further incidents that day.

I decided when I got home that I would wait at least a few more days before I went out again. I thought maybe it was from breathing in too much cold air though. But then that evening came another problem. Another dizzy spell, but this time I was in the house. Not good. This hasn't happened since right after the car accident.

That wasn't the end, or the worst. I woke up in the middle of that night feeling a pain in my chest. It felt full, like there was air trapped in there. This has happened to me in the past, long before I ever started really enjoying nature. It was just stress before, but this hurt worse than ever before. I thought this was probably the same, but it did hurt quite a bit more. I waited there in my bed for a few minutes, and the pain began to lessen. I went back to sleep.

The next day I still felt a little bit of pain. It now felt like those old days when I felt a similar pain from stress. I had another scheduled doctor's appointment in a few weeks so I decided to do something then. The pain stayed with me off and on the whole time. Even though I was lucky, I should have gone to the doctor much sooner.

Well, yesterday was finally my appointment. Upon hearing my story, the doctor ordered an immediate test on my heart to make sure things weren't worse. Luckily the test results came out fine. I have to say I was a little worried. The chest pain turned out to be stress caused by all the problems from the accident.

I let stress get to me very easily, which is why I began my love of nature. Nature soothes that stress for me. I used to have similar problems until I found places to go and be alone with nature. But I haven't been able to do much of that for awhile now. This has not been a fun time for me at all.

So that's my story. Even though I was lucky, and my health has been monitored very well recently, for the most part, this should remind everyone to be careful before doing any outdoor activity. Check with a doctor. I'm not that old, and I'm reasonably healthy other than a bump on the head, but I still have problems sometimes.

And now that I got that out of my system, I hope I can move onto more cheerful things for my next post. See you then.

Nature Center Magazine - Your starting place for nature!