Published in Canadian Running, September & October, 2024 Ted Guloien survived a cardiac arrest on the half-marathon course. It led him to re-evaluate his “no pain, no gain” approach to running. by Ted Guloien You likely know what a hypochondriac is–someone who has excessive and persistent anxiety that they are ill when they are not. … [Read more…]
As an athlete, you might be excused for not knowing what adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is. After all, not many of us are chemists or biologists. That I am not either will become evident below. ATP is a nucleotide triphosphate and related to the molecules that make up our DNA and RNA, the building blocks of … [Read more…]
“There’s no perfect or right lens for every patient, however. The surgeon must work with the patient to decide which lens is best for their needs and lifestyle.” [1] Dr. David Yan, Ophthalmologist-in-Chief for Sinai Health, 2022 It’s just a matter of time. Despite your healthy lifestyle, it’s quite likely that you’ll be in the … [Read more…]
Professor Lomonosov, the first-term assignment for your class, Introduction to Physics, was to “reflect and expand on a topic of your choice from the course syllabus”. I am a liberal arts student majoring in English and needed a science credit to graduate. I chose your course because I enjoyed watching the television show “Big Bang … [Read more…]
Yesterday was Father’s Day, but – with a 10k road race on Saturday with my daughter and then dinner with friends, and a 100k bike ride on Sunday with the L’Espresso Bar Mercurio team, a Father’s Day dinner to cook and capping the day off with aquavit with my son – reflecting on my own … [Read more…]
It was a sunny warm day in August 2019, and we were on our front porch finishing lunch when a tall lanky man strode up our path. With his subtle Norwegian accent, he explained he had read about our recent visit to my great grandfather’s former farm in Alvdal in a digital Norwegian newspaper. He … [Read more…]
It was a crisp and sunny Sunday autumn morning at the start line. We woke up early and drove 72 kilometres from home for this race. I could see my breath and that of the other anxious runners. I was wearing my blue 2010 Boston Marathon long-sleeved shirt that I’d earned 3 years before. My … [Read more…]
What is it that you like most about the floor, Kim, That makes you want to lie on it all day? What do you dream of there on the cold floor, wheezing? Why don’t you go outside and play in the snow, freezing? I let you in. They let you out. I let you in. … [Read more…]
My first memory is of sitting in my father’s lap, my hands gripping the steering wheel of the car under my father’s, as we hurtled down the middle of a narrow road bordered by advancing trees on both sides. I know now that we were driving on the infrequently used back road to the CIL … [Read more…]
Ted Guloien “A fully committed runner will follow treatment for any problem provided it does not have as its goal cessation of running.” Dr. Lowell D. Lutter, 1984 You probably already know the term “hypochondriac”. It describes a person who has excessive anxiety related to their persistent concern that they are ill, even in the … [Read more…]
Omnipotence (revised)
The patient as expert or, as the Mayo Clinic has taken to label it, “experts by experience”, is a step onto a slippery slope. While empowering the patient is important, in this age of the democratization of expertise where anyone with an opinion or access to Google is suddenly an expert in their own mind, … [Read more…]
Prior to my cardiac arrest, each day I woke was a 2nd chance to live my life differently from how I had before awakening. Like everyone, there was no guarantee I would see the next day — accidents, contagions and pandemics, misadventure, faulty genetics, and disease can strike anyone anytime. Yet I did. I figure … [Read more…]
The surprise of a sudden cardiac arrest can challenge what we believe about how the world works. If you believe in a universe guided by the laws of physics and the randomness of quantum mechanics, there may be very little discordance between your beliefs and what happened to you. If, however, you believe in a … [Read more…]
While most survivors of a sudden cardiac arrest remember nothing about their experience, some survivors report detaching from their body and viewing themselves and their surroundings from that external perspective, often from above. This is commonly referred to as an out-of-body experience. Some SCA survivors are reluctant to share their experience, for fear of judgment … [Read more…]
By now you have seen those colourful PSAs (public service announcements) explaining the difference between a sudden cardiac arrest and a heart attack. In most versions, the left side has a graphic image of a heart with lightning bolts and a caption “electrical problem” and on the right-hand side an image of a partially blocked … [Read more…]
Why Are Dinosaurs Not Mentioned in the Bible? A Sunday School poem for curious children by Ted Guloien From the wee ant, spider, and snail To big lions and bears… Jonah’s whale! Toss in scorpions, maggots, iguana, The Bible is but littered with fauna. Noah took two only of each kind, Yet one creature you … [Read more…]
What is it about surviving a sudden cardiac arrest makes us feel special? I felt pretty special after those early confusing weeks passed. On the compost heap of feelings and emotions I was experiencing at the time, this was the most puzzling. It wasn’t as if surviving the arrest was like swimming to shore through … [Read more…]
I took up doing Sudoku puzzles after my sudden cardiac arrest. With too much time on my hands, yet constrained by an inability to maintain focus any longer than it takes to brush a tooth, it seemed a better option than the frustration involved in trying to read a book. I was wrong. You’ve probably … [Read more…]
Surely no one would mistake a clogged laundry room sink with not having lights or power in the laundry room. Similarly, a heart attack is like a plumbing problem and a cardiac arrest an electrical problem. Simple, right? Not really. Under certain conditions, having a plugged laundry room sink drain can result in a power … [Read more…]
Running on Borrowed Time A Cautionary Tale Ted Guloien A fully committed runner will follow treatment for any problem provided it does not have as its goal cessation of running. Dr. Lowell D. Lutter, 1984 With hindsight, he knew the genesis of what happened likely began much earlier, perhaps in his childhood and certainly by … [Read more…]
On my old library desk at home, I have a heavy piece of Lockport dolostone that I carried back from one of the hikes with the children, years ago. The surface of this slab of dolomite is covered with the twisted and fossilized bodies of crinoids, a prehistoric animal that lived in the inland sea … [Read more…]
All sudden cardiac arrests are caused by some preceding disease, disorder, or circumstance, examples of each include atherosclerosis, Brugada syndrome and drug overdose, respectively. For some sudden cardiac arrests, the exact cause is a mystery, due to the current limitations of medical science and forensics, and the lag in time between when the event occurred … [Read more…]
If I still consider myself a survivor of a sudden cardiac arrest, have I survived? There at two fundamental dimensions related to surviving a sudden cardiac arrest: the physical and the emotional. Both are highly intertwined. When we say we have survived a sudden cardiac arrest, we are mostly referring to the former, the physical. … [Read more…]
The effectiveness of CPR changed our conception of when death occurs and what it entails. People facing sudden cardiac death were suddenly now surviving. Death, it turns out, is not turning off the light. Death is using the dimmer. It is a progressive phenomenon with decreasing possibilities for recovery, without proper intervention. With my heart … [Read more…]
I’m approaching year 8 of breakfasting on atorvastatin. When my GP first explained to me that I’d be taking the medication for the rest of my life, after being diagnosed with cardiac ischemia and atherosclerosis (coronary artery disease), I protested. I bargained with him: “What if I change my diet? What if I go vegan?”. … [Read more…]
This was a note I wrote in response to a Mayo Clinic initiative called “Experts by Experience” which involved collecting patient stories. It was posted on April 27, 2019. While I heartily applaud this initiative, I take exception to the title “Experts by Experience”. Empowering the patient is important yet, in this age of the … [Read more…]
A sudden cardiac arrest has multiple potential causes, all of which have a common end-point, the cessation of respiration and the effective pumping of the heart and, for 90% or so, the end of life. For most survivors, paradoxically, the experience of having a sudden cardiac arrest was not really experienced. Few survivors have any … [Read more…]
After attacking a particularly steep hill or finishing a high-speed sprint on our bikes, we often ask each other: “What’s your heart rate?”. It’s really a comparative performance question about who’s in better cardiovascular shape. Invariably, when I answer, the common retort is something like “Yah, but you’re on beta blockers”, as if this medication … [Read more…]