No Jiu-Jitsu tomorrow

I have not taken the time to write anything about my progress in Jiu-Jitsu lately, so I figure might as well check in with an update. Let the record reflect that I am still a two stripe white belt. I just want it to be clear who you are dealing with here.

Milestone

There is a milestone on the horizon, though. Next week will mark one full year that I have been training Jiu-Jitsu. It probably goes without saying that it has been an incredible year. So much has happened, as you might expect.

When I started twelve months ago now, I brought with me to the mat not much more than a fear of getting injured. I’ve mentioned before that I had attended a few classes at this same gym almost a decade early and left feeling that I might be leaving some limbs behind. It took my about ten years to muster up the courage to go back. I am so glad I did.

Acai bowls and roses

It hasn’t all been bottomless acai bowls and a bed of roses, though. In fact, I still have never had an acai bowl.

However, I been eating a lot better this last year. I wasn’t always eating healthier, but I was certainly eating more. And I have been feeling better, generally. I sleep better. And I feel like I am much more relaxed and laid back than before. I still need to work on chilling out, but I’m better than before.  There is still a lot of work to do, generally. As I mentioned, I only have two stripes on the white belt.

So I feel better and I haven’t been injured, why no bed of roses? Because I haven’t exactly remained injury free.

Bicuspid aortic valve

Two years ago, I started to notice some shortness of breath and some light-headedness. I began having some very mild heart palpitations as well. I went to see my doctor who referred me to a cardiologist. After undergoing an echo-cardiogram, I was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect called a bicuspid aortic valve.

When the doctor told me the news, I was stunned. She didn’t have to tell me what a bicuspid aortic valve was or what it meant for my future because my big brother had the same defect in his heart and underwent open heart surgery when his was 40 years old. Shout out to the Big Bro. I was already 42 when I got the diagnosis.

I’ll be your huckleberry

Immediately, I knew I could beat it. Nobody was going to cut me open. My symptoms weren’t really that bad at all. I wasn’t in too bad of shape for a 42 year old man. With a clean diet and a regimented exercise program I would be fine.

My cardiologist ordered a stress test, which of course I passed with flying colors. I was doing great. My symptoms were very mild and were not getting worse.

I got out my mat and started moving around on the ground. I would just do some stretches and yoga poses, but also some sit-throughs and get-ups. I started walking a lot more. I started swinging my kettle bells a lot more.  

I was anything but regimented, but still I was determined that I would live out the rest of my days with a defective aortic valve and really without too much by way of noticeable impediments. They weren’t going to have to operate on me. I wasn’t going to let them. Or so I thought.

A whole year passed. I went back to the cardiologist and had another echo-cardiogram. The results showed that my heart was stable. It wasn’t getting worse at all. Encouraged that I was fighting the good fight, I finally bit the bullet and went back to the scary jiu-jitsu gym with an old friend of mine who had survived his first year, largely injury free.