Today was that followup appointment with the cardiologist.  It was almost predictable what would happen, the specialist would say something like "There are no problems with your heart, you are an athlete" and so I questioned why I was even going today.  

Despite knowing with near certainty that there were no problems and how well I understood my own body, it was still unsettling to hear a doctor say "Your heart could stop beating".  Sure he's fresh out of Thai medical school and operates by the textbook, and he likely won't be there in a few months anyway.  But the fact that a doctor would say something like that doesn't help you sleep at night.  So I had to visit a specialist just in case.

As predicted, today the cardiologist said, "Everything is normal with your heart".  She even pulled up data from many years which showed similar results.  She asked me a bunch of questions and said, "It would appear to be bradycardia if we didn't have the baseline data to compare.  The first doctor didn't access your records.  But we know that you exercise and you don't have any other symptoms."

She also did a calculation and said that, "When you exercise, my only concern is if you don't get your heart rate over 60% of the maximum."  I told I her I do this regularly.  There are even heart rate monitor systems in place at the studios for this very reason.  She said all that was fantastic.

Whether it's a chicken or an egg problem, I'm basically stuck in a loop where I have to do high intensity cardio classes to keep the heart rate up.  Low intensity cardio like cycling helps for long term calorie burn but the intensity is not enough to accomplish the goal.  Group classes are designed to push you way above your comfort zone.  If done properly with warmups etc.. you gradually build up to more than 85% of your max heart rate for 15-20 minutes of the workout.  As one instructor explained perfectly well, "You can train by yourself at some gym or you can come to Barry's and work hard."

So all of what the cardiologist said was reassuring to hear.

The first doctor reminded me of my students who follow the textbook as gospel despite me telling them repeatedly not to do that.  I will always say stuff like  "You guys need to think for yourselves.  The book could be wrong and I could be wrong too."  Such talk drives people crazy, but then again so do people drive me crazy who do everything by the book.  It's the worst way to live. 

Taking it one step further, I began to realize I could push back against another group of naysayers:  the ones who argue for why I should stay in China.  You can pretty much guess where they are.  It wouldn't happen overnight, but I was gaining more confidence that this group of people were also clueless and could eventually be knocked down.  And who knows, maybe this whole thing is in my head.  After all, there was a whole "group" of positive people this trip who supported me and not a single one argued for why staying in China was a good idea.

So with everything done in Bangkok that needed to be done, nearly fully rested and recovered from that earlier covid, it was now finally time to dust off that bicycle once agian and get ready to ride to Pattaya.