How you feeling and are you keeping your nose clean as of late?
Hope all is good...
Actually, no. :(
I had to be ambulatory to a local hospital on July 29. I had moderate discomfort between my throat and my heart...like I was going to vomit.
Yet, I wasn't nauseated, wasn't short of breath, etc. Yet, when I got to
the Emergency Room, my heart was racing at a blistering 155 beats per minute...known as "atrial flutter".
I had never heard the term before...but knew of atrial fibrillation
(AFIB) and ventricular fibrillation (VFIB). My Mom died of congestive
heart failure and AFIB just over 2 years ago...and VFIB killed my wife
14 1/2 years ago (she had a defective aortic heart valve since birth)...
she was only 48 when she died.
I didn't marry until I was 43, but I never dreamed I'd be a widower
at 47. I never remarried, and we never had kids, so I'm the last of
my line. At this stage of life, folks have too much baggage, such as:
1) They can't manage money (credit cards)
2) They let their kids treat them like crap (cussing them out, etc.).
3) They or their kids are in trouble with the law, are convicted felons,
etc.
I basically don't want, or need that extra drama in my life.
In the hospital, they tried 2 medications through the intraveneous
feed, but that only lowered the rate temporarily. So, they put me on
"a cardiac drip", and admitted me for 4 days. They now have me on a
blood thinner (to prevent formation of a blood clot that could cause
a fatal heart attack or stroke), and a medication to stabilize the
heart rate and blood pressure. They also did a chest X-Ray, and an echocardiogram in the hospital. It got the heart rate down to 74...
and like in golf, 74 for 18 holes is much better than 155!! :P I was
released on August 1.
The other day, I had a chemical stress test, and an echocardiogram at Arkansas Heart Hospital Clinic. This is much quicker than the treadmill
stress test, but produces the same result. Right after they inject that chemical, it's like a snake had bit you!!
You get chest pain, short of breath, feel like you have a fever, your
pulse starts racing, and you might get nauseated...all as if you were
having a heart attack. At least I did not get nauseated, and the readings stabilized real quick. They did have "a crash cart" nearby, in case I had suffered a heart attack, but thank The Lord it wasn't needed. When I was
in the Emergency Room, the blood work did not show any sign of a heart
attack. So, apparently, I caught this mess in time.
The results got in on the patient portal that night, but I couldn't
find a way to view them. So, I have to wait for the cardiologist (he
isn't the one with the get will cards <G>) to contact me next week,
and let me know what the results were. I'm supposed to have a follow-up
visit with him on August 25. Right now, I don't know if I'll need surgery
for a pacemaker, or if there was any blockage that needs to be removed
with bypass surgery.
I never thought I'd be a heart patient...even though I'm classed as
obese class II, but I know folks whose body mass index is much higher
than mine is. In fact, I've lost weight since I was in the hospital.
Daryl
... Spring Is Here. I'm so excited, I wet my plants.
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