Hearts and thoughts they fade
From P, an update:
Thanks for asking...I just got home and I'm fine. Here (sorry about the length) I'll cut/paste the email I just sent to the Dude et al:
I'm back from the heart procedure. They didn't keep me overnight. I didn't get much of a buzz from the drugs either, darn it. In fact, I was fairly lucent for much of the time I was in the electrophysiology lab...except for those couple of hours of missing time, when I must have either gone to la-la land or got abducted by aliens.
Long story short, they could not do an ablation procedure on me. After monitoring my heart and giving it some drugs to do some acrobatics for them (I needed a double shot, actually...I blame the daily treadmill) it finally kicked into overdrive, but the episodes were short-lived. When he finally did determine where the redundant electrical signals were coming from, they turned out to be located in very close proximity to a part of my heart that is quite important, thank you very much. So rather than monkey around and try to ablate that area and run the risk of frying the good wiring with the bad (which then would have necessitated a permanent pacemaker), he rightfully elected to do nothing. And I am glad.
He did give me a prescription for a beta blocker that I can take if I want, but fuck that...By the time I pop a beta blocker, my arrhythmia would be done with. But I'll get the prescription filled anyway just in case I anticipate a situation where my heart would be tripping. Like hiking the Appalachian Trail, or just planting a few flats of flowers next spring on a hot day. Or in case there's a presidential speech in my future.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I felt very loved and supported this past week and I appreciate that so much. It really helped to put my mind at ease.
Thanks for asking...I just got home and I'm fine. Here (sorry about the length) I'll cut/paste the email I just sent to the Dude et al:
I'm back from the heart procedure. They didn't keep me overnight. I didn't get much of a buzz from the drugs either, darn it. In fact, I was fairly lucent for much of the time I was in the electrophysiology lab...except for those couple of hours of missing time, when I must have either gone to la-la land or got abducted by aliens.
Long story short, they could not do an ablation procedure on me. After monitoring my heart and giving it some drugs to do some acrobatics for them (I needed a double shot, actually...I blame the daily treadmill) it finally kicked into overdrive, but the episodes were short-lived. When he finally did determine where the redundant electrical signals were coming from, they turned out to be located in very close proximity to a part of my heart that is quite important, thank you very much. So rather than monkey around and try to ablate that area and run the risk of frying the good wiring with the bad (which then would have necessitated a permanent pacemaker), he rightfully elected to do nothing. And I am glad.
He did give me a prescription for a beta blocker that I can take if I want, but fuck that...By the time I pop a beta blocker, my arrhythmia would be done with. But I'll get the prescription filled anyway just in case I anticipate a situation where my heart would be tripping. Like hiking the Appalachian Trail, or just planting a few flats of flowers next spring on a hot day. Or in case there's a presidential speech in my future.
Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I felt very loved and supported this past week and I appreciate that so much. It really helped to put my mind at ease.
posted by Joe at
8:46 PM
3 Comments:
Thanks for the update.
I'm not sure if this is a good time to reply or not, but I wanted to share a personal experience myself.
My father had a similar test done a few months ago. He had suffered a previous heart attack 10+ years ago. He's been working, active ever since. I don't ask about the Viagra, so don't you either.
Anywho, the Cardiologist suggested he have a similar test. Granted, he had already had damage done to a decent percentage of his heart, so there wasn't much of an option. Take the test or roll the dice when you're workin' in the garden.
He took the test. BZZZZZZZZZ, they jumped the heart a touch and BOOM.... It was over.
Thank Baby Jesus, they were able to shock it back into rhythm. He now has a sweet pacemaker installed.
I am so glad he took that test. Otherwise, he could have been working that garden without a team of professionals standing by with greased up paddles.
I'm sure I wouldn't be the same person if those doctors didn't have the foresight to take that test, or my old man to have the balls to take that risk.
Joe, feel free to delete if you see this as inappropriate reply that could cause anxiety or unnecessary stress to any readers.
Eugene, I'm very glad your dad is around to work in the garden a while longer. I too am glad I had the test. Knowledge is power and all that. Better to know than wonder, yada, yada.
And I meant to say lucid not lucent in this here update. Although spending 3+ hours in the procedure lab and being the only one not wearing a leaded vest probably made me quite the latter too. And yeah, I maybe wasn't so lucid after all either, seeing as I apparently made quasi-drunk dial phone calls and had conversations right afterwards that I had only a partial recollection of yesterday. Good times.
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