by Nasoosie » Fri Mar 29, 2013 8:41 am
GOOD FRIDAY AND MORNING TO ALL!
First of all, CONGRATS to Carol! This will be a really thankful Easter for you! The angst of awaiting the outcome of tests is enough stress to kill a person no matter the outcome, but good news has a way of healing stress fast!
Well, now----yesterday was a day I hope to never repeat. I was lying in bed, preparing to get up, when my heart began that hideous fluttering feeling that I have had just intermittently in years gone by. I sat up bent over, coughed----all things that used to get that fibrillating to stop----no go. So I got up, put Dinah outside, thinking the crisp cold air might help. No go. And my heart rate was nearly 200 per minute, with no semblance of rhythm whatsoever. So I called my son to see if he was anywhere nearby to drive me to the hospital---he could not get here in time and said for me to hang up immediately and dial 911. I said maybe I should just wait a while and see if it would stop. He demanded I dial 911, and I was feeling weird enough that I agreed. Luckily I had unlocked the front door, put Dinah back in her cage, had let Molly pee, as it took them about 3 minutes to get an ambulance and a huge fire truck here in my little cul de sac to awaken the residents in wonder. So off I went to the nearest hospital, hooked to a heart monitor, an IV which they inserted immediately, and when they discovered what my heart was doing, we made good time.
The rest of the day was spent hooked to tons of monitors, blood drawings, drug-giving to slow my heart and get it back into sinus rhythm, (which finally worked after a backslide into A-fib once) radioactive dye injecting, gamma-ray scans and tons of picture taking of my heart, sonogram of my heart and all it's workings (amazing for me to be able to see my heart valves slamming shut!) and a treadmill stress test, which I demanded rather than the chemical-type stress test which is when they inject you with Speed (basically) and then image your heart to see how it is working. I passed the stress test with flying colors, which I was thankful for, as I really wanted to make sure that exercising was not going to cause a relapse into A-Fib.
Finally, after they read all the tests and blood analyses and whatever, the cardiac doc came to me to chat and let me know the plan of action----adding one more drug to my regimen, making it 4 a day now. I begged to go home and threatened to leave anyway, and she dismissed me! She said they found no reason whatsoever for the atrial fibrillation. Sigh. The last thing I ate was a huge bowl of vanilla yogurt with orange slices in it the night before this event. The yogurt, a lower-calorie brand, had a cover that read, "No aspartame in this any longer." I have known for a long time that aspartame gives me irregular heartbeats. Were they lying? Makes me wonder. At any rate, I will throw out the rest of it!
I was delighted to find out the hospital was fast, efficient, left no stones unturned, and all staff made my scare as relaxed as humanly possible. And the rescue guys deserve a medal, as well. May I never do it again, however!
So spent an uneventful night, feel good this morning, and am packing to go to the trailer in St. Cloud for a few days. The weather is to be great for Easter weekend, and I hope it will be for all of you as well.
Life is about learning to dance in the rainHappy travels!