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| Just to add something visual and a bit lighter to the post! |
Well, Lads and Lasses, it's been a heckuva week. Indeed the heckuvest week I've had in quite some time.
Started out in the usual fashion, reading and answering comments on last week's post (deeply appreciated I must add). Then Mrs J blew the work horn and we migrated to the old house to continue the process to bring it on line as a 4 bedroom BnB. Bring in some more income as well as increase salability when the property is put up for sale. Soon we hope.
It's progressing nicely, except the weather hasn't cooperated quite enough to have made any progress on the front porch. So, I performed step'n fetchit duties for Mrs J. Life is good!
Then, the you know what hits the oscillating room cooling device. We have a quarterly checkup with our GP. Since they're pretty much routine, Mrs J and I both go to the same appointment and the Doc does the usual stuff on each of us.
I go first. First procedure is listen to the heart. Stethoscope up. A bit of moving around, a bit more, a bit more and finally he puts it down and says, "Well, juvat! Seems you need to go to the ER! Like right now!"
Oh?
"Yeah, your heart rate is about 150 and AFIB is all over the place. Now get over there!"
Well, his office is about a quarter mile from the ER. We drive up and are met at the door by a nurse and a wheel chair. I am in an exam room in about a minute. The Doc and Nurse are standing by. Shortly, (very shortly) thereafter, I have an IV in my arm and meds are going in. About a half hour later, my cardiologist is there and looking at things.
I'm getting a bit concerned about this process which does nothing good for my BP. Fortunately, the Doc's a pretty good guy and explains it like it is. They're going to up the meds in the IV to bring the AFIB back down. If that doesn't work they're going to do a Cardiac ablation (that's what the Docs called it, the link calls it Catheter Ablation). Basically, zap my heart and see if it comes back to normal heart beats.
NOW, they've got my undivided attention!
So, while the IV is going on, I'm busy thinking calming, pleasant thoughts. And, yes, there might have been a bit of discussion with the Big Guy Upstairs about how good I'll be if he gets me through this mess.
Or several of those discussions.
Fortunately, that evening, my heart rate is back down to normal range. The Doc's say I can go home if I want to, but their body language, convinced me to stay overnight. I don't think I slept more than several 30 minute naps all night. Lot's of beeping going on, warning bells going off, low lights on all night, all lights on when the bells went off. Oh, and that's just in my single bed room. In short an ICU normal night, I suspect.
Doc comes by about 0700. Didn't know Cardiologists knew about that time of day. Looks at the files and charts and displays and said "Looks like you're back to normal, juvat! Wanna go home?"
"Why yes, Doctor, yes I do!"
About the time you're reading this, I'll be at the Cardiologist's office getting an Electrocardiogram to see the effects of a 50% increase in the level of one of the heart medications I take. Hopefully, that level makes the results good.
The interesting thing about this was I didn't feel all that bad at any point. I also learned there's quite a bit of Heart Rate data automatically recorded with an Apple watch. Didn't know that was even there until my cardiologist mentioned that I should get an Apple watch. Since I had one on my wrist at the time, I showed it to him. He asked for my iPhone. I logged in and gave it to him. A couple of minutes later, he handed it back to me and there was all my above the line heart rates. A bunch of high readings, many more than I thought. Suffice it to say, that app is getting a LOT more use!
Well, wadda ya know? You can teach an old fighter pilot new things!
An educational week fer shure!
Peace out, y'all!
PS: Sorry for the paucity of pictures, but this is a family blog. Pictures of me in a hospital gown unfastened in back to facilitate access to the stuff in front could cause trauma as well as be used by some of you out there as blackmail material! You know who you are! ;-)*
* Lifesavers most likely. Thanks to all y’all!
Well now, this isn't the usual Monday entry but good to read that events passed smoothly and to a successful exit from medical land juvat. Keep that Apple watch wristy!
ReplyDeleteNylon,
DeleteYeah, had the follow up with the cardiologist as planned. Decision was made to do the ablattion thing next week. Yippee!
There is a lot of information stored in it, not a real user friendly interface, but once you get used to it (and the Dr's are) it's quite helpful.
juvat
Isn't Getting On In Years fun and exciting?! New medical terms researched! New procedures explored! Thrills and excitement at every turn! Good to hear that the sawbones got the target at least bracketed.
ReplyDeletePrayers up for you and yours.
Thanks, Joe. Yeah, thrills and excitement come on both sides of the circle don't they?
Deletejuvat
Too much excitement! Hang in there...
ReplyDeleteRob,
DeleteTrying very (very, very) hard to contain the excitement.
juvat
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of a P47 nose I read one day.... "May all your breaks be right, so you will be left!" Sounds like a perfect right break. Glad you are still with us. Don't burn down on the move. (Mondays..... gah!)
DeleteMusta been a great one!
Delete;-)
juvat
Just to change the subject, the reason to break right (usually) is that the torque of the engine gets you a small increase in the roll rate of the aircraft as well as the turn rate. Every little bit helps when the bullets are flying at you.
DeleteTaking my time and taking it slow (for the time being)
juvat
Another important reason for right turns is at very low altitude. The engine torque vector is up in a right turn, down in a left turn. A left turn might be enough to push the plane into the ground.
DeleteHmmm! Yes! At low altitude every foot (inch?) can be important.
Deletejuvat
Damn!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're better, but damn!
Prayers up for good health!
Thanks, Sarge, much appreciated!
Deletejuvat
I have been praying for you and Mrs. J, but apparently not enough. I need to up my game.
ReplyDeleteMy brother-in-law also had an AFIB event which they handily were able to evaluate thanks to his Apple Watch. I am not necessarily a fan, but this seems like a useful piece of technology.
Standard warnings about take care, pace yourself, etc. Sounds like the moving plans could not have come at a better time.
(Bless you for the picture you posted rather than the "action shots".)
THBB,
DeletePrayers are always appreciated, and in my case, very needed. ;-)
After the Doc told me about the app, he spent about 10 minutes or so, looking at the data and its patterns. Shortly thereafter the "Plan" came into being, so I guess it really is a good piece of equipment. Glad I had it. Glad my daughter talked me into it.
As to the last....Me too.
juvat
YOWSERS! Glad they are getting stuff treated, but even gladder you chose to delay the excitement until AFTER you completed your marathon trans-Pacific passages.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that Mrs. J's conditions are unremarkable is cause for celebration!
JB
Interestingly, the after voyage "under the weather" circumstances were discussed quite a bit in the conferences with the medics. Those circumstances are still going on by the way, not always, but often enough to be irritating. Not that anyone wants to know about that, however.
DeleteI thank the Lord regularly about her condition and pray it continues.
juvat
Yeah, when I walked in to the ER one evening and said "I think I'm having a heart attack" before my next breath it seemed I was in a room, wired for quadraphonic, IV in one arm, blood departing my other arm into an army of vials ... Turned out,that even without staying at a Holiday Inn Express the night before, my self diagnosis was correct. This week it was a more mundane, if somehwat more painful, Kidney stone (first and NOT recommended!)
ReplyDeleteTake care, you have grandchildren to spoil!
WtL,
DeleteIt was very impressive how quickly they were taking care of "things" upon my arrival. Very efficient, very nice (within the realm of being "Nice" not getting in the way of taking care of "business". Once things settled down, one of the Docs came in and spent a bit of time explaining what was done and why, answered any and all of my or Mrs J's questions. In short a very well handled emergency, IMHO.
Grandchildren to spoil...AYE!
juvat
My pacemaker is over 10 years old and has another 8 years or so of battery life. That means I don't need it often; that said, without it I wouldn't be typing this. It has a memory and Medtronics makes a device that will transmit the info to the cardiologists office. All very convenient. My cardiologist recently retired. As it happened, I was her very last patient visit. That was an occasion for some dreadful puns. I need to explore a watch connection. That will be useful. Good that your problem was caught and treated.
ReplyDeleteWSF,
DeleteAs I mentioned above, once the Doc knew about the watch, he seemed a bit more confident in what needed to be done. It's not the best User Interface I've ever come across, but maybe that's just to keep the patient's out of it so the data isn't deleted or something.
Thanks
juvat
Glad you came thorough that 'episode' without further damage or surgery!
ReplyDeleteMe too. Was in the prep room for a CardiacVersion procedure this morning and they were taking my EKG. They got through that and said there were no irregularities, so they called the cardiologist. He said to send me home!
DeleteThank you LORD!
juvat
Good news!
Delete