Home from the Hospital

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I try to have a healthy and happy outlook toward the things which happen here on Earth. I will admit to being annoyed and concerned over four, six to ten hour episodes of symptomatic atrial fibrillation since January 29th.     Late last night I headed to the hospital for admission to a short stay cardiac unit for my fourth significant heart rhythm disturbance since the end of January.     My Dad passed of thirty plus years of controlled atrial fibrillation before passing in his eighties. Daniel is felt to have passed of a sudden heart rhythm disturbance, but since this is a functional issue, there were no indications of it, other than his obviously having passed, on autopsy.       One of my other sons had a cardiac ablation for paroxysmal a-fib more than a year ago. I should have a better outlook here. This is not a family health problem come now to roost upon me, to take my life and perhaps my mobility in slivers and slices.  It is a chance in which to obtain care, using the histories of these other beloved family members, so that I can remain on Earth as long as possible to help our four remaining children who also remain on Earth.. I need to see things as they are. Still, this is not easy.   I am not accustomed to feeling less energy, being dizzy, or taking medications.

Despite having the best electrophysiology cardiologist around, I am disillusioned with some of the resident and fellowship staff with whom he works. I am overwhelmed by the huge university medical center, the poor communication and lack of customer/patient concern. I find it hard to make it while in a-fib, from the parking deck to the lobby and registration center for my admission. As I make my way in this huge center, I cannot help but wonder how elderly people or those with nausea from chemotherapy navigate such a place. The hospital staff sometimes seems rude, abrupt, if not occasionally only marginally competent. I don't often bring up as a patient that I am a registered nurse with thirty years of experience including some as an instructor in a college for medical and nursing courses. Sadly, several times today I had to. I think it's time to look for another hospital with less ongoing construction, better patient service, calmer staff with better communication skills, etc.    I was there many hours. I received an i.v., an EKG, and was placed on a cardiac monitor. The plan was to administer the drug I had been given earlier, by mouth, to ensure that I could not only convert to a regular sinus rhythm, but that the drug given was safe for me. If this conversion did not occur, then I would have been cardioverted with electrical paddles. I entered atrial fibrillation at 0140, and was chemically cardioverted by about 1300.
According to my cardiologist, it is too soon to tell whether I can continue to take medication just when atrial fibrillation occurs, or whether I will need a drug to prevent arrhythmia on a regular basis. A cardiac ablation, not an easy procedure, may well be necessary in the future. Thus far, no one has asked about or referred me for the uptick in asthma I have noted since the viral respiratory infection I had in January which precipitated the first of the a-fib events. My Dad worked very hard to remain on Earth with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation which became intractable. Daniel was never diagnosed, and was asymptomatic until his passing. Adam for now, seems free of atrial fib. It looks as if I will fall somewhere in between all of them. I just can't wait to get all the bills for four episodes of a-fib with even brief hospitalizations.   As I speak, our insurance company is probably plotting ways in which to remove me from their rolls, and I don't know how much I am kidding about that.

From:  pacemakerproject.net





Update:   We never did get the bills for this months hospitalizations.   They were sent to our insurance company who paid their share, and then rather than sending bills for the remainder to us, they were sent directly to a collection agency.  This has happened before.  Yes, it's time to find another hospital.                                                                                                                        

My Turn Now

   

   My Dad, and Daniel and I were always very close when they were each here on Earth, and I have conveyed that we are close even now, when they have both passed.  This week we learned how much like them, and how connected we still really are.
               About two weeks ago, I got a chest cold, unusual for me, and somewhat severe. I was coughing particularly at night, and wheezing a little.  I also noticed that my heartbeat was particularly strong and more rapid than usual.  Nine days ago, I experienced a sensation of chest palpitations, of my heart bouncing, a bit like a flopping fish.  While taking my pulse, it seemed irregular. Since by then it was the middle of the night, I decided to take two aspirin, and call my physician in the morning, and report what is probably a run of atrial fibrillation.  Yes, atrial fibrillation afflicted my Dad, on and off for almost thirty years.  It also altered the configuration and efficiency of his heart and contributed to his passing, albeit in his eighties.   Daniel of course, is said to have passed suddenly, following a clean autopsy, of a spontaneous rhythm disturbance.  It is therefore not surprizing, that I share some of this predilection.
               That night, as I slept, my father said to me in a dream, "This is the last time you are going to be able to let this pass.  This next time, you are going to need treatment.  You need to get a cardiologist".
                As you know, I accept that Daniel and my father, are able to speak with me, in both dreams and sometimes in other ways.  I made the cardiologists appointment immediately for the end of the month, as quickly as I could get an appointment. I also let my internist know what was going on.  Nine days after the initial episode of atrial fibrillation, it happened again, early one morning, and I wound up in the university medical center's cardiology monitored unit.  Oddly, I was very calm.   Just as I had suspected, on EKG, and on monitor, it was atrial fibrillation.  Then, as it tried to convert, it danced between atrial fib. and atrial flutter. This time, the episode lasted from 5:14 am until 3:15 pm.   Physicians did testing, and chest x-rays and waited for labs.  First, they were seeking some insight in terms of fluid and electrolyte balance with regard to labs, and later they were debating the benefits of cardioversion against the benefits of intravenous drug conversion to a normal rhythm.    I joked that I had an AED at home, but that it just didn't have a "self cardiovert mode". No one thought my laughing  comment that coronal mass ejections of the sun has disrupted the electrical rhythm of my heart very funny either.   No one seems to have a sense of humor in a cardiac unit, and that is indeed just where one needs to have it. I told them that I thought I would convert on my own anyway, and that I would rather take an anti-arrhythmic drug myself, so that we would know what would work if this ever happens at home, and they agreed.  While they were headed to the pharmacy of an anti-arrhythmic pill they do not keep on their unit, I converted to regular sinus rhythm by myself.   After another hour, I was sent home.
           This new arrhythmia may simply be our family leaning toward episodic arrhythmia.  My eldest son had a successful cardiac ablation for a-fib about a year ago, and so rhythm disturbances are a feature of our family.  Still, cardiac arrhythmia can be caused by many things.   In Daniel's case, his supposed fatal arrhythmia was spontaneous and due to Long QT syndrome which had never been diagnosed..  His autopsy showed a completely normal heart without enlargement or coronary artery disease.   My father, had spontaneous arrhythmia, in the form of a fib,but went on with episodic a-fib to have changes from it which adversely impacted his heart's ability to pump as effectively as it once did. The eventual effect was heart failure in his eighties.   My issue may be different from theirs.  Unlike each of them, I seem to have a moderate enlargement of my heart in addition to the new arrhythmia. It may be that my new issue follows a virus.
          In any event,  my job is to try to avoid any additional slips into atrial fibrillation (as if I have that kind of control here) between now and my appointment in a week and a half.  I also need to try to get over this cold.  Then, the remainder of my cardiac testing will be done and my cardiologist will come up with a game plan.  Other than feeling lousy I am not particularly scared. I know I have family who love me here with me, and God and at least a couple of people around me who aren't in the flesh here anymore.  I'll let you know how it goes.