Wow! Four weeks ago I awakened at 6 AM and knew something was wrong. I felt strangely ill. I drove to my office and called and cancelled my clients. I got back in the car intending to drive home and instead stopped by my doctor’s office. It was early but I knew the office staff would be there, Instinctively I knew something was very wrong. Luckily my doctor was there and she saw me and after taking my blood pressure and asking a few questions and listening to my heart, she informed me that she had called an ambulance to take me to the hospital. She told me I was dangerously dehydrated and she was pretty certain I was in “A-Fib”. Within 3 minutes the ambulance was there and for the first time in a long time, I was not in charge . Two (very cute) EMT’s picked me up, placed me on a gurney and I went for my first ever ambulance ride. The EMT’s were amazing. Crowded into that tiny space, they locked the gurney, got an IV into my arm and one drove while the other kept checking my vitals until we got to St. Rose Hospital where they waited until I was in emergency room care before they left for their next run. They did all that as smoothly as humanly possible, and I am so grateful for their care. In the emergency room it was as if a flock of birds flew down and took care of all my needs, IV, medication, temperature, checking everything every 3 minutes. They were pumping me full of fluids, checking my heart , asking me questions. My emergency stall was a hotbed of activity! Then all the birds flew away except my nurse and someone who wheeled an EKG machine into my room and left looking somewhat worried. Everyone introduced themself to me, but they talked to each other about what they were doing and I knew I was in good hands. I think by now it must have been about 10 AM and I fell asleep and everything was peaceful. After some time had passed an emergency room doctor blew in and told me that my doctor was correct and I was in “A-Fib”. He explained about the two upper and lower chambers of the heart and how they worked together to keep sending blood to all parts of my body. However in my case one of the upper ventricles was fluttering instead of pumping and consequently I had irregular heart rhythm. I was in trouble also because I had become extremely dehydrated. He asked me for the name of my Cardiologist.
When I was in my doctor’s office the next day she assigned me to a cardiologist and we set up an appointment. The earliest I could get in was two and a half weeks out! Imagine if we had universal health care. There is a reason why the Rolling Stones lead singer, Mick Jagger, wanted his surgery done here and not in England! Anyway, I saw a wonderful Cardiologist who explained to me that since I had not been in A-fib before, he wanted to try to do a cardiac inversion and shock my heart back into rhythm and then our job would be to STAY OUT OF A-FIB –and he explained his plan to me.
So last Wednesday I had a cardiac inversion and I have never felt so well in my life as I did when I awakened from that procedure. I got the paddle, just like on television.
Tomorrow I go back to work and I have an appointment for a stress test, another EKG and I see my cardiologist again and I am so damn grateful for my life! So grateful for my healthcare.
I am grateful I was alive to say goodbye to my precious 11 year old black lab, Woof, who passed away the Monday before my Inversion. I cried tears of gratitude for being able to give him a great big smooch before he slipped away. The ups and the downs, folks. They create this wonderful ride we call life.
Take care of your heart and hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate!
Katy