Heart don’t fail me now
09/02/2009
Back in May my heart went into what is called “A-fib” (I am not lying to you!). Basically what my heart did was wake me up in the morning going REALLY fast. It’s kind of like waking up and realizing you are late for something. I figured “no big deal” and will relax as I was getting ready for work.
It didn’t slow down through my shower.
It didn’t slow down through breakfast.
It didn’t slow down through ride to work.
It didn’t slow down as I sat at my desk for a while at work.
I then asked a nurse to just listen and tell me what she thinks. “Ummm …. you better check yourself in (to the ER).” I did, got room #20 which happens to be the closest room to my office and the major pathway where everyone walks by – including my staff.
As I stripped down they started plugging me in to various electrical thingamabobs. There is nothing more unpleasant being half naked in front of your staff. “There called man-boobs, deal with it and get back to work!”. They also decided to shave half my chest (the side over the heart) so they can zap my heart back into place. The Dr. was a bit sadistic. The heart monitor showed I was beating at 150+ beats per minute.
As the anesthesiologist came in, they were explaining they were going to knock me out for enough time to get zapped. I asked “if I kinda need to pee now, will zapping my heart make me pee my pants?” they kind of laughed … and then asked “would you like to go now?”. I did. I will tell you it is a hard thing to pee while laying down and having only a little curtain separate you from a fellow supervisor and director waiting outside the door.
Thankfully the anesthesiologist was called away, because after a short time, my heart “self-corrected” and I was able to go home for the rest of the week.
We figured it was due to stress. (The previous week I worked a LOT of hours trying to get my area moved into the new building and it WAS particularly stressful).
A few weeks ago it did it again. I did almost the same routine, kept trying to just slow down in the morning and will my way through it. Nope. On the way to the ER as we turned onto the campus, I asked Mer to pull over. I listened to my heart and it had “self-corrected”. Saved some money for an ER visit. But now decided, I better let my doctor know it happened again.
So last week I went to a heart doctor. He had me do a cholesterol screening and an echo. The screening was easy. And the echo was a little odd. This guy kept playing with my chest moving this instrument around. It was pretty cool to see my heart on the monitor. He was quite knowledgable as he showed me the different aspects of my heart.
At this point, I am waiting for the “official” results and no doubt have to do more tests, which means more money that I do not have. Sigh.
I think the biggest thing out of this is is that I need to get my fat ass into exercising again. So I will be quitting my monthly membership to a local gym near my neighborhood and join the one at the hospital. I will be much more likely to go at work then when I get home.
I currently weigh 276 pounds! (Hey hey hey …)
My goal is to be around 230 pounds within a couple of years. (please don’t contact me to sell me any products).
Realizing that not exercising for a looooong period of time could be an underlying reason for the a-fib.
I hope to post about this more and my struggle with what is going on.
I have cut the caffeine (major sigh) and having been drinking more root beer. But, I am thinking the sugar from the root beer is not helping the caloric intake, so will be slimming down even on pops.
