I have been on a nearly year-long quest for wellness trying to heal my gut and getting my neck and back in alignment along with balancing my hormones. It has been a long process and very time consuming and extremely costly.
Imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when Lindsay, the nurse practitioner at that office, expressed her concern over the downward trend my pulse had been taking for several months. It was 42 beats per minute that day and when she learned I was on flecainide for my heart, she looked it up and saw that the medication can cause slowing of the heart rate and she was concerned it was slowing it way too much and was worried my heart just might stop. Scary thought!
Her concern was so great she insisted on calling my cardiologist's office right then to set up an appointment for me. I couldn't get in to see the doctor for four days. Then the day of the appointment, I was notified an hour before my appointment that the doctor had been called out on an emergency. I had to reschedule for the following Monday. Hmmm, that's a whole week since I'd been told my heart could just stop.
When I saw Dr. Humiston and told him the concerns, he wanted me to wear a heart monitor for a month. I told him I was leaving the country in 2 1/2 weeks. He said I could wear it for 2 weeks and hoped that was long enough for whatever might be going on to manifest itself. Loved the lanyard around my neck with the monitor hooked to it and the bulky cell phone case attached to my pants.
I wore that lovely thing every day and every night, only taking it off to shower. I was supposed to push the button on the monitor every time I had an "event" with my heart. Let's face it--I could have been pushing the button almost every minute of the day and night. My heart is always doing crazy things. It's been this way for 6 years now. My other cardiologist told me I just need to get used to it and try to relax and not let it bother me.
As I went about my daily routine for the next few days, I could tell my heart was struggling, and it had been bothering me a lot in the 4-5 weeks leading up to that point. I kept giving myself a little more and more flecainide and also the other heart medicine I had to try and calm it down and get it to beat more in rhythm.
Four days later, during Ben's graduation was when everything came to a head. I got a phone call from the heart monitor company as we were driving down to Provo for the ceremony. They wanted to know what I was doing 30 minutes earlier (I was sitting in the car) and if I had fainted (no, I had not fainted nor did I even feel close to fainting). They wondered why I hadn't pushed the button to record the "event." That's when I told them if I pushed every time my heart did something weird, I'd be pushing the button all the time.
During the time of the ceremony where they were reading the long list of graduating students, I got another call from the heart monitor company asking once again what I was doing. I had just been sitting perfectly still watching the graduates go by one-by-one.
We were getting ourselves situated at Kneaders for brunch when I got a third phone call about my heart. It was my doctor's office telling me my heart had been stopping for 4.1 seconds and it was most concerning it was happening during the day when I was up and doing things.
More phone calls from the doctor's office got me lined up to see a doctor that afternoon. My doctor was out of town, so I saw another doctor who immediately wanted to put in a pacemaker. WHAT?!?!? That threw me for a loop! Wasn't expecting that news.
The bright spot of the day was when Glen went to his doctor to see what the recent MRI showed is going on in his shoulder and he got excellent news. The MRI looks great! No new rotator cuff tear. Nothing to indicate the need for another surgery. Hurrah!! Diagnosis: frozen shoulder. Glen got a cortisone shot right into the joint and he immediately got some relief and gained more movement. He is supposed to lay off all physical therapy and not strain his arm. We were so relieved to hear that news, despite the warning it could take up to 2 years for the pain to completely subside.
I decided I wanted to go off flecainide over the weekend and see how my heart did before I jumped right into a pacemaker. I also wanted another opinion. At the beginning of last week, when I talked to the doctor again, he noticed my heart had been racing and I was in atrial fibrillation. I needed the flecainide to keep from going into a-fib, but flecainide was causing my heart to slow dangerously low. That doctor told me to get a second opinion from my cardiologist who was back in town the next day.
Got an appointment with him and he was sick that day. Made an appointment for the next day and he was sick again. Meanwhile, time was ticking down until we were supposed to be leaving on our big European vacation. The suggestion was made for me to see his PA, Bryan Searle. Turns out I now love Bryan Searle!!! He was so kind to me and spent so much time discussing options with me. When he saw the 4+ seconds flat lining, he told me he could see why the other doctor had been so concerned. He told me the first most important thing would be to get a pacemaker. Then I could go back on flecainide which would help the racing atrial fibrillation episodes. But he wanted to consult his friend Dr. Peter Forstall and get his opinion. He couldn't get a hold of him that day, but said he would call me the following day.
In the meantime, Jacob had come to town for a 24-hour work visit.
He did his best to make friends with Madison. Poor little girl was trying to get over having a high fever and an ear infection.
Jacob orchestrated getting his siblings together (Sarah couldn't make it) and all this was going on when I got a phone call from Bryan's office telling me I was scheduled for an appointment with Dr. Forstall the following morning and to come fasting. I learned if after our consultation I felt like I wanted to go ahead with the pacemaker procedure, there was room for me on his surgical schedule.
WHEW!! Wasn't expecting that, but once again was giving great thanks for Bryan Searle and his desire to get me seen and attended to quickly so I might possibly be able to still go on the trip. (Either that or he was concerned my heart would stop any second...???)
I was so appreciative when Jacob asked me if I would like a blessing that evening. With Glen in Minnesota, it meant so much to me to have Jacob taking charge to make sure it happened.
Jacob took a nap before he donned his Union Pacific high visibility gear so he could go ride a night time freight train. He got to ride in the engine. How cool is that!?!?
Turns out he didn't have to work all night and was able to come back here and get a few more hours of sleep before morning. He made time in his schedule to drive me up to Layton in the morning before he had to be at his work appointment.
I was just going to drive myself to my appointment and then walk next door and check myself into the hospital, but when Jeff heard that plan, he said he would take the day off work so he could watch Eli and Carson so Sarah could be with me all day. Lincoln came along as well.
I was so touched by Jeff's concern and his willingness to do that. My family was stepping up to do all they could to support and help me and I was so thankful for their kindnesses.
Glen was even trying to do his part when he changed his evening flight to a morning flight and was able to fly in around 1 p.m. By doing so he was able to visit with Jacob for a short time before Jacob flew back to Houston.
Hearing a third heart doctor tell me I needed a pacemaker convinced me I should probably heed their advice. Things had aligned up so nicely for me to have it done that day and I was by then resigned to the fact my life was about to change forever.
Turns out the doctor wanted me to go to the Ogden Regional Medical Center where he was doing another procedure. We reported to the hospital at 1:00 p.m., just in time for a full 5 minutes of the fire bell ringing as they were doing testing on it. Sure put a cramp in Lincoln's peaceful nap he had been taking.
As we were walking into the hospital, Sarah asked if I was nervous. I told her the thing I was nervous about was getting the i.v. put in. I have not had much luck lately in that area and have to get stuck multiple times. It's not fun!
Imagine my happiness and glowing satisfaction when Bob (who turned out to be Bill--I was calling him the wrong name) stuck me one time and the blood flowed and I thought all was well...
...until Bob a/k/a Bill withdrew the needle, wrapped up my arm and looked down and noticed he had not filled one of the vials. I was upset on two counts. The first was why did he take the needle out when he had a good vein? Why couldn't he use the same good vein for drawing blood and doing the i.v.?!?!?!?!???????
The second was this meant he had to do another stick for the second vials, which thankfully he was able to get again on the "first" stick which, in reality, happened to be the second stick. UGH!! All the while I was thinking about how I would need yet a third stick at least to get an i.v. inserted.
After being in the hospital for a couple of hours, Glen arrived. Things had gone well for him to catch an earlier flight home and he was here in plenty of time before they took me back to the cardiac cath lab.
In came Stephanie to do the i.v. She tried two times to get a vein and was unsuccessful. She brought in a vein finder machine and still couldn't get a vein. I'm up to 5 sticks and counting...
Not only was I counting the needle sticks, I was also counting the hours going by. The procedure should have started at 2:00. Good thing I had some cute people to keep me company.
It is amazing my blood pressure wasn't sky high by the time another person came in and made two more attempts at getting in an i.v. Thankfully the seventh time was the charm. This monitor shows my unhealthy slow heart rate of 54 beats per minute.
Another couple of hours slowly ticked by as we wondered when in the world I was ever going to be taken away. Not having eaten all day, I kept eyeing the Dial 3663 (FOOD) before 7 p.m. sign on the bulletin board. I did not want to miss dinner after starving all day long!
We had a pleasant surprise when Andy and Amanda came to visit. Amanda enjoyed a few moments with Lincoln before Sarah had to leave. I had so much appreciated their presence throughout the whole day.
Andy and Amanda became the chief entertainment committee for the next couple of hours. I was so sick of being in the bed that I got up and started pacing the room. I wasn't attached to an i.v. yet and wondered why I hadn't gotten up earlier. I was just ending my phoned in dinner order right before the dining service ended at 7:00 when they came to wheel me away. FINALLY!!!
Apparently the procedure scheduled before me had gone on unexpectedly for hours. Then another patient got bumped in front of me. I felt so sorry for the doctor when he finally got to me as he had already put in an extra long day before ever getting to me.
I was awake during the whole procedure. I was given something to relax me, but I was fully aware of everything going on around me--for the whole 2 1/2 hours I was in there. I could feel a lot of pressure many times in my left shoulder/chest area where the incision was made. At one point I could tell Dr. Forstall was so frustrated with whatever was going on and I felt like something wasn't going the way he had hoped.
I was so happy to be back in my room for the night and was extra happy when the nurse brought in the salad I had ordered. They weren't worried about me being nauseous and let me eat right away.
Nani, another surprise visitor, had come while I was gone and Glen really appreciated her being with him during that long wait time. Our children wanted frequent updates and Glen needed to get home to do some work, so he was instructing Nani on how to do the updates.
I am happy to report the pain was manageable with only needing to take extra-strength Tylenol. The doctor came in to talk to us the next morning and that is when we found out what he was so frustrated about during the pacemaker installation. He was able to get a lead wire secured in the lower ventricle but was unable to secure a second lead wire into the atrium because of scar tissue. He said he tried 20 times to find a spot to attach it and he couldn't make it happen.
That was very discouraging to hear as my past echocardiograms have shown that I have a healthy heart and my only issues the past 6 years have been electrical problems. But he reassured me the lower lead is the most important one and it is doing its job.
After a walk around the hospital to see how I felt, he released me to come home. Sarah stopped by for a visit and when I showed her my wound, she marveled over the heart-shaped bruise that had developed around the wound.
Now for the subject of our European vacation that was scheduled for us to leave one week after the pacemaker implantation. The day of the surgery the doctor suggested we not plan to leave the country, at least for a while. So, we told Steven and Patricia to go ahead and cancel the Paris part of the trip at least. They couldn't get out of their accommodations in Rome, so they decided to go ahead with that leg of the trip and we were hopeful that at least by the Mediterranean cruise and Holy Land part of the trip we might be able to join with them for that.
The day after the procedure, Dr. Forstall was singing a different tune like we could, in all likelihood, go on our trip after all, provided everything looked great at my one-week check-up. We decided we would cancel Paris as well since we didn't want to go without our friends and made hopeful plans to go to Rome with them.
My check-up showed the pacemaker doing its thing--helping me out 35% of the time. A couple of people at the doctor's office confirmed it showed I really do need the device and it was a good thing I got it when I did. After an EKG and lots of advice, warnings and tips to traveling with a pacemaker, I got the green light from the medical people to go out of the country. YIPPEE!!!! What seemed like a distant dream has now become a reality.
We are going to Rome tomorrow! WOW!! A three-week vacation abroad. Glen and I are so ready for a break from the routine. He has worked so hard on his Minnesota project for nearly a year now and he is ready for a break. We were both worried sick about my heart issues and it's nice to know I am now getting some help for my heart and hopefully it will behave in the atrial fibrillation department. The pacemaker won't help it if it takes off racing, but hopefully the two heart medications will cover that issue as well.
Time's a ticking! We need to pack! Tomorrow morning will be here before we know it! I am giving thanks for my improving health and strength. Imagine how wonderfully rested I will feel after doing my convalescing spending every minute with my husband, spending lots of time visiting and laughing with our friends and seeing sights we've only read about or seen in movies. Sounds like the perfect prescription to me!!
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