04-01-2015, 06:02 AM
I've been out of fishing for a while because of my stupid clunky ticker! Last summer I was having arrhythmias so bad and almost passing out (even had to stop driving for a while). So they put me on a new medicine that works great for the heart - but can destroy lungs, thyroid and eyes.
I haven't been having arrhythmias, but the last few months just feeling run down and can't breathe well. When I was born, the arteries of my heart were all going to the same place (both to lungs, instead of one to body). So when I was 18 months old they took the artery out of my right arm and re-routed it so that blood could flow all over where it's supposed to.
So the doctors were thinking maybe my "fix" was broken... had shrunk and/or stretched as I grew and was too narrow, or maybe kinked or something. They would also like me to get off this arrhythmia medicine.
Last week I had a procedure done, via a catheter in my groin. They threaded wires up into my heart to look at my arteries and measure the blood pressure inside my heart. Now here's the awesome thing about it... I was awake, with no sedatives (only local anesthetic where they put the tubes in my groin), watching the monitor that showed the wires in my heart moving around while it was beating! They thought they might have to put a stent in my artery, but said it's actually doing MUCH better than they thought, and didn't need to do anything after all. From start to finish it was only about an hour!
It was pretty fascinating to watch everything. When they put the contrast dye into my heart, it looked like smoke coming out of the tube...reminded me of a hookah, actually! LOL
So anyhoo. Last week was to go in and look at stuff and take measurements. On April 29 they're going to do it again, except this time do an ablation of the malfunctioning part of my heart. I will have to be sedated/asleep for that one though, because since they're going to be electrically zapping specific areas of my heart, I need to be TOTALLY still so they don't get their aim off.
Ablation has a success rate of 75+%, so hopefully I can get off my medicine. And recovery is only a week from these procedures! I was up and walking around the day after my last one, and wasn't even sore enough to need a Tylenol!
My plan is to get all fixed and be ready to go on my first fishing trip for my birthday in May!
[signature]
I haven't been having arrhythmias, but the last few months just feeling run down and can't breathe well. When I was born, the arteries of my heart were all going to the same place (both to lungs, instead of one to body). So when I was 18 months old they took the artery out of my right arm and re-routed it so that blood could flow all over where it's supposed to.
So the doctors were thinking maybe my "fix" was broken... had shrunk and/or stretched as I grew and was too narrow, or maybe kinked or something. They would also like me to get off this arrhythmia medicine.
Last week I had a procedure done, via a catheter in my groin. They threaded wires up into my heart to look at my arteries and measure the blood pressure inside my heart. Now here's the awesome thing about it... I was awake, with no sedatives (only local anesthetic where they put the tubes in my groin), watching the monitor that showed the wires in my heart moving around while it was beating! They thought they might have to put a stent in my artery, but said it's actually doing MUCH better than they thought, and didn't need to do anything after all. From start to finish it was only about an hour!
It was pretty fascinating to watch everything. When they put the contrast dye into my heart, it looked like smoke coming out of the tube...reminded me of a hookah, actually! LOL
So anyhoo. Last week was to go in and look at stuff and take measurements. On April 29 they're going to do it again, except this time do an ablation of the malfunctioning part of my heart. I will have to be sedated/asleep for that one though, because since they're going to be electrically zapping specific areas of my heart, I need to be TOTALLY still so they don't get their aim off.
Ablation has a success rate of 75+%, so hopefully I can get off my medicine. And recovery is only a week from these procedures! I was up and walking around the day after my last one, and wasn't even sore enough to need a Tylenol!
My plan is to get all fixed and be ready to go on my first fishing trip for my birthday in May!
[signature]