What's New on October 18, 2002

OCTOBER 18, 2002

After spending three or four days of my heart feeling funny, I finally decided [with the help of some friends] to go to the emergency room. After running some tests and an EKG, the doctor decided I should be admitted for observation and further testing.

After being transferred to my room, they found I was in near constant
bigeminy, which is a regular heartbeat alternating with a PVC, so I was
transferred to ICU. They medicated with IV nitroglycerine but it was dropping my blood pressure too low so I then transferred to Baptist Medical at 1AM.

My EKG showed:

Unusual P axis, possible ectopic atrial bradycardia with frequent premature ventricular complexes
Low voltage QRS
Incomplete right bundle branch block
Nonspecific T wave abnormality
Prolonged QT
Inferior infarct
PVC runs
PVCs 8 per minute
Unsustained ventricular tachycardia
Bigeminy
Trigeminy

I think that is all I can remember. I just wish I knew what it meant. lol... It seems to me if the EKG machine automatically interpreted the above as 'abnormal' then it is not normal and something should be done to fix it.

Today they did another cardiac cath at 4PM but because of a new closure procedure with collagen, I was able to go home after just a 4 hour recovery.

My cath showed my stint was fine but there was slight narrowing [20%] just past both ends. No other blockages were found so they determined the rhythm problems were not due to any blockage... possibly my mitral valve prolapse but they did an echocardiogram this morning and it was only grade a 2.5 so they feel it is much too early to consider surgical intervention.

As for the PVC's, bigeminy, and the like, I have to just learn to live with it... reduce my caffeine intake... which means changing my diet Pepsi to Caffeine-free Diet Pepsi and limiting chocolate. But the biggest help came from me. I put a couple things together after I got back home and back on my regular medicine regimen. I had started on Provigil for fatigue shortly before the rhythm disturbances started. Although my doctors knew I was taking this, I guess no one immediately recognized it's side effect of rhythm disturbances. When my heart started acting worse a few days after coming home, I stopped it and sure enough within a day or so, my heart was back to it's regular irregularities. lol...

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You are listening to Memories from the musical Cats, written by
Andrew Lloyd Webber and T.S. Eliot. I felt this song was a perfect selection
for this site because of the affiliation I feel with Grizabella. Although for her,
it was age and not health issues that changed her, neither of us are who we
were before, on the outside, and it can affect how we feel on the inside.

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The author of this page does not promote, support, or recommend any
particular treatment or medication for any medical condition. The opinions
expressed in stories or links are the responsibility of their authors.
No treatment should be undertaken without the supervision of a physician.