Thinking over... no response required.

• by runpacer
• 2022-05-19 16:57:44
• General Posting
• 653 views
• 1 comments

Two years ago I had a PM implanted. A month after that I had a  cardioversion to reset my heart rhythm. Six weeks ago I had a series of ablations. I can see the mistakes that I've made that caused my heart to get worse. Throughout my life doctors would mention that I had an irregular or a premature heartbeat, etc. Than the docs would go on and talk about my sore knee or injured foot. Only once, after a high altitude run and a nagging (first) wife did I have follow up on my heart. I was in my 20s and sent home after 3 days in a CCU. However, I never followed up on doctors mentioning that I had issues with my heart. Some said, "oh you will deal with it when you are older." It was a big mistake because I did not ask questions or get a referral to a cardiologist. Anyway, years later, when I was 58, I had a bad spell of something going on in my heart. I tried to run...and every 20 feet I had to stop. I was barely able to breathe. Eventually, a friend told me I should go to an ER.. I went. All hell broke out. I was, for 3 hours, in atrial flutter. Docs caught it on the EKG. Everyone wanted me to go to surgery and have ablations. I held off until I saw the attending. I did not get to see him until the next day. He reviewed my case and said because I did not have any of the risk factors (smoke, overweight, drink alcohol or do drugs, under 60 and I was not female) I can elect to have ablations when when it interferes with my lifestyle. So, I put surgery off for 5 years. I felt what was going on in my chest everyday but I continued to avoid getting anything done. Until it got worse. I mean really bad. I went into urgent care, expecting to hear doctors say I needed an ablation. I was wrong. My lower chamber was now slowing down. I needed a pacemaker. My heart, before surgery, slowed to 25 beats a minute and dropping. The implant was successfully completed. However, I did not know that the pm did not control my atrial flutter... so a month later I had the cardioversion. It worked... for 2 or 3 months... but again... I waited to see my doc whom I did not see until the annual checkup... and now I had atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation. Back into my favorite place, the operating room, and I had an ablation in one chamber and about 16 in the other. I don't know how much damage I did to my heart by putting off all of those interventions for so long. Maybe when I was first diagnosed with atrial flutter and had the ablation could have avoided a need for a pacemaker and cardioversion and even such an extensive series of ablations. Or maybe no matter what, I would have ended up needing those things because it's in my genes. Anyway 6 weeks after surgery and I had no episodes of flutter or afib. That is positive. On the stupid side of life, I was looking at my cell phone when I walked into a log and trip/flipped over and landed on my heart. I re-positioned my PM. I blackened my chest with a bruised that matched the bruised from puncturing the femoral vein when they went in through my groin. Over a few weeks gravity got the PM back in place. I did not yank any leads from my heart.. I'm still running and dance.. and now I nap.