TheBanyanTree: Interesting day... LONG!

[Laura]

This is from January 10th.  It was pointed out to me that 
I have not been putting these stories out to the Tree 
Dwellers, just to family and close friends.  So here, 
since that's what we're here for, for your entertainment, 
is a slice of my life.  WARNING... there will be 
updates....  :)


My day started out way too early.  I knew that the feller 
who was coming to fix my fridge was supposed to call 
between 8 and 9 am. Knowing I would sleep right through it 
if I wasn't in the living room where the ringing phone is, 
I kept waking up throughout the night. Finally, at 7:17am 
I gave up, and moved to the couch in the living room, 
putting the phone right behind my head.  At 8:00 sharp, 
Larry (the spousal unit) came stumbling out of the 
bedroom, and I heard my alarm going off.  Oops - forgot I 
set that!  Poor fella hasn't been sleeping well as it is, 
and when he finally gets to sleep, my alarm goes off!   

The phone rang at 8:07am, and the repair feller told me 
he'd be there between 12:30 and 2:30pm.  Fine.  I emptied 
the freezer into the cooler so he would be able to get in 
there to fix it, and realized as I was doing it, that I 
had bupkus to fix for dinner!  <sigh>   

The repair feller got there just after 12:30 as promised, 
and while he was finishing up the repair (an easy cheap 
one, thankfully), Larry came out of the bedroom again.  He 
didn't look so good.  I told him that all I was able to 
come up with was stuff for taco soup, and not even all of 
that, and he made the executive decision that we would go 
out to eat.  Good - I don't have to cook or clean up... 
works for me.   

The repair feller finished up, explained what the problem 
was, took our check, and left.  He even cleaned up his 
mess first!  :)  All of us got ready and went to eat at 
the local chinese buffet.  Larry kept putting his hand on 
his chest, and panting for breath.  He has reflux, and I 
figured that's what it was.  Frequently that's the problem 
when he's not sleeping well.  As we ate, he got shakier 
and shakier, finally asking me to take his pulse.  I 
thought that was kinda weird, but I tried.  I couldn't 
find his pulse from across the table, and told him I'd try 
again in the car. He looked worse and worse as we sat 
there, and finally he asked our server if we could pay now 
so we could leave as soon as we were done.  She brought 
our check, and Larry was so shaky and weak, he almost 
couldn't sign the ticket.  We discussed me taking him 
directly to the ER, but he insisted on just going home.   

After we got home, I got the blood pressure cuff which 
also takes a pulse.  The first one showed his BP to be 
113/93 and his pulse to be 172. No, that's not a typo - 
one hundred and seventy-two!  I told him to go lie down on 
the couch and put his feet up for a few minutes.  Because 
I have no stethescope (which I now plan to remedy!), I put 
my ear to his chest and listened to his heart go beat, 
beat, beat.  Single, rapid beats. VERY rapid.  I told him 
we really should go to the ER.  So he called the nurse he 
works with in the health program he's part of through 
work.  As he was on the phone with her, he tried the BP 
cuff again.  Error. Wouldn't work.  We waited a minute and 
did it again.  102/80 and a pulse of 141. She told him 
that it was NOT diabeties related, go to the ER!   

We hollered up the kids, and got them and us into the van.  
I drove us to the ER at Central Baptist, where I told the 
bored lady at the triage desk that "my husband has a rapid 
heart rate, shortness of breath, and low (for him) blood 
pressure readings".  She called a nurse to take "this 
heart patient" on back.  As soon as the flock of staff 
were fluttering around him, I went out and got him 
registered.    

I got back just as the flock were dispersing.  One nurse 
and one doctor remained to explain what was happening and 
what they were going to do about it.   

Larry has supra ventricular tachycardia (SVT).  Kind of a 
'short circuit' in the heart which causes the upper part 
of the heart to beat really fast, not allowing the bottom 
part to fill with blood properly.  His pulseoxy was 98 - 
100% the whole time, so he was getting plenty of O2, but 
it wasn't being pumped around in an efficient manner.   

As the doctor talked, we watched the monitor.  Larry's 
pulse was over 200. It got as high as 207, but never lower 
than 200.  His blood pressure was barely 100/70.  He was 
pale and clammy, and breathing rapidly.  His being nervous 
and scared wasn't helping, either.   

The doctor explained that they would try chemicals first, 
to try and change his heart rhythm back to a normal cycle.  
Adenosine, 6mg was injected into this IV.  Nothing.  So 
they tried 12mg.  As the nurse drew it up, the doctor told 
Larry that this injection would actually stop his heart 
for an instant or two, and that his chest would feel 
really weird. It was not anything for him to worry about, 
it was supposed to happen that way, but the dr. wanted him 
to be expecting it so he wouldn't be frightened.  Of 
course, the idea of having his heart stop terrified Larry. 
<rolling eyes at dr.>  (later - Larry says, "I was NOT 
"terrified"!"  Yeah.  Ok.) Maybe he could have said "skip 
a beat" instead of "stop".  I dunno.  They injected the 
12mg dosage, and within a few seconds, sure enough, his 
heart stopped - for one second.  Then there were two BIG 
beats, and the heart started back into a normal rhythm.  
His pulse went from 205 to 96 within 30 seconds.  You 
could watch Larry's color change from pale to flush, and 
actually SEE him feeling better!   

Of course we had to hang out for a couple hours to wait 
for the second set of heart enzymes to be sure there was 
no damage.  There wasn't.  The best part is, Larry's been 
having these "episodes" for years... probably 10 or 15 
years - and we always thought they were something else.  
We thought we finally had a diagnosis when our family dr 
told him he was mildly diabetic, the symptoms are similar.  
But now we know what it is for sure.   

And even better, it's curable!!  Not just treatable - they can CURE it!  

First we have to see the electrophysiologist... more on 
that later.

-- 
Laura
wolfljshus at insightbb.com
http://home.insightbb.com/~wolfljshus/index.html