Cardio Update

The surgery was a success as far as I can tell. It usually takes 4-6 hours for a cardiac ablation and it actually only took 3 hours for me. We were rocking out to awesome music in the operation room and the amnesic-like state that I was in made the time pass extremely quickly. As most patients will attest, there were moments of being uncomfortable as they DO have to stimulate your heart into tachycardia in order to isolate the 'bad' area that they will be ablating. I got lucky. Within a second (literally) of them hitting the electrodes my heart was off to the races. They clocked me going 300 beats a minute. I'm not really sure how my heart didn't just explode. Human anatomy is a wonder!  So, they were able to identify the faulty wiring, which happened to be far enough from my AV node to allow for heat ablation rather than freezing. Apparently, freezing the area has a significantly decreased chance of success. So, lucky for me they were able to use heat and take care of the problem. I also took some advice from EMT friends and requested pillows under my knees and behind my lumbar to decrease the soreness that always follows after this type of procedure. Lo' and behold, my friends were right and I had no body soreness the following day - only tenderness around the catheter wounds. I didn't even need to use Tylenol for my pain. I was treated really well by a great staff of nurses at Exempla Saint Joseph's Hospital in downtown Denver and my Cardiologist Dr. Ngo was fantastic. I'm healing well, and back to my usual zippy self. Thanks for all the posts, calls, emails and people that dropped by the house. All the well-wishes were deeply appreciated.

A. 31 yrs old., B. Healthy, C. Heart surgery: Which one of these does not belong?

You read right. I've been pretty quiet about this to most people except close family and friends but I am scheduled for a cardiac ablation at the end of this month. Only one week before our move. I feel like telling the cosmos..."Go ahead. No really, throw a little more stress on there. I can take it."

At least I have to be thankful that it is a relatively common procedure with only a 1% risk of complications for someone of my age (though the complications are pretty severe). I can't really complain though. There are so many others in the world that have it much worse than I do, but I'm not ready to put on my 'big girl panties' and deal with this just yet. As a family friend and RN told my mother-in-law, "they do this procedure all the time but, it's nothing to sneeze at."

I'm only 31, I'm the picture of health. So, why do I need to have surgery? I was diagnosed (after 10 yrs. of misdiagnosis, by the way) with Supraventricular Tachycardia. What the heck is that, I asked. Basically, I've got a super-enthusiastic heart that has a short-circuit and gets so excited that it misfires by accident sending my heartbeat racing from 60 beats a minute to 220 beats a minute. Yipee!  It's a heart arrhythmia and it's one of the few (if only) heart disorders with an approximately 97% cure rate. Lucky me.

The plus side, I finally have an explanation for why I've passed out twice for no explainable reason - ending up being medically evacuated from Peace Corps back to the states for the first episode and scaring a bus-load of passengers on their way to work from Union Station in Denver and freaking out my doctor  (and myself) who thought I was having a heart-attack for the second episode.  And, it explains why my heart suddenly races for no reason like getting up from a chair or picking up a box and just as quickly as it comes on... it stops! 

The down-side, I really REALLY don't want surgery. The idea of any surgery especially one that messes with my heart is particularly unnerving, even if it is 'common'. So, my request to you: well-wishes for me and my family who are just as nervous about this as I am.  Thanks!