G
Gemma
Well, don't worry, it gets better, but Jim's had a bit of a setback. He had been doing really well, had a couple of episodes last week where his heartbeat went really fast but it sorted itself out in about 15 minutes so we didn't worry too much about it. I spoke to him on Monday afternoon and the same thing was happening but he said he was going to get some rest.
I had considered going to the cinema that evening with my mother but the showing was quite late so we decided against it.
I was sitting watching TV with my parents, went upstairs to the bathroom at about 8pm and decided I'd check my mobile (cell) phone. Now I'm not sure if this is something you have in America, but here there's a text message facility, kind of like instant messaging to phones. Great for everyday stuff, not so good when it says (and I quote) :"DON'T PANIC!! - taking Jim to A&E his heart rate is up & he needs a pill, not available til 9pm from doctor". No doubt you can all guess what I did next - I panicked!!! The message had been sent at 7.15, so I figured they'd been at the hospital about 30 minutes, rang his house but nobody was there. Decided to go down to A&E, where I found his dad (by this time it was 8.15ish) about to ring me.
I got in to see Jim where he told me he'd had 3 injections which had stopped his heart and had been meant to get it going in the right rhythm, but none of them worked. He later told me he'd really wanted me there. I really wanted me there too but as I didn't know I couldn't be. The moral is, never send important information by text message!!
Anyway, they then put him on a 1hour infusion of amioderone - got his heart rate from 166 to 142 in that time, then another 24hour infusion. He was taken up to the cardiac care unit, and remarkably the lovely nurses got me a recliner chair and blankets and let me stay the night!!! I know it sounds ridiculous to be happy about something like this but that was the best thing anyone said to me all day!
Turns out it was an atrial flutter (same as fibrillation?). He was back in sinus rhythm by about 4am. They've now put him on beta-blockers, not sure for how long, which will both slow his heart down a bit as his heart rate was still a bit on the high side (apparently - 80s resting) and also control any arrythmias. I'm not sure how long he has to take these, but presumably it will be monitored and adjusted/stopped when necessary.
The upside is that he also had an echo (ultrasound) of his heart, and incredibly after only 4 weeks it is back to normal size (4. something - 3 or 5 I think) - the left ventricle was about 7cm pre-surgery. Even the surgeon did not think this would get back to normal EVER!! So we did have some good news.
Jim was discharged last night and is now back home, taking it easy like he should have been before! He's feeling a bit worried about being at home, any advice would be greatly appreciated I'm sure - I said they wouldn't let him out if they thought it was going to happen again, but it's a scary time.
Gemma
I had considered going to the cinema that evening with my mother but the showing was quite late so we decided against it.
I was sitting watching TV with my parents, went upstairs to the bathroom at about 8pm and decided I'd check my mobile (cell) phone. Now I'm not sure if this is something you have in America, but here there's a text message facility, kind of like instant messaging to phones. Great for everyday stuff, not so good when it says (and I quote) :"DON'T PANIC!! - taking Jim to A&E his heart rate is up & he needs a pill, not available til 9pm from doctor". No doubt you can all guess what I did next - I panicked!!! The message had been sent at 7.15, so I figured they'd been at the hospital about 30 minutes, rang his house but nobody was there. Decided to go down to A&E, where I found his dad (by this time it was 8.15ish) about to ring me.
I got in to see Jim where he told me he'd had 3 injections which had stopped his heart and had been meant to get it going in the right rhythm, but none of them worked. He later told me he'd really wanted me there. I really wanted me there too but as I didn't know I couldn't be. The moral is, never send important information by text message!!
Anyway, they then put him on a 1hour infusion of amioderone - got his heart rate from 166 to 142 in that time, then another 24hour infusion. He was taken up to the cardiac care unit, and remarkably the lovely nurses got me a recliner chair and blankets and let me stay the night!!! I know it sounds ridiculous to be happy about something like this but that was the best thing anyone said to me all day!
Turns out it was an atrial flutter (same as fibrillation?). He was back in sinus rhythm by about 4am. They've now put him on beta-blockers, not sure for how long, which will both slow his heart down a bit as his heart rate was still a bit on the high side (apparently - 80s resting) and also control any arrythmias. I'm not sure how long he has to take these, but presumably it will be monitored and adjusted/stopped when necessary.
The upside is that he also had an echo (ultrasound) of his heart, and incredibly after only 4 weeks it is back to normal size (4. something - 3 or 5 I think) - the left ventricle was about 7cm pre-surgery. Even the surgeon did not think this would get back to normal EVER!! So we did have some good news.
Jim was discharged last night and is now back home, taking it easy like he should have been before! He's feeling a bit worried about being at home, any advice would be greatly appreciated I'm sure - I said they wouldn't let him out if they thought it was going to happen again, but it's a scary time.
Gemma
