I'm not sure if anyone noticed, and if not, that's okay.
I just spent eight days in the hospital and will try to keep this message short .
On the Friday before I was admitted to the hospital, I started feeling pulses in my right neck. At first, it was two pulses in my neck versus one pulse on my left wrist. By monday, the number varied from two to seven or eight. I called my cardiologist, explained the symptom, and he suggested that I double my dose of Bisoprol.
The next day, the thing persisted. I could only sleep comfortably on my left side. When I laid down, it felt as if I wasn't getting enough oxygen. I went to Urgent Care, not wanting to waste their resources. What the saw on EKG was a very wierd EKG - different areas on the result showed a major difference from the others. There were skipped beats, and overall strangeness. I assume that the conclusion was that I wasn't getting oxygenated blood into my system, and that failure was a possibilty. I was transferred by ambulance, across the street, the E.R.
I'll try to shorten this from here. The doctors and nurses who saw the EKG were surprised and amazed by my heart rhythms.
On Thursday, I had an angiogram, and got a stent in my oblique minor artery, which was 100% blocked. I was started on Amiotrone when I entered the E.R. and was getting I.V. since my admission. The only thing it seemed to do was shut my digestive system off and turn eveything I ate to concrete. I was discharged on Friday, rhythm still messed up, but my cardiologist was apparently hoping that it would resolve. On Friday afternoon, I called the cardio, complaining that this didn't seem to work, and that I was getting blocked up. He told me to stop taking it for a day or two. He had prescribed Plavix - I reminded him that I take Warfarin - he was aware of this and told me to keep my INR between 2 and 3. He said that Plavix is necessary to keep the stent from being blocked by platelets.
On Saturday, I still wasn't getting a lot of oxygen into my system, my adbomen was swollen and turgid, and I could still feel purlses in my neck.
A friend took me to the E.R. and I was admitted pretty quickly. My heart rhythm was still screwed up. In the room, the admitting doctor from my HMO prescribed a powerfrul laxative that took about six hours to work but, boy, did it work. The next day, I was visited by an electrophysiologist. He told me that I had a few choices. He could do an ablation below my valve and see if that helped. If I need an ablation above the aorta, this would be a much more difficult procedure. But, he said, medication works for 80% of his patients, and he wanted to try medication first.
It worked. I was nauseous as hell, and lost a lot of my meals, but the rhythm was mostly resolved. In the hospital, I wasn't getting any exercise other than walking to the bathroom and back - something they didn't trust me to the first few days. I was cramped on a bed that was too short. There wasn't much to do but watch TV or movies.
Yesterday (Thursday) they discharged me. I still had the nausea and was still unsteady on my feet. But I went home, anyway. I slept much of last night and until about noon today. I couldn't afford the co-pay from my medications yesterday, but borrowed some money so I can have them delivered today.
When I walked back into the bedroom, my wife said 'wow.' I asked her if it was my beard. No, said, 'you have color in your face.'
So now I'm hoping that I can handle the new medications, that I don't get any cuts or bump into anything because of the Plavix - Warfarin combination, and that the stuff works.
I just spent eight days in the hospital and will try to keep this message short .
On the Friday before I was admitted to the hospital, I started feeling pulses in my right neck. At first, it was two pulses in my neck versus one pulse on my left wrist. By monday, the number varied from two to seven or eight. I called my cardiologist, explained the symptom, and he suggested that I double my dose of Bisoprol.
The next day, the thing persisted. I could only sleep comfortably on my left side. When I laid down, it felt as if I wasn't getting enough oxygen. I went to Urgent Care, not wanting to waste their resources. What the saw on EKG was a very wierd EKG - different areas on the result showed a major difference from the others. There were skipped beats, and overall strangeness. I assume that the conclusion was that I wasn't getting oxygenated blood into my system, and that failure was a possibilty. I was transferred by ambulance, across the street, the E.R.
I'll try to shorten this from here. The doctors and nurses who saw the EKG were surprised and amazed by my heart rhythms.
On Thursday, I had an angiogram, and got a stent in my oblique minor artery, which was 100% blocked. I was started on Amiotrone when I entered the E.R. and was getting I.V. since my admission. The only thing it seemed to do was shut my digestive system off and turn eveything I ate to concrete. I was discharged on Friday, rhythm still messed up, but my cardiologist was apparently hoping that it would resolve. On Friday afternoon, I called the cardio, complaining that this didn't seem to work, and that I was getting blocked up. He told me to stop taking it for a day or two. He had prescribed Plavix - I reminded him that I take Warfarin - he was aware of this and told me to keep my INR between 2 and 3. He said that Plavix is necessary to keep the stent from being blocked by platelets.
On Saturday, I still wasn't getting a lot of oxygen into my system, my adbomen was swollen and turgid, and I could still feel purlses in my neck.
A friend took me to the E.R. and I was admitted pretty quickly. My heart rhythm was still screwed up. In the room, the admitting doctor from my HMO prescribed a powerfrul laxative that took about six hours to work but, boy, did it work. The next day, I was visited by an electrophysiologist. He told me that I had a few choices. He could do an ablation below my valve and see if that helped. If I need an ablation above the aorta, this would be a much more difficult procedure. But, he said, medication works for 80% of his patients, and he wanted to try medication first.
It worked. I was nauseous as hell, and lost a lot of my meals, but the rhythm was mostly resolved. In the hospital, I wasn't getting any exercise other than walking to the bathroom and back - something they didn't trust me to the first few days. I was cramped on a bed that was too short. There wasn't much to do but watch TV or movies.
Yesterday (Thursday) they discharged me. I still had the nausea and was still unsteady on my feet. But I went home, anyway. I slept much of last night and until about noon today. I couldn't afford the co-pay from my medications yesterday, but borrowed some money so I can have them delivered today.
When I walked back into the bedroom, my wife said 'wow.' I asked her if it was my beard. No, said, 'you have color in your face.'
So now I'm hoping that I can handle the new medications, that I don't get any cuts or bump into anything because of the Plavix - Warfarin combination, and that the stuff works.
