I Didn't Order a Pacemaker

Wow. Has it really been 3 months since I posted last? I can't believe it! Wow again. Is anyone still checking this blog???

Well, I'm sitting here wearing a Holtor monitor. Again. (Check my "Epic Update" post back in March.)

I think I may have mentioned once that my heart does funny things when I exercise. Yes, and sometimes I think that it's laughing at me. ("I'm your congenitally diseased heart and I'm going to laugh at you! You think you can put me through TWO surgeries, and not have any more problems with me?! Mwa-ha-ha! I'll get you yet! You haven't seen the last of me!") Or something like that.

So I had the gamut of tests done at Mayo today. (You'd be so proud of me! I didn't even cry when I got my blood drawn! Go me! Uh-huh! I'm tough!)

Good news first: My piggy valve is still perfect. No regurgitation at all. Oink, oink! And the right side of my heart has shrunk even more - before my surgery the enlargement was moderately severe and now it's mild. So my heart has been doing some great things, and is basically healthy.

Yep basically. When I do any kind of cardio (or let's face it - walk up more than two flights of stairs) my heart rate will increase like normal, but then plummet to my resting rate and beat really hard, which makes me light-headed and faint, and my chest fluttery.

Hang on - Mr. Mayagi is having Daniel-san show him "Wax on, wax off"...

Okay. Where was I? Oh yeah - fluttery chest. (Do you hear my heart laughing?)

So one of my tests was an exercise test. And luckily (or unluckily) my heart did the thing. And they wouldn't let me stop walking. And I panicked and forced them to slow it down. (I guess force is the wrong word. I don't think I could have forced my burly exercise test tech to do anything.) But slow it down they did. After I practically fainted.

So fast-forward to my appointment with my cardiologist later on this afternoon. The rhythm issue is a concern (DUH - I'm not a heart expert and I could have told them that). This is what they think is happening:

When I exercise, my heart reaches a threshold rate of about 150 BPM. When it hits this, it gets blocked, and then slows to half its rate, so that only every 2nd beat registers. This has something to do with my AV node and scar tissue and a constricted "gate." (I obviously didn't quite understand all the information.) There it is - my heart laughing at me. Again.

So Dr. Warnes put me on a new medication, which will hopefully help with the rhythm issue when I exercise. And I'm on the dang Holtor monitor again for 24 hours. I get to take it off at 2 tomorrow afternoon. Sweet.

But I have to go back to Mayo on Wednesday to turn in my monitor, be tortured with yet another exercise test, and meet with Dr. Warnes again.

The good thing is that if this medication works for my rhythm issue, then I'll just stay with this course and start exercising again.

The bad thing is that if this medication doesn't work with this rhythm issue, I'll have to meet with a heart rhythm specialist after I meet with Dr. Warnes and discuss getting a pacemaker.
(Heart. Laughing. At. Me.)

I can't tell you how much I DON'T want a pacemaker. For many reasons this scares me. First, there's the idea of having some little box implanted in my shoulder or stomach. Second, there's the whole wires in my heart thing. Third, there's the thought that these wires and the implanted box are there to regulate my heart rhythm, something my heart can no longer do. Fourth, there's the unpleasant business of finding the right setting. And lastly, there's the battery - what if it poops out?

And don't get me going on the procedure to implant it which only uses local anesthetic and a one-night stay in the hospital. Only local anesthetic?! How do they get the wires into my heart with just a local anesthetic? (Do you hear that? That's my heart laughing some more.)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't know that I'll need the pacemaker. But I have a feeling that I'll need the pacemaker.

For now I just have to try this new medication. And I don't seem to be having any reaction to it, so I guess that's good.

Well, Daniel-san is practicing the Crane Technique on the stump at the ocean. The movie is just going to rev up again. If only I could crane technique my heart into revving itself up...

I'll post on Wednesday evening with the results.

And Merry Christmas (belated) and Happy New Year!