Well, that was an adventure.
Left home at the crack of 6:15am. I was at the hospital at about 7:25-ish.
The office opened at 8am. I waited. I was done in there in two hours. There was a bit of waiting, but I had to have an ECG, that took, oh, less than ten minutes.
Then I was walked down to the pre-admissions section to see the pharmacist and the anaesthetist. Which took three hours.
Luckily the anaesthetist was gor-juss (if I was 20 years younger, and 30kg lighter, he'd be in danger... oh, and if he wasn't married). The most amazing green eyes, tall, dark, handsome. Lovely hands. Hmmmmm. (He won't be MY anaesthetist. *sigh*. I'll get someone else, of course.)
Nevermind. After that I went to the local shopping centre. Had a kebab (yum), for lunch. Admired the wind chimes, checked out the clothes on spesh at Target, bought a drink. Bought a top and a house dress for much less than half price.
Oh, and did I mention that I got a call in the pre-admission section about an interview tomorrow morning at 9:45.
EEK! I have nothing to wear. (I've been slack and worn all my good stuff to work and not washed it yet... well, that was a load I did when I got home at 5pm... arrgh, I hope it dries on time. And I still don't know what to wear.)
Please keep everything crossed for me. Oh, okay. Not everything. Mostthing. Mmmkay?
Thanks.
6 comments:
Important things crossed, Kae.
Going for consult on my next 'procedure' today. Why am I nervous, it's only consult. Maybe cuz it's new place, new doc, new...never done this non-military before, don't believe I like it.
Good friend had surgery for colon cancer 2 days ago, hope to visit after my appt.
Will have my Catholic friend light a candle for you!
Hi kc!
I'll be fine with the hospital thingy and the docs. It's the job I need the crossings for!
Hi Wand
Thanks!
All the best, Kae. I'll keep some things crossed for you, but you will be fine!
Are you getting a rebore done?
Hi SezaGeoff. Thanks.
Hi Boy.
I have supra-ventricular tachycardia (SVT), an extra electrical pathway in the heart which sometimes (under stress, tiredness or not enough sleep, too much caffeine, forget to take my drugs, sitting still, sleeping!), gives me a rapid heart rate (normal is 71 bpm, mine's been up to 221 bpm). I am on drugs for it and with asthma and other things happening as I get older I want the cardiologist to try again and fix it.
They put in a catheter in the groin (vein or femoral artery, depending on where the pathway is, left or right, supra I think means "at the back"), and they map the electrical pathways, then they ablate by heat or cold the excess pathway. Last time they ran out of time (you're under mild xray while they do this so they can see what they're doing, and you can only be under this xray for 4 hours I think before it starts to do damage to your skin, and that's how they ran out of time last time). Last time it also wasn't completely successful. The time consuming part of the procedure is the mapping and that's been done so it should be a straight forward job to finish. I was also quite crook after the last time because the drug which stops the tachycardia gives you asthma, and my chest felt for several days like someone had stood on it, it hurt to breathe, and this was like having the after effects of a severe cold, where it hurts to breathe.
This time he will attempt to do the same again, however, if the pathway is in an awkward place (he's told me it is), he may need to do a trans-septal puncture, he will enter the heart on the opposite side and puncture through the septum, the bit which divides the ventricles...
The drugs I take for the SVT and high blood pressure have annoying side effects, loss of memory, hallucinations, aches and pains both muscular and joint, tiredness... all of which I seem to be suffering. And the condition and these drugs also preclude taking other drugs for other conditions (like asthma), because of reactions between the drugs or just because they can trigger tachycardia.
I've become super sensitive to caffeine. I have to drink decaf tea (I drink a lot), and that's annoying too - have you seen the price of 50 Dilmah decaf bags?
I'm sure I'll be Okay, I'll be in good hands. No surgery, even the less invasive like this is without risk, the risks of these mishaps are reasonably low, and I'd like to be drug-free and SVT free. The risks are:
punctred heart, punctured vein or artery, blood clot risks, infection, too much heart ablation (I'd get a pacemaker, open heart surgery), anaesthetic, death.
You can't get much riskier than death. I'm sure I'll be fine.
Anyway, if anything goes wrong and I do kark it, only my friends and family will be sad - I don't have kids or a significant other. Sounds morbid, but it's a fact!
I'll be fine!
Post a Comment