Monday, 29 June 2009

• Scarey Moments

  Hey there.  Sorry I haven't been around in a few weeks.  Hope everything is doin' well on your end . . . 

  We had a scare on Saturday the 13th.  Brian had an erratic, racing heartbeat for about 12 hours.  It began early in the morning as he was working.  He started feeling strange.  He could tell his heart was not steady but there was very little he could do about it.  Joseph pulled Brian's share of the load, allowing Brian to just drive, but even that wasn't the safest option.  A couple of hours into it, he was attacked with a bad case of the sweats.  That finally gave up, but there were various lightheaded moments throughout the day.  He didn't call me because he knew the kids & I were playing a dulcimer gig.  We were home at noon, but he felt he'd made it that far, might as well finish.

  After arriving home (about 4:00), he came to me, asking me to feel his pulse.  It was crazy.  Heidi tried to get a heartbeat, but it was too wild.  She told me, "Dad needs to go to the ER.  This has gone on too long".  So, with reluctance, fear & a total mix of other emotions, we headed out.   Intending to go to the local medi-center, we continued on to the hospital when they were closed.  The ER staff told us the medi-center would have referred us on, Brian's potential problems would have been more than they could have handled.

  The staff was very prompt, they immediately started in on a process of elimation.  He was experiencing atrial fibulation (a-fib), which has a multitude of causes, none which can be pinpointed immediately.  They did an x-ray, and e.k.g., eventually giving him meds through his I.V. bringing his heartrate down from 160  (it should be in the 90's).  There was no heart attack, no damage to the heart.  The "skipping" that he was feeling was his heart missing beats because it was going so fast.  His B.P. was decent and after his heartrate slowed, everything seemed to improve. 

  The doc wanted to keep him for observation, but we declined and headed home with a prescription.  Because of the late hour, all the local pharmacies were closed.  We would have had to drive an hour away to catch the closest 24-hr. place.  We opted to wait until morning.  When morning came, we really didn't know what to expect. 

  We had a milkroute to run.  He started out feeling a little weird again.  Then, as he began to work the first stop, things just smoothed right out.  He didn't have any further issues the rest of the day.  We never did fill that prescription.  We did get in to see our regular doc, however.  He has given Brian a mild heart med, to keep things steady.  Brian is also to be more consistant in taking a mild BP med/diuretic as well as a daily asprin.  He is also to stay away from sugar and caffine.  He has done so, as well as continuing our evening 2-mile walk.  Hopefully this little scare was just that -- a scare, one to be taken seriously, but not overreacting and freaking out.  It was just a 1-day thing, but that was enough for us both.

  We do so take our health for granted, sometimes . . .

  Just appreciating  ~  Terri 

  • 12:48 PM
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