Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Free write on " Have you ever experienced a lethal heart arrhythmia"
It was February of 2009 and I woke up in the middle of the night with a severe episode of acid reflux. I had a horrible burning sensation in my right lung and realized I had unfortunately aspirated some stomach acid into my lung. I took a couple of Tylenol and went back to sleep as I had to be in surgery at 6:30 in the morning. I was in the middle of my clinical rotation for the Surg Tech program at Tri-City hospital. I reported to work and got a surgery schedule and assignment. It looked like a good day was in store with a variety of cases and good docs to work with. About 10:30 that morning we were well into a procedure and I realized that I could not breath very well. I told the R.N. that I had to "scrub out" and she took over. The O.R. supervisor hooked me up to a device that checks the amount of oxygen in your blood and it wasn't good. (78% on room air) I called my primary care doctor and went straight to his office. I was immediately taken back for a chest x-ray which showed a right lower lobe pneumonia. So lucky me , off to the pharmacy with a prescription in hand. The doctor gave me an antibiotic called Levaquin. The next morning I woke up with palpitations in my chest on top of feeling like crap with the pneumonia. As it turns out the antibiotic was partially responsible for exciting certain cells in my heart to fire at will. The arrhythmia I experienced was called ventricular tachycardia. I was seen by specialist and finally taken to the cardiac cath lab on 2 different occasions for a catheter ablation procedure which burns the cells that are not supposed to be sending impulses randomly. It took a total of 9 months before my heart was in a normal rhythm again. The experience made me aware of many things I had taken for granted and, I am more appreciative of my good health.
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Oh my goodness, scary!!This topic is great, I found the use of accurate terminology very interesting, it catches the attention!!! The only thing that it left me wondering is what are some of these things, giving a little more detail into the terms you used would be great (aka lame mans terms for us who have no idea of doctor lingo). style again seems like sentences are structured on not just a pouring out of thoughts like a free write should be. I haven't had an experience like this and honestly I hope I never can relate to this my heart is about the only thing that doesn't have problems left. I can relate on the surgeries to remove problematic parts though, I've had tumors removed.
ReplyDeleteMary, it looks as if this experience had opened your eyes, and it certainly would in anyones situation. I found it interesting the amount of depth you went into in the free write with what was occurring and what extent you had to go through to become well again. My only question is were the doctors able to give you any other medication to cure the pneumonia or did you just have to go into the cardiac cath lab for treatment? My only recommendation for your free write would be to add support that you had during that hard time you were going through and tell how they helped you through it, other than that your writing is very descriptive. I am able to relate to this experience. A year before my Dad passed away last year he was diagnosed with pneumonia as well and became ill due to the medications he was taking for his heart failure and COPD. You are a strong person Mary for sharing this story, and overcoming it with such great details and a positive attitude.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic! My mom has heart problems which cause her heart to palpitate so fast that she has to get it stopped for 10+ seconds then started again to reset her natural rhythm. Love the look into your life. Another great expander topic! I'd love to know more about your experience.
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