Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Round 1-part 2

I'm led into the EP study lab by a nurse. This place looks like something out of a sci-fi movie or a tv drama series. One table in the middle with gadgets all over the place. A 6-screen monitor on wheels and nurses turning on some "jamming" music to keep their energy levels up while they work on me. It felt like it was about 55 degrees in there and I was dealing with the paper-thin gown and footie socks. They were terribly inadequate for insulating me from the elements.

I hopped onto the table, which was as wide as a weight bench, and to lay all the way down, I had to lean back while curling around some thing that was suspended over the table. They brought me a couple of warming towels to cover me which was nice but the heat wore off quickly and I had to ask for another set after a couple minutes of prep time. I couldn't shake the cold and I was a little bit nervous too.

They were slapping me with those electrode pads from every angle. They numbed my entire hip area with an iodine, roll-on deodorant looking tube. They strapped my wrists down with velcro cuffs so I wouldn't interfere with their work. The procedure involves putting tiny catheter tubes into the veins in the groin. The veins let them get up to the heart where they map the electrical circuits and try to pinpoint irregularities. To my right was the computer room. A few folks were behind glass where they had computers and other equipment to read my heart's electric map. There were a lot of people involved in this procedure and it's nice to know that they are really good at their jobs. I have no complaints about Cooper Hospital.

The next thing I know, I'm waking up to my two happy prep nurses, counting to three so they can yank me off the table, onto a bed. I guess I'm done. I was rolled away to my room where Kim was waiting. This was around 7:30pm. I don't remember a lot about the next few hours, but my doctors came in and give me their results. They did find Atrial Tachycardia in my heart, but since they started working on me so late in the day, they couldn't do the Ablation procedure. The verdict is... they need to do the EP study again in a month and do the ablation to wipe out the problem, hence my title "Round 1". I need a few weeks to heal up before they can go poking holes in my legs again.

All in all, there was very minimal pain involved. The worse part was on Tuesday morning when I had to rip off all those electrode pads. I got an Echo test and my discharge papers by 11am on Tuesday morning. 25 hours or so and I walked out, slightly hunched over and shuffling along. Nothing really got fixed but at least I know what the deal is with my ticker. Next time, it should get resolved and I can move on.

Choose Wisely

1 comment:

Erin Mary said...

Thank you for this update Chris, I definitly understand the situation a lot better now. We're on your team and look forward to everything getting resolved next month!