Gratitude,  Musings,  This Life...

A Heartening Tale

Man, I’d so love to write an update blog that has nothing whatsoever to do with my health–sadly, it’s not this one. But happily, there is good news to report. I haven’t shared this particular issue on social media, mostly because I’m kinda sick of my own issues, but also because I’m trying to keep social media a happy place where I talk about writing and books.

About three weeks ago, maybe a month, I started having dizziness and chest discomfort–ack! I’ve been really tired for about a year and have chalked that up to grief and other body issues that we won’t go into and of course to my fat butt, which I blame everything on. The old, “if I just lose weight, this *** (you fill in any old symptom) will go away. Well, I lost 30 pounds, but the tiredness got worse and I developed diverticulitis (now well under control, thanks to smarter eating), then the arthritis started acting up, the doc sent me for some carotid studies after my last physical (they were fine), and then I broke my foot . . . yeah, 2016 has been a bad year–I’ve been a mess.

So when the dizziness and chest stuff started, I just figured, the heart attack I’d been expecting since my mom died twenty-eight years ago had finally shown up. A trip to the ER two weeks ago showed that although I’ve got a funky arrhythmia going on, I was not having heart attack. But I was already medicated for the arrhythmia, so what was up? The day after the ER, I went to see my cardiologist and she ordered a Holter monitor and a chemical stress test–no treadmill because of my left blocked bundle branch. Apparently, that issue makes it hard to get an accurate stress test reading. Okay, so I did the tests last week–but I’m still dizzy!!  (Not that I expected the tests to fix the symptoms.)

Yesterday, we had a consultation about the test results and turns out, the stress test showed I had a small anterior apical perfusion defect and hypokinesis of the anterior apical wall. I won’t make you Google that–basically it was saying I had decreased contraction in one small part of my heart. That result combined with the dizziness, chest discomfort, and fatigue made the cardiologist decide that a cardiac cath was in order–immediately. So we left the doctor’s office and drove across the street the hospital and within about four hours, I was in the cath lab having dye shot into into my arteries through a tube in my wrist.

I don’t have to tell you that Husband and I were freaking out–I’m sure both of us looked like a couple of deer caught in headlights. But, the story ends well–my heart is just fine, no blocked arteries and it’s pumping like a champ–well enough, in fact, that the cardiologist who did the procedure said that he believes the stress test showed a false positive. YAY!! The good folks at Franciscan Health Heart Center were amazing–kind and gracious and comforting every step of the way and we are so grateful to them for making a scary time easier.

Gratitude for today:

  • I have a strong and healthy heart.
  • Husband is the best support any woman could have–man, I love that guy!
  • Sister and BIL were on the spot yesterday to be with us through this and Pastor Diane came by for word of encouragement and prayer–I am so blessed.
  • All the friends who prayed for me–I’m so grateful and I love all of you–thank you.
  • All the folks at St. Francis were amazing and took terrific care of us.

But, yeah, I’m still dizzy (no blonde jokes, please. 😉 Now that we’ve eliminated what’s NOT causing it, time to explore what could be. We’re starting with meds–just a simple process of elimination and see what happens. Hold a good thought, okay?

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