Friday the 13th

This is a Patch (1 of many) that is put on a person when they get an

EKG=Electrocardiogram, A recording of the electrical activity of the heartbeat.

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Am I superstitious? Not really. Yet I do throw salt over my shoulder when I spill it, do not walk under ladders, do not really enjoy a Black Cat crossing my path, hate it when I break a mirror and when the 13th falls on a Friday try to just stay home.

This past Friday the 13th, March of 2009, my day started out normal. AJ had gone to work and I got up soon after he left. Usually by mid-morning I have called him or he has has called me, for just idle chit-chat; really just checking on each other. I did recieve that call and he seemed fine. At noonish he walked in the door. It was to early for his lunch break. As soon as I saw him I knew something was wrong. He was very ashen. "What are you doing home?" was the first words out of my mouth. He snapped back, "My heart hurts". Now comes the feeling every woman knows when their child or husband is ill.

This man is my LIFE-Mate and I am not ready to lose him.

He goes straight to the blood pressure machine and his pulse reads 201. I get him an asprin and and he decides to lay down and see if some rest slows it down. I mention 911 and Emergency Room and of course he says, "NO". He is very adgitated. His very loved cat, Murphy was getting on his nerves, the phone rang and he cursed it, and I could say nothing right. At this point I started getting ready, he was going somewhere! About that time he also started putting on his shoes and I asked, "Are we going somewhere?" and he said, "yeah, maybe the Emergency Room". We take the blood pressure again before we leave and this time it will not even register his pulse, meaning it is over the machine's limit.

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We get to the hospital in just a few minutes, we live close. They get him in a room immediately, start checking him and asking questions. He is hooked up to the machine that shows his vitals. Everything looks good except for his pulse, which is now 213 beats per minute. AJ's norm is about 72 beats per minute. We know exactly what is going on. He is right in the middle of a SVT (Supra Ventricular Tachycardia) spell. This has by now been going on for about 2 hours. The heart can beat fast and slow down and thats no problem, but when it beats at this rate nonstop for this length of time, there is the chance it can just wear out.

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AJ now has all kinds of patches on his bare chest. They take a chest x-ray, an EKG (Electrocardiogram-a recording of the electrical activity of the heartbeat), and an IV is put in his arm (for fluids). Soon the doctor comes in and says the only thing to get the heart rate back to normal is to defib the heart. This was done to AJ about 8 years ago when the problem first started. They do not use a defibrillator, but put a medicine in the IV that does the same thing; actually shocks the heart and stops it. As they start administering the liquid defibrillator into the IV we are told he will feel warm all over; and at this point I am watching the monitor and the pulse is 213. In just a matter of a few seconds the rate goes to "0" and then to 107. The heart has been stopped and restarted. Yes this is scary! This took a tole on AJ. He at this point is very emotional and I am so full of anxiety I could just pass-out.

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The heart rate stays at about 100 for the next hour, so they did not have to defib him again. If it had sped up we would have had to go through that again.

His heart doctor was called by the ER doctor and he has an appointment on Monday to see him. The doctor at the hospital told us he is a candidate for a procedure called "Ablation". They will go to the heart (how? we do not know yet) and cauterize (burn and remove) the area that is causing this problem. This will all be discussed Monday.

AJ left theEmergency Room feeling better, but very tired.

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This Friday the 13th was not fun.

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You might say an extra Prayer for AJ & ME.

Thanks!!!