Dear Body: What tha Hell???
What a week with damned medical specialists!
I shouldn’t cuss them, as the two — who are main characters in this story — have aided me in a Big ways. It’s just that often I will write not long after some experience has occurred and will be steered by feelings still hovering from the same.
I have a couple of ailments that have been hanging around for ‘round about twenty or so years: Mitral Valve Prolapse , Supraventricular Tachycardia & Prostrate Enlargement/BPH . That’s pretty much it, and not bad for a guy in those years and today, I reckon?
Well……………….
So I had a UTI(Urinary Tract Infection) about 3–1/2 weeks ago. Not the first that I’ve ever endured, but the first whereby I passed blood. TMI? Sorry.
Hitting the basics: my urologist put me on old school sulfa drugs which didn’t work after 10-days.
So — and believe me I KNOW — I could tell that the infection was still active, but will pass on providing the details of how I knew. 😜
I showed-up for my follow-up visit and my “specimen” still showed an infection. This time he prescribed a popular antibiotic, Cipro , and I was given an appointment for a follow-up.
That point in space & time arrived whereby it was time for that follow-up: my “specimen” was clean this time. After talking together about my long-time symptoms seeming to be getting worse and medication not working he stated that he needed to “take a look”.
Believe, me, no woman nor man wishes to hear her/his urologist make that statement. But, it was to be.
The procedure is called a cystoscopy and you are most free to click on the link if you wish. 😜
Good news is that there was no blockage anywhere, no problems in the bladder, and my BPH wasn’t bad. He switched me to a new medication and I went on my merry — not really so very merry the next 12 hours or so — way.
Time to switch to my cardiologist, YAY!!!
Last night — which is but two days since I left the urologist’s office — I began to have a fluttering in my chest around 7:30 or so. Now, the fluttering is not a big alarm for me as I have endured numerous “episodes “ of tachycardia due to the ailments listed at the beginning of today’s story.
This time, though, the fluttering would not go away.
There are various Vagal Maneuvers that one can perform on oneself when a tachycardia session hits. The one that pretty much employs itself for me is coughing. But last night that didn’t work and I wanted to cough a LOT!
I went through the night with a constant urge to cough. Also I took another of my usual tachycardia prescription — Toprol XL 25 MG — as well as a Magnesium supplement, both to no avail.
I made it through the night with a bit of sleep here and there along with a couple of Netflix movies.
This morning I was up around 6:30 AM with no relief from my “episodes”, in fact they seemed worse and were beginning to greatly concern me. I had to figure out what to do.
Finally, at around 8:40 AM I called my cardiologist’s office and left a message for his clinical assistant. 5-minutes later I received a return call, was asked some questions, and then told to drive straight to the office for an EKG.
I drove up to the office in a worried state as the tachycardia was constant and I felt light-headed a couple of times. I just kept telling myself that…
“you’ll be there in five more minutes, just hold on and stay in control.”
They took me right back and hooked me up to the EKG machine. The Nurse Practitioner was to be my physician, which was cool with me as she was GREAT and besides, the cardiologists were all around the place anyway.
My blood pressure was off, my heart rate was in “the 135's” and diagnosis from the EKG was Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation . This was a new ballgame for me and my heart issues. The cardiac “events” of last night and this morning were not the same as my usual tachycardia events.
Okay, so I’m trying to be calm and take it all in.
The nurse installed an IV through which the NP injected the same Toprol that I take at night, little by little as she watched the EKG for signs of my heart slowing down. The process of slowing my heart made my head a bit dizzy and my breathing switched to deep, slow and methodical — but were normal side effects and didn’t last long.
Final analysis was the Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation mentioned above. I will be doubling my doses of the Toprol, beginning a blood thinner — as this condition can lead to a blood clot in the heart = NOT good — stopping all alcohol and caffeine as well as any allergy medication with a “D” in it. This treatment plan will go on for 4-weeks.
I am to check-in on Monday(it’s Friday as I write) so that my NP is updated. She may have blood tests back by then as well. I still feel the fluttering in my chest as I type this story, and the Vagal cough is popping up every now and then. Hopefully this fibrillation will correct itself and my heart will be restored to a normal rhythm. Not there right now, but once I begin the first doses of the new medicine regimen perhaps it will have a chance to.
So then, what the hell body?
I’ve been fairly good to you over the years. I’ve exercised some, been active most of it: remember that year I ran over 1,000 miles including two half-marathons plus shorter races? I was once Vegan for a year and a half, and have returned to it this past 9-months. Give me a break here?
Eh?
Alright then, Que Sera, Sera.
~ Jackson ~
