Last week ended up being a whirlwind for me, and I wanted to give you an update. I’ll try to keep this relatively short, but there’s a lot to tell…
I’ve been struggling with breathing—particularly when I exercise—for the past year or so. I was diagnosed with asthma four years ago but have been able to keep that pretty much under control. Several months ago, my doctor encouraged me to set up a pulmonary test to assess my breathing as well as a sleep study due to suspected sleep apnea. Both of those tests were scheduled in late summer but ended up taking place on back-to-back days. My pulmonary test last Monday went well, and the technician said my breathing was actually better than it had been four years ago when I last took the test.
On Tuesday night, I left our school board meeting early for my sleep study at the Frederickson Center. After getting hooked up to all the various monitors and using the CPAP machine, the tech came in and said my heartbeat was off. He wanted to change some of the wires since their equipment was old, and I laid down to sleep again around 11. After a couple minutes, he came back in and said the doctor on site didn’t like the way my heart was beating. They wanted to take me by ambulance to West Shore Hospital, which is in the same complex as the Frederickson Center.
I landed in the hospital around 11:30 on Tuesday night. After they did some tests and monitored my heart rate, the staff at West Shore said my heart was showing atrial flutter. They kept me in the hospital for observation all day Wednesday and discharged me around 5:30 that afternoon. They scheduled me to come back on Friday morning at 7 so they could put a camera down my throat to ensure there wasn’t any blood clotting and to shock my heart into its proper rhythm. The doctor told me not to exercise or exert myself much on Thanksgiving. Other than that, I was able to enjoy a normal Thanksgiving.
The procedure on Friday went well and was very quick—I was only under anesthesia for about 45 minutes. The doc said all went well and sent me on my way. We were able to go to Greta’s parents to celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday afternoon.
I have a follow-up appointment scheduled for January 5. My understanding is that at that appointment, the doctor will see how my heart is doing and may schedule me for an ablation, a procedure in which they cauterize the electrical circuit of the heart so that I’m only getting electrical instructions from one place rather than receiving multiple signals. The multiple signals “confuse” the heart and make it flutter at about 30% capacity rather than beating fully and pumping blood as it’s designed to. The proper amount of blood and oxygen wasn’t getting to my extremities, which would explain why my legs and arms have been so tired after exercising.
I’ve resumed going to the gym this week and have experienced a noticeable difference during exercise. My exercise heart rate has been much slower and doesn’t spike like it had been, and when I’m finished, my legs and arms don’t feel so weak. What I’ve been attributing to breathing issues over the past year or so has apparently been related to atrial flutter.
I’m grateful to God that the problem was diagnosed and have been blessed by the prayers of my family, our staff and my prayer partners last week. I was limited in my ability to communicate with many people because of how quickly everything unfolded, but I wanted to give you all an update when I had the opportunity.