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I'm Baaack! I had a additional wrinkle this time. I woke up in A-Fib yesterday morning, and went downstairs to have breakfast. I began to feel a little weak, and when I walked into the kitchen, I broke out in a cold sweat and felt very weak. I knew I needed to get to the ER, but I figured they'd likely admit me, so I took the time to get a shower and wash my hair.;o) It's a good thing, too, because it seems everybody and his brother decided to go to the ER yesterday. We got there around 1, and I got called in pretty quickly, but ended up sitting on the gurney, in the hall, along with about 10 other folks, for the next 7 hours. They simply didn't have the rooms for all the folks who needed them.

When I finally got a room at 8, and asked the nurse about the sheer number of folks, he said that they were taking in the cases that had been diverted from UMass Medical. At some point during the day, UMass reached capacity, and stopped taking any more patients, so St. Vincent's got the majority of those extra cases. But I did get in to see the ER Doc, at 8pm., and he set it up for me to get into a room on the Cardiac Unit , but I didn't get there until 2am.

I didn't get much sleep during the night, since there is a virtual parade of folks in an out of hospital rooms; Doctors, nurses, nurses aides, folks from the lab, etc. My Cardic Doc set up a Cardiac Version for 1pm, so I had to fast until then. Since I hadn't eaten since 10 am yesterday, I asked the Doc how soon after the Version I could eat. He said, "immediately", so I asked the nurse to save my lunch. ;o) She came in at 11:30, and told me that they were ready to take me downto the lab! I was back in my room by 12:40, and my lunch was still hot! It was best spaghetti and meatballs and steamed zucchini I ever had. ;o)

So I'm home with my regular meds, with the addition of coumadin (warfarin), and a prescription for Lovonox, which has to be administered by injection. The Doc asked me if I want ed to learn how to give it to myself. No thank you. I have a neighbor who is a nurse, and she'd said at Christmas that she'd do it for me. I'm gonna call her this evening.

So the Version took, my heart rate is back to normal, and my BP at the time I left the hospital was 112/76, so that seems to have been fixed, too. So I'm hoping that I won't have another episode anytime soon, or I'll have to start looking into undergoing a Cardiac Ablation, which is an all day procedure, done in a similar way to a heart catheterization. It carries its own risks, but could solve the problem. I'll think about that, if I have another episode this summer or in the early fall.

Thanks, everyone, for the prayers and good thoughts!

Glad to hear you’re better. You sound chipper!

The thing that always makes me nuts at hospitals is the ‘hurry up and wait’ aspect. I’ve sat there for hours with a broken arm. So I don’t like to go unless it’s something that will get me on the immediate admittance protocol. I mean something that gets everyone running.

Until then, I’m real reluctant.

Great News, Glad to see you are back already. Whew. Now, relax, take your meds and get all better. OB & LSA

glad your back with us Suzi...

Gadzooks, Mrs. Q... but it sounds like you’re on top of things. Hope you have a restful weekend. :-)