Catheter Ablation

so... on tuesday we went all the way to new orleans so i could see the heart dr there. that was a fun trip... we decided to go down there early so we could take our lil man to the aquarium. lemme tell ya. thomas love, love LOVED the darned thing! he slept the hour and a half it took to drive up there, so by the time we unpacked the stroller and got him in it, he was wide awake and ready to go...

the minute we walked into the aquarium, he was hooked... his face was filled with awe. mama loved making her baby that happy. those fish were like 50 times his size, but he loved watching them swim around their tanks. we even saw the penguins getting fed, so they were more active than usual and that was cool. all in all, that was great. we got thomas his own little stuffed turtle afterwards that he lovingly named "heie augh" to remember the trip.

then came my part... we went to the river walk to quickly eat lunch... (note: never eat chinese food from a mall in new orleans... yicky) and had to get a bottle into thomas as well before he popped a lung screaming at us. once we did that, we loaded everything back into the car and headed out to find Oshners. and boy was that an adventure!

halfway to the hospital, thomas started crying and a foul stench betook my nostrils... oh yeah... doody time. great. my appt was in like 10 minutes and we still had no idea where we were. rob hit the gas pedal.

we finally find the place and get ourselves a decent parking spot in the parking garage and as rob goes to get the stroller, i undertake the task of getting the turkey out of his carseat... one small problem though... that stench i mentioned earlier... turns out it had been a doody bomb! leaked straight out the diaper, so i had rob change him while i wiped down the car seat. forget being on time for my appt now... my sons hygiene is more important.

once we get into the hopsital, i have to go in and get and ekg... that takes all of 2 minutes... easy part... then i sign in for my dr appt itself. the waiting room is full of the elderly. i really dont belong here. but whatever. after waiting only like 5 or 10 minutes, they call my name, so in we go. height, weight, blood pressure, and temperature. fun times had by all. take a list of all meds i am on and then the nurse tells me the dr will be with me shortly and he is with another patient. okay, cool then... we can wait then. nurse leaves. thomas starts to fuss realizing that he should now be the center of attention. rob makes a balloon out of a glove and amuses said child. he really is spoiled rotten.

after 30 minutes of waiting, the dr comes in and asks that age old question, "so, how are you today?"... are you kidding me??? why do they always ask that question? after a few minutes of getting my history i have been having with this heart thing, he tells me what i already know in that i have SVT, or SuperVentricular Tachyardia... basically, there is a group of cells in my heart that is overriding my natural pacemaker causing my HR to be extrememly high at times.

my options at this time are down to medications and surgery... the meds aren't helping. so am waiting to hear from the nurse on a date for this 'procedure'. what they are going to do is knock me out and then take a catheter in through my thigh. this will be floated up to my heart. once it gets up there, they will gets my palpiatations going to try and find the cells. from there they will burn the cells and badda-bing-- i am cured!

now there are some risks involved...
1:600 chance of death (i have decided that aint gonna happen)
1:100 chance they will accidentally burn the wiring for my natural pacemaker and have to put in a pacemaker (not the end of the world... there have been gold medalists with pacemakers)
1:20 chance of not being able to bring on the palpitations (not likely b/c of the frequency i have been having them)
...and they can also prick the walls of my heart, which would cause bleeding, but either the heart will heal itself right away or the surgeon will have to drain the excess bleeding until the heart heals itself.

but all-in-all, the whole procedure should take anywhere from 4 hours to more, depending on where the cells are located. i will more than likely stay overnight, and then i am free to go home the next day. rob and thomas will be going with me. i am praying that they call me soon. i really cant go much longer with not being able to exercise.

but heres to it! go me! this is something that has been bothering me off and on since i was a teen, and it is finally getting taken care of

cut, print, check the tape. lets do it again!