Outpacing Myself

Had another break through the other day. Came home from work and was helping with dinner when it happened. this one was the worst thus far. My heart rate reached 204 bpm which is by no means a record for me but its been a while since I have seen numbers that high. Ended up taking 200 mg of Flecanide and 7mg of Metoprolol and converted about 3 hours later.

This event really sapped it out of me. I was completely wiped out through the following day into the evening. So much so I took the elevator at work and did nothing when I got home from work. This is the issue with afib. It almost always gets worse instead of better. You may plateau but it will eventually take a stronger hold.

The Date Is Set

I took some recordings with my KARDIA and sent the best one to DR. Natale's nurse. She got back to me right away and we discussed when I was coming back for a touch-up ablation. I told her I was just waiting to hear back from his scheduler to set a date since I had passed on the last date that was offered to me. Things at that time did not seem that bad but after the other night I feel its time. His scheduler got in touch with me yesterday and I scheduled an appointment for July 18. That's 2 months away but that time will go quickly. It will also give me time to continue to regain some fitness before hand.

Steady As She Goes

Not a whole lot of new news to report. I did get the results of my Zio Patch and there wasn't allot to report from that. There were 17 or so recordable events, the longest lasting 17 beats. Other than that there was not much to tell. The events didn't last long enough and the Zio patch is limited in the amount of information that can be gleaned from it. In order to get any real information I will need to capture an event on a  lead EKG. and for that to happen the events are going to have to last a whole lot longer than that.

I did have a half hour long event that I converted using Flecanide. This was after I had sent the Zio back and had not yet heard from my doctor. I did get a recording of it on my Kardia but again it is indeterminable what exactly what the rhythm was. I'n not in the lease worried though as the worst case scenario is  I go back to Austin and have Dr. Natale sort it out. We discussed this possibility following my procedure and as anyone that has dealt with this knows this is not uncommon. I also talked to Shannon shortly after all of this came about and we had a nice conversation.

All of this of course has pushed back my visit to Austin to have another TEE done to ascertain the function of my LAA and see if I will be able to come off of the Elequis. So until then it will be life normal and being able to capture any oddities along the way.

Back On The Bike

I started back on the trainer a couple weeks ago and I have been back to the gym now for a couple of months. I have been pretty faithful at getting to the gym but wasn't real regular on the bike at first but I am getting to be more frequent. I always thought it was amazing how fast you lost fitness over just a few months but over a year off of the bike has really left it's mark. But I'm thankful that I can do either considering where I was this time last year.

Feeling Great Heading Into Month #6

Merry Belated Christmas!!!!

Had a wonderful day with the family over the past week. Christmas this year fell on my seven day break from work and I tried to make the best of it. Spent several days insulating my garage and started to hang the drywall. It's made a huge difference in how warm it is out there and will make it a more inviting environment for working on the Falcon or any other project that might come my way.

I guess I never posted about my  CBG building frenzy. I would like to make some more one of these days.

We also spent part of Christmas Eve in the city. We originally planned to spend the entire day and go to midnight mass. There was a church we used to go to years ago there that has the Pittsburgh symphony orchestra playing but we not only could not remember the church but were ready to go home at 5pm since there really wasn't anything left to do.

We visited Phipps Conservatory The Cathedral Of Learning. And the Creche in Downtown. Then we headed for Ross Park Mall for some shopping and a photo with the fat man.

Phipps Conservatory

Cathedral Of Learning

Cathedral Of Learning

Creche

There is much to be thankful for this year. A steady beating heart and my back issues continue to improve. It was at this time last year that things started going south for me.