The Heart of It All

I decided to write this entry because I realize I have not been open to a lot of my friends about my recent health issues and have unintentionally kept them out of the loop. It was unfair of me because they care and I figured this would be a good way of telling a bunch of people at once without having to repeat it over and over. Constantly saying it out loud becomes almost as exhausting as the issue itself. So...here goes...

I have an angiogram coming up on Monday. I am both concerned and relieved.

Anyone who has followed my blog knows that in October of 1994, I had to have a heart catheter ablation because, without provocation, my heart used to snap into a rhythm of 285 beats a minute and sometime last up to an hour and then just as suddenly snap out and return to a normal pulse.

I had notice the problem begin when I was 25. It would strike at the weirdest times - when I was at rest or asleep. Because it was little incidents that maybe lasted a minute or two, I ignored it. Everyone's heart rate speeds up now and then, right?

As the years went on, the episodes lasted longer and the arrhythmia became faster. The time between each incident also got smaller. The bigger problem became that if my pulse was not taken during an episode, no amount of testing could tell me what was happening or what was causing it. Finally, when I was 39, I was monitored, diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia and had it ablated at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire.

Last summer, when I was in Arizona, I suddenly had what felt like another incident. 16 years after everything was fixed and had a 98% chance of never coming back. I ignored it as much as I could because I hoped it was a fluke. I wanted to be in denial because the thought of going through another 9 hour surgical procedure was not one I wanted to think about. Especially since the last one resulted in internal bleeding and required me to spend another 3 days in cardiac intensive care (while drawing out one of the 9 needles they threaded to my heart - 3 in the neck and 6 in the groin - it nicked a vein and the bleeding seized a groin muscle). Unfortunately, I continued to have more incidents until I got to a point where I could not ignore it. The incidents include weakness, dizziness, gasping for breath and sweating.

I finally told my primary care VA doc about what was going on and she immediately made me an appointment with cardiology. In December, the cardiologist put me on a monitor for a month. Some of the results are posted the photos to the right (or above, depending on how the photos end up posting). The results was that, for no reason my heart was moving to a rhythm of about 160 beats per minute. So he arranged for me to see another cardiologist in Cleveland.

In April, the Cleveland cardiologist ordered me to go on another monitor. This one for 15 days. This was a different kind of heart monitor, which I actually didn't mind wearing because it was not encumbering like the other kind (which deals with wires and electrodes and a lot of frustratingly inconvenient stuff); this monitor was compact and stuck to my skin so I didn't have to remove it when I showered or slept. Also, I am allergic to bandage adhesive and the glue on the back of the electrodes burn my skin whereas whatever adhesive they used on the compact monitor did not.

The compact monitor gave them more of the same. In June, I had to wear another monitor (the wire/electrode kind) so that they could hopefully get more information about how the episodes started and ended (I had to wear it during my GCLS conference and I was NOT a happy camper). By then we had all figured out that what was going on with my heart was not a recurrence of the SVT that I had before. This was something new.

I had an echocardiogram which told them that I was not having little heart attacks. I was glad to hear that because the symptoms sure made me feel like that's what was happening. They said I had no scar tissue, which surprised me because I was pretty sure the ablation would have left at least one scar. After all, they burnt out the short circuit in my electrical system, I thought there might be some evidence of that.

Two weeks ago, I had a nuclear stress test which told them that something was going on in the lower chamber of my heart, a blockage that was causing the blood to not pumping correctly. Monday, I will have an angiogram to, hopefully, clarify why and what needs to be done to fix it.

I am, naturally, concerned because I don't want it to turn out to be something really bad. The SVT also involved the lower chamber of my heart. On the other hand, I am relieved because they finally found SOMETHING. It's difficult to deal with an issue like this when your medical team continues to tell you that they cannot find anything and begin to look at you like it's all in your head (even though one cannot will their heart to suddenly snap or ease into arrhythmia). I am less patient as I've gotten older than when I was younger - it took them 14 years to pinpoint the SVT, I didn't want to deal with this problem for that long before they found something.

At least I know that this issue can be fixed, whether through another ablation, a stent, cracking my chest or medication. But just because it can be fixed doesn't mean I'm looking forward to any of it. Regardless, I have no doubt that whatever happens, I will be fine.

As for what caused this? That's a debate for another time. One could argue genetics but since no one in my family has ever had SVT, my guess is that it has something to do with the toxic waste dump that was Fort McClellan, Alabama, where I spent 4 months in basic training and military police school. Four months of breathing contaminated air, drinking contaminated water and rolling around in contaminated soil (thank you, Monsanto. Newsweek called Fort McClellan possibly the most toxic place on the planet). My non-genetic heart issues began a year after I was discharged. SVT and arrhythmia are just 2 of the many health issues reported by veterans who spent time at McClellan.

I'll keep you posted.