{"id":31269,"date":"2022-07-06T14:00:41","date_gmt":"2022-07-06T21:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=31269"},"modified":"2022-07-06T16:11:42","modified_gmt":"2022-07-06T23:11:42","slug":"new-reality-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=31269","title":{"rendered":"New Reality Update"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BA867348-5999-4CD0-9302-E9E26E8CA3D8_1_201_a\"<\/a>I went in for a regular Medicare wellness check back in April and learned I have atrial fibrillation<\/a><\/strong>. Since then I’ve been coming to terms with this new reality, and it’s time I post an update.<\/p>\n

The doctor put me on a blood thinner and a med to slow my heart rate. She checked me again after a day on the new meds and things looked good, so we agreed to leave things as they were until my next checkup in October, then go from there.<\/p>\n

Donna and our nurse friend Mary Anne put the pressure on me to see a cardiologist, so in May I did. He did an EKG, which was normal, put me on another AFIB med, scheduled me for a stress test in June and an ultrasound in July, and said when those were done I’d have to wear a heart monitor for a month.<\/p>\n

I’ve been wearing the monitor for a couple of hours now. That’s it in the inset photo, probably the weirdest selfie I’ve taken to date (if you don’t count the dick pix I send to actresses I stan).<\/p>\n

The stress test was slightly abnormal in that the chambers of my heart expanded a bit rather than contracting when working hard, which could indicate some arterial blockage, but could equally be a false reading, which they say isn\u2019t uncommon. Since my ultrasound and both EKGs (I took a second one today) are normal, the cardiologist’s recommendation is that I wear the heart monitor for 30 days and come back for another ultrasound in November. Not that different from where I was with my primary doctor in April, monitor excepted, but Donna feels a whole lot better, as do I, as will Mary Anne when I call her with an update.<\/p>\n

Clearly, I was having an AFIB episode when I visited my primary physician in April. I think there’ve been several since, but all three times I’ve visited the cardiologist my heartbeat’s been normal. When I do experience AFIB at home, it’s a thumping sensation in my upper chest which I instinctively try to calm with deep, slow breathing. Which is not the same as shortness of breath, a common symptom of AFIB. I thought at first it was, but there was a part of the stress test earlier this month where the tech warned me I’d feel short of breath, and when it hit, hoo boy, I thought it was the big one \u2014 not at all the same thing I experience during what I think are AFIB episodes at home.<\/p>\n

The heart monitor pairs with a Samsung mobile phone which relays readings to a lab back East. The phone and monitor are supposed to remain within 30 feet of each other, so now I know what the extra pocket on cargo pants and shorts is for. No worries, though \u2014 if I forget to put the phone in my pocket the monitor will store readings until it pairs with the phone again, then do a burst transmission. Pretty cool. I can wear the monitor in the shower and have to recharge it every five days. The phone, though, has to be recharged every day, which I guess I’ll do at night. It’s all very user-friendly, which is good because Donna will be visiting her sisters in Michigan the last two weeks of July and I’ll be on my own here at home.<\/p>\n

I’m coming to grips with the new reality of an aging heart. So far the impact’s been mild, no more than an inconvenience compared to what I at first feared it’d be. I’m feeling fine. Long may it stay that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m coming to grips with the new reality of an aging heart. So far the impact’s been mild, no more than an inconvenience compared to what I at first feared it’d be. I’m feeling fine. Long may it stay that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3937],"class_list":["post-31269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-afib"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31269"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31275,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31269\/revisions\/31275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}