A day when everything changed

It probably started before two days ago; in retrospect, I have had some clues that things were not quite the way they should be. I put the occasional moment of breathlessness down to my recent lack of exercise. Of course climbing the stairs might make me a bit winded, I haven't done Pilates or worked out in several months. Feeling tired is just a product of stress and work, right? And during flu season, feeling a bit light-headed is probably just a hangover from having been sick.

But on Wednesday, all of these symptoms came crashing down on me. I was too dizzy to stand and talk to a teacher. Walking the length of a hall made me feel like I was too weak to take another step. And finally, taking just a few steps made me gasp for air. My co-workers insisted I go to emergency but even then, I made excuses. Finally, I called my doctor, who, once he heard my symptoms, advised me to go straight to emergency. That was the first time I considered that my symptoms might be related to my heart, but I quickly talked myself out of that idea. It was the flu, and I would sit around the emergency ward waiting to be seen all morning. It was only the flu.

Except, when the triage nurse took my blood pressure and my pulse, she asked my husband to go do the paperwork stuff and took me straight to a room. They hooked me up to an IV and put me on oxygen. The nurse hooked me up to the monitor and it started beeping quickly and loudly. "Yes, I hear you!" she finally told the monitor irritably, and turned to me, "It's telling me that your heart rate is up, but I already KNOW that!" Tests were performed, x-rays were taken and finally, I saw the doctor.

Atrial fibrillation. The top part of my heart was not working properly and I was getting starved for oxygen, hence the light-headedness, weakness and breathlessness. The good news was my heart went back to normal on its own without any intervention (other than rest, IV fluid and oxygen), the bad news is that A-fib can cause some pretty serious side effects. Like stroke. Yikes. But everything else checked out fine, except maybe some slightly elevated thyroid. After about 3 hours, I was released to come home.

I saw my family doctor yesterday. At one point, he seemed almost angry, because I honestly don't have much in the way of risk factors for this; I am too young, I have great cholesterol, good blood pressure, I am not overweight or a smoker. Except for the thyroid issue and that I possibly have a tendency to drink a bit too often, I am not a candidate for this. I think Dr. G. was almost offended that this happened to one of his "healthy" patients. Anyway, I am going to be seeing a cardiologist, having a stress test and an echo-cardiagram. I am on meds to slow my heart, and aspirin to prevent clotting (and therfore, stroke).

I am going to be fine. But last night it really hit me; I am a person with a heart condition. And from this day forth, I will never not be that again. Everything is a little bit different.