Thursday, October 04, 2007

Good mornin' - I'm baaack!

Ok - here's what went down on Tuesday...
Checked in at 6, and was sent in to the "lab" at 8:00. Dr. Doug threaded cables in through both my femoral arteries as well as my neck. These three little cables had cameras and weapons. Here's what he found:
1). He agreed with the first cardiologist's theory about this being caused by a virus because he did see an area that still looked pretty irritated. There was a charge being fired from there and when he tried to ablate that one, it just moved over to another area right next to it, and he didn't want to just chase it around my heart, burning my heart wherever it went, which is what ablation is - I learned that ablate just means "destroy" in the cardiac world - I got to watch a video before going in.
2). He successfully ablated two other areas that were mis-firing.
3). There is still one mis-firing area that is on the back wall of my heart, but he couldn't ablate that one because my esophagus was resting directly behind it, and being that the heart muscle wall is only about 2mm, he would have damaged my esophagus, even though he and his weapon were on the inside of my heart, and my esophagus was on the outside. So he left that one.
4). Everything else he could see along the way looked really good.
5). Hopefully, as I lay low for 3 or 4 days, my heart, which has REALLY been irritated now, will settle down and most of this will go away... forever, I hope.

So here's something to brag about in a strange sort of way -- being in such good athletic shape and so efficient (in SOO many ways.. tee-hee) I kept metabolizing the anesthesia and WAKING UP. I remember three times waking up and asking them if they were STILL doing this and how much longer it would take and if they all had lunch yet. I awoke again later and learned that it was 2:15 p.m., and again when I heard myself snore - seriously! Bob says I never snore! And again at 2:45 just when he was burning at a certain spot. Let me say OUCH!!!!. So the nurse fiddled with my IV again and I fell asleep.

After it was all over, I think the doc spent a little over 6 hours doing this procedure. I went to the recovery area where I had to lay still for 3 hours -yep - along long, long time when you've already been on your back with no lumbar pillow and your head turned to the side with a cable sticking out of it. I was just dying to move. I guess they have to allow your arteries to to close fully before you can bend anywhere.

Anyway, when it was time to go at 7:00 or 7:30, I couldn't stand up long and would turn white and feel pukish and my blood pressure would drop (to 87/36 at one time). I guess I'd had too much anesthesia yet to process. So I ended up getting checked in for the night around 9:30 p.m.
Much as I wanted to go home, in hindsight it was good that I stayed over becausxe I was hooked up to the EKG machine all night.

And if I thought my heart was wigging out before, let me tell you it was REALLY wigging out now. The alarm was going off every 10 minutes. I'd have runs up to 7 beats long of ventricular tachycardia (the one that is supposedly "not compatible with life"), pauses much longer than before, and racing sessions that would start for no reason - like, I hadn't even moved - and hit 180 beats, then drop back down to 39. The only good thing... and this is going to be hard for me to fully "get"... is that the nurses would come in and say it was not anything to worry about. I guess if you don't sustain these things for like a minute, then you just have to learn to deal with it.

So, anyway, I am home, laying low for my 3 to 4 days, hoping my heart will settle down. Twin Cities is out - so I will be there cheering for a bunch of folks doing the marathon and the 10-miler. Jumper is planning on doing that one so maybe I will tool around on my bike and find his wife and daughter and cheer with them for a bit.

You guys have all been such a great support - I wish I could hug each one of you.

xoxoxo,
Jenny

30 comments:

RunBubbaRun said...

Glad to see you are still ticking out there..

Time to recover..Rest up..

Laurie said...

I'm so glad to hear that everything went well. I'm not sure that waking up during surgery is a benefit of being in such good shape! Being knocked out cold works for me!

I hope you have a speedy recovery. XOXO

Born To Endure said...

Wow..what and ordeal you've had to go through, in the end it will be all taken care of and you will be out there soon like no one's business...thanks for all the detailed information, this is so interesting..take care..i'm thinking of you often!! xx00

KC said...

Jenny - so glad things are on the upswing. You'll be back to your old self in no time.

greyhound said...

Wow, that sounds even scarier than I would have thought. I hope you're OK and healing well.

jbmmommy said...

Glad to hear everything was a success, best wishes for a quick recovery. Enjoy cheering at TCM.

Spokane Al said...

Take care of yourself Jenny. I am sure you will be back on your feet soon.

Joy | Love | Chaos said...

So very happy to hear that things went well in there...literally!

Keep on the mend, sweets!

Brent Buckner said...

Good morning, Sunshine!

Tri Mom said...

Glad to have you back! ;)

21stCenturyMom said...

3 cheers for modern medicine!

Carrie said...

Rest and recover...here's to firing on all cylinders again!

Bolder said...

you're baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

i knew you would be.

you're such a champ. not even anasthesia can beat you!!!

well.done.

Benson said...

Yeeeeeay! So glad things went well and you're back at home.
You are such a stud-ess.
Enjoy the weekend and take some time to rest, really.

TJ said...

"so, have you guys had lunch yet?"
LOL!!!!!
take care!

Unknown said...

Welcome back! Now for some R & R (rest and recovery)!

Ms. R said...

Glad to hear the procedure went well. See you at TCM!

Taconite Boy said...

Good to hear Jenny! Mama and I miss seeing you...we need to party soon!

Unknown said...

Rest well and heal up!

Bigun said...

hang in there...sounds like the worst is past ya. See ya soon in Panama City Beach!

crazy tri mama said...

So happy that everything went well. The whole process is still mind boggling to me! Take care and rest rest rest!

Santi said...

I'm so relieved to hear that you are recovering right now -- I can't believe that you kept waking up during the surgery multiple times -- that is crazy. Take all the time you need to right now to get that heart back into it's comfort zone. No rushing it missy -- you have the rest of your lovely life to rush around -- hope to see you soon -- if not my thoughts are still with you.

Love,
Santi

brendaj said...

that's amazing that you kept waking up. glad it went well and rest up!

Tri-Dummy said...

I'm glad that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. An answer.

Now. Time to heal.

the Dread Pirate Rackham said...

I can't tell you how much it pleases me to hear from you.

Mostly, I'm glad you are well - and that this was "no big deal" in the scheme of things.

Secondly, I'm really grateful that you're sharing the journey with us - it's very interesting and it's good to know that that's what doctors do these days. And that it's ultimately going to be OK.

Thirdly, I'm sorry to hear your marathon is out - you know there will be others, so heal and recover.

Whew! Love ya!

Di said...

Hey Jenny.
;)

Julia said...

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny) said...

Hi - to those of you whose emails I don't know, I just want to say thanks for all your kind words and prayers. It really has been crazy/scary this last month. I will be okay, just different, and I still haven't given up hope that it will all just disappear one day. If not, I just have to get out there and figure out what the new "normal" means.
Lots of love,
Jenny

Comm's said...

thank God you are doing better. The surgery sounds so surreal, waking up like that. My mom had foot surgery and woke up when they had an electric saw on he foot, cutting through bone. She felt nothing, but the noise and vision she saw was quite enough. I actually know the feeling of having wires sent up the body from the femural artery. Cold and strange.

momo said...

jenny - i've been so out of it the past week - how are you feeling now??? i've been thinking about you nonstop.

i'm glad this went well - you need to be up and around - the world is just not right with you not on the roads.

MWA!