I've been writing about sodium because that's what has been taking up most
of my time lately but I need to interrupt to discuss my latest
development. As you know, I am wearing a life vest for at least 3 months
until my next echocardiogram. I am following the instructions and I only
take the life vest off to shower. Although I'll admit that in the
beginning I was so tempted to take it off for a decent night’s
sleep. Now, I am so used to the sensors in my side and
"paddles" on my back, I might actually miss it.
On Christmas day, my life vest alarm went off twice. I was moving
around and rubbed the sensors so I called the company to see if this
was an actual alarm or a false alarm. Just as I suspected, they said it
was a false alarm and that my heart activity was fine. I've had several
alerts from the vest but they are more like friendly gongs that tell you to fix
the sensors. These alerts are a little unnerving, especially at night,
but I quickly realize what the alert is for and fix the vest.
Fast forward to a couple of weekends ago. It was about 12:45am on
Saturday when my life vest alarm went off. Not the usual "check
your sensors gong" but the audible "bystanders stand back/do not
interfere" alarm. Since I was asleep, the alarm woke me up (which I
think could cause anyone to have a heart attack) and I called the company
hoping but not expecting them to tell me it was a false alarm. I didn't
do anything to set it off and I wasn't really moving at the moment; I was
asleep.
The customer service rep told me that the vest was working correctly and it
picked up an arrhythmia. My next step should be to call my cardiologist
in the morning (Saturday morning) or on Monday. Of course, I could barely
sleep the rest of the morning and I decided at about 8:30am to give them a
call. I was greeted by their answering service and then transferred to
the on-call doctor who said that he would pull the report and let my doctor
know what type of arrhythmia it was. While I was asking him if someone
would call me back, he hung up.
I am not sure if any of you can imagine but that made for a very anxiety
filled weekend and anticipation for Monday. On Monday morning, I called
the office and played phone tag with one of the nurses only to be told that the
doctor wanted me to come in for an appointment. Doctors really need to
work on this communication thing. I think since I already am aware that
something is wrong, they should be able to tell me what it is. Not
knowing sometimes is worse than knowing.
My appointment was scheduled for Wednesday so I spent the next few days
researching arrhythmias and patient life vest stories. An arrhythmia is
an abnormal heart rhythm where there is a problem with the rate or the rhythm
of the heart. There are many types or arrhythmias. Some cause the
heart to beat too fast, others to slow and some erratic. When the heart
isn't beating correctly, it isn't pumping blood correctly and other organs may
be damaged because they aren't receiving blood.
The cardiologist told me at my appointment that the recording of the night
when the alarm went off showed ventricular tachycardia. This is a very
fast, dangerous heartbeat caused by a malfunction in one of the heart’s
ventricles. It is a pulse of more than 100 beats per minute with at least three
irregular heartbeats in a row. The symptoms are palpitations, an
uncomfortable awareness of the heart beating rapidly or irregularly, dizziness
or lightheadedness, shortness of breath, chest pain or angina, near-fainting or
fainting, and weak pulse or no pulse. Ventricular tachycardia may also
cause sudden cardiac arrest or even death.
Since I was asleep, I did not notice any symptoms. My cardiologist
said that as of now this had been a one-time thing and he thinks it would be a
good idea to wait for my echo before deciding whether I need to have an ICD or
similar device implanted. These are usually implanted when an EF of less
than 35% persists longer than 3 months. I've come to terms with needing
an implant. It would be great if my EF is over 35% at my next appointment
but I am also fine with a slow and steady recovery.
It has been over a week since my alarm when off and I have to admit it makes
me nervous to think that I might experience sudden cardiac arrest. I just
pray that this vest works if I ever need it. I must say that after
this last alarm, at least I know the life vest is paying attention.
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