Well, where do I start? A couple of weeks ago while on a bike ride with our friends visiting from Indiana Rudee said she "felt funny". She complained of short spells of her heart "fluttering" and when it happened it made her short of breath and coughing. We decided to cut our ride short and head back home where she could rest. Fast forward a couple of days and she had another spell while at work that seemed worse than the ones previously so a coworker drove her to the emergency room in Custer to get things checked out. By the time they got to the emergency room the fluttering had stopped and they could not figure out what was wrong. They did put her on a monitor for 24 hours to see if it could record anything. She did have a spell while the monitor was on and it ended up being PVC's (premature ventricular contractions) but they said they were "benign" and since they were so few treatment was not necessary unless the spells become worse or more frequent.
Guess what? The spells continued to get longer and she had more and more of them so we called the Doctor back and he had me bring her right in where he did a stress test. She was having quite a few PVC's and her EKG showed some "signs" so they referred her to a Cardiologist in Rapid City the next day.
We met with the Cardiologist and he set up a Cardiac Catheterization early the next morning and also prescribed some beta blockers to help control the PVC's. He was confident her heart had no blockages but no guarantees until the Cath was done.
The procedure was scheduled for 7 am so we left the camper at 5:30 to make the drive. She was the first patient of the day and the whole thing only took about 30 minutes and no blockages were found. She had to stay flat for two hours and they monitored her another 2 hours after that before letting us come home.
She has been off work ever since while I was able to finish out the last 3 days of my work week. Her leg is still sore and bruised from the catheter but she is starting to get back to normal again. She has started the medicine and the spells have decreased some as well. She is ready to head back to work though, being couped up in the motorhome all day by yourself is no fun. :-)
Tonight we are meeting a group of other full time RVers who hang around the rv-dreams forum. We missed the pitch in dinner with them last week because of Rudee's doctor visits. This time we are meeting at the Alpine Inn for dinner. I'll keep you posted.
Glad to hear Rudee is doing better. This has been a rough year for her! Had to take Steve to ER last week. It seems he has diverticulitis. He turns 60 on Saturday and already he's falling apart. Shouldn't say that as he was able to play softball in two city leagues and 2 tournaments. Not bad for an old man! Counting down our days. Leaving here Sept 8th. Hope to see you guys on the road. Take care of each other!
ReplyDeleteYou only did one thing wrong. Someone drove her to the ER. Should have called an ambulance. What if she'd had a full blown heart attack on the way. You wife may have died and the friend would be devastated. I rode an ambulance for 10 years as an EMT-1. I would never give anyone a ride to the ER under those circumstances. Something to think about.
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Really glad to hear that Rudee is better. Hope it doesn't come back. Too bad she couldn't have had the same type cath that Larry Smith had. They went through his wrist. I had never heard of that before, but it had to better than the other type. Both of you take care!
DeleteSo glad to hear Rudee is better! Saw the comments on the RV Dreams Forum and wondered what was up. Like they said, she's had one rough year. Hopefully this is it!
ReplyDeleteWow, that sure can put a lot of stress on both of you. Best wishes and take care.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear Rudee had health problems again. It's good that there was no blockages and she is doing good now. Here's hoping the rest of 2013 is a good one for you.
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