iRhythm "success", Part II

Exhaustion has been my best friend since the hospitalization in November 2010.  Being instructed to go to the local emergency room is where I left off in my last entry regarding the iRhythm, so here is the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey would say.

We arrived at the local emergency room (after having to walk through several cigarette smokers at the entrance - who does that!?).  Unlike past trips to the emergency room (E.R.), as soon as I told the staff my name they took me directly into a bed.  My spouse found it amusing (for lack of a better word) that as the E.R. staff were taking me back, I found it necessary to make them aware of the aforementioned smokers.  I have zero tolerance for smokers, much less individuals huddled around the entrance to a hospital.  We live in California for heaven's sake, so it's not as though it was freezing outside (not that it would matter to me if it were a blizzard; get away from the building!).  

It was a long night.  We arrived before midnight and I was finally moved to a hospital bed around 4:30 A.M.  I always feel so guilty being moved into a room in the middle of the night where another patient is already sleeping.  Fortunately I was sharing a room with a woman who didn't seem to mind my arrival as she began to talk to my non-stop asking who I was and what was wrong with me.  I could write a coffee table book regarding some of the odd roommates I've had in hospitals (I'm sure many have plenty of stories!).  Once I had a woman who kept meowing like a cat.  I digress...


The only negative experience I had at the hospital was with the radiology technician.  Around 2:00A.M. the radiology technician arrived and stated he would be taking images of my heart.  He turned around, at which time I assumed he was reaching to get an apron for our baby, but instead he pushed the button on the mobile x-ray device.  At the same moment my spouse tried to stop him, exclaiming, "She's pregnant".  I was speechless.  It takes a lot to leave me speechless.  The radiology technician told us that nobody had told him I was pregnant.  So, my new rule is to tell everyone I am pregnant.  I don't know why he didn't ask the obligatory, 'Are you pregnant?  Is there a chance you could be pregnant?', which are the two questions I have been asked every time I've had x-rays (including dental) since young adulthood.  I try to tell medical personnel everything I can think of as a rule.  Now I state what should be obvious, "I'm pregnant!".   My spouse has tried to reassure me that no harm was done to our baby as have the doctors I told following the incident.

I was very happy with the nursing staff, they have been wonderful at my local hospital.  I am thankful for them and everything they do.  My heart (and vitals) in addition to our baby were monitored the entire time at the hospital.  To my knowledge, Ventricular Tachycardia (V-Tach) was not detected once at the hospital.  Good news!  In layman's terms, my body/heart had automatically reset itself following the V-Tach detected using the iRhythm.  I am so thankful my cardiologist provided me with the iRhythm!  I struggle on a daily basis with wondering if something I am experiencing is or isn't life threatening.  I imagine other's feel the same way trying to decipher the signals being sent to the good old central nervous system.  While I have never solely depended on a diagnostic device such as the iRhythm to alert me to a medical emergency, it does give me a sense of relief.


It has been two and a half years since the myocardial infarction (heart attack) I had and until Thanksgiving, there had not been any detection of V-Tach from my heart.   As I understand it, an anti nausea medication (Ondansetron) prescribed by my Obstetrics/Gynecology physician is to blame for the V-Tach.  I only took the medication as needed rather than full strength as prescribed, so I can't imagine if I'd taken it full strength how my heart would have felt.  I don't like to take medications period, so I have really tried to avoid everything (including over the counter remedies such as Tylenol).  I don't drink coffee or consume caffeine (I don't even like chocolate unless it is hot cocoa).  Following the myocardial infarction, the hospital nutritionist and nurse practitioner at the cardiology office went down a list of things I should avoid.  [Un]fortunately, I already avoided them.
   
I was released from the hospital and continued to use the iRhythm heart monitoring device for a couple of weeks.  I've continued to experience palpitations since November.  My cardiologist has partnered with another cardiologist who was on-call over Thanksgiving.  I greatly admire both cardiologists.  The newer cardiologist came to the hospital to run tests prior to releasing me.  I was re-prescribed a beta-blocker (I had stopped taking Sotalol due to the pregnancy).  I don't have high blood pressure, in fact my blood pressure has always been very good, if not on the low side.  The beta-blocker is prescribed for other reasons.  The same evening, before my new prescription was ready, the cardiologist phoned my spouse to say that he didn't want me to take what he had prescribed as he had spoken with an electrophysicist who didn't believe it was a good medication during pregnancy.  I greatly respect the new cardiologist for following up, as well as being forthcoming regarding changing to a different medication due to my pregnancy.  It's wonderful to have physicians who aren't afraid to admit that they are human!