Actually it was 10 days ago.
So I wake up Saturday morning, I’m going to go up North to my friends cabin, play some golf, have my kids do some work around the place, you know the usual Minnesota weekend adventure. I’m in the shower when I feel my heart start to race, no reason, just doing it.
About an hour later its still racing and I’m not feeling at all well. My wife, the nurse, can’t count my pulse rate – she can’t keep up – and I have no discernible blood pressure.
Time to call the medics.
The EMT guys show up and connect me to some machinery that clock my pulse rate at 235 beats per minute – that’s waaaayyyy over the red line for a guy of my age – I’m in hyper A-fib and my heart's not coming out of it. And it's getting worse by the second.
Not good.
They need to convert me RIGHT NOW. They fool around for about a minute trying to find a vein to put an anesthetic into me but I have deep veins with some scar tissue because of my frequent blood donations and the EMT guy can’t find a vein. So……..
The lead EMT says we’re going this NOW, period, it has to be done.
“Cosmic we need you to lay back and relax, ok ?”
I lay back.
I think, relax, ok – they’re about to defibrillate me and can hear the machine charging – should I set my jaw in case my jaw clenches so I don’t break my teeth or should I just relax it so it can shift without hurting itself ? – I don’t know, I mean no one tells you things do they ? I should have some information about ----
Boom
…I felt like the top of my head blew off. I DO NOT recommend being hit with a defibrillator while still conscious.
Just don’t do it.
Not even once.
I said something obscene followed by “don’t do that again” and that’s all I remember until we got the hospital emergence room.
Ok, I had a transient electric problem in my heart. It was ablated, things went way better than they hoped. I’m fine and expect to live to the end of the month at least, probably longer. I’m ok.
But you guys were about 10 minutes (my wife the nurse’s best guess) away from not having to put up with Cosmic Charlie anymore.
No such luck.
I know there are people on this board who pray for me, I know because you send me personal messages on the subject. Most pray for me for entirely different reasons than my general health.
But I want to thank you anyway. You may have saved my sorry life.
Well, along with my wife and the sadistic EMTs who blasted me while totally awake.
But Thanks.
So I wake up Saturday morning, I’m going to go up North to my friends cabin, play some golf, have my kids do some work around the place, you know the usual Minnesota weekend adventure. I’m in the shower when I feel my heart start to race, no reason, just doing it.
About an hour later its still racing and I’m not feeling at all well. My wife, the nurse, can’t count my pulse rate – she can’t keep up – and I have no discernible blood pressure.
Time to call the medics.
The EMT guys show up and connect me to some machinery that clock my pulse rate at 235 beats per minute – that’s waaaayyyy over the red line for a guy of my age – I’m in hyper A-fib and my heart's not coming out of it. And it's getting worse by the second.
Not good.
They need to convert me RIGHT NOW. They fool around for about a minute trying to find a vein to put an anesthetic into me but I have deep veins with some scar tissue because of my frequent blood donations and the EMT guy can’t find a vein. So……..
The lead EMT says we’re going this NOW, period, it has to be done.
“Cosmic we need you to lay back and relax, ok ?”
I lay back.
I think, relax, ok – they’re about to defibrillate me and can hear the machine charging – should I set my jaw in case my jaw clenches so I don’t break my teeth or should I just relax it so it can shift without hurting itself ? – I don’t know, I mean no one tells you things do they ? I should have some information about ----
Boom
…I felt like the top of my head blew off. I DO NOT recommend being hit with a defibrillator while still conscious.
Just don’t do it.
Not even once.
I said something obscene followed by “don’t do that again” and that’s all I remember until we got the hospital emergence room.
Ok, I had a transient electric problem in my heart. It was ablated, things went way better than they hoped. I’m fine and expect to live to the end of the month at least, probably longer. I’m ok.
But you guys were about 10 minutes (my wife the nurse’s best guess) away from not having to put up with Cosmic Charlie anymore.
No such luck.
I know there are people on this board who pray for me, I know because you send me personal messages on the subject. Most pray for me for entirely different reasons than my general health.
But I want to thank you anyway. You may have saved my sorry life.
Well, along with my wife and the sadistic EMTs who blasted me while totally awake.
But Thanks.
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...and your peace (scary!!)
