And the Beat Goes On

For the past few years, I’ve had episodes of an irregular heartbeat. I could feel it in the base of my throat and I found the feeling of a skipped beat when I felt my pulse. It never lasted more than 15 minutes. I did mention it to my physician, but without record of what was happening, she could do little. With the irregularity of the occurrences and its short duration, she couldn’t offer anything at present, but said she would consider an event monitor. An event monitor is a device a person would wear for a longer duration and would record that person’s pulse when it became irregular.

Yesterday the skipped beat and the fellness in my throat returned. I also became slightly short of breath. The length of the irregularity was longer lasting, so I jumped into my clothing and hustled off to the emergency room, fearful that the symptoms might disappear or that things might get worse.

I was placed on a monitor and my tracing showed PAC’s and an infrequent PVC. PAC’s are premature beats that the atrium or upper part of the heart fires off causing those chambers to compress early. It makes the pulse feel like a skipped beat. A PVC is a similar event where the lower part of the heart fires off and electrical impulse that causes an early contraction of the lower chambers. Because this muscle is much larger, the contraction is stronger and more easily felt.

The EKG showed the PAC’s and was similar to my old EKG recordings, not much had changed. On the monitor when I first arrived, the tracing did capture a PVC or two. Mt oxygen saturation was good. I had no chest pain. Because of my feeling of shortness of breath, the doctor ordered a chest x-ray. It was clear. I waited for the results of my blood work. The cardiac enzymes and electrolytes were in normal ranges. I was given two options: the first to wait overnight in the emergency area, having a cardiologist see me and do a stress test or I could go home, relax, and see what I felt like in the morning.

I asked that he talk with my primary care doctor and see what she wanted. She has her way of doing things. It was after hours and she wasn’t available. I chose to go home. I’d done an overnight and stress test about 2 years ago when I had chest pain side effect from taking Cipro. I chose to go home. Those emergency room carts are not made for comfort. I told my kids what was happening just before I left the hospital. All they would do was to wait and worry. They weren’t happy that I’d delayed notifying them, but I’m writing and alive this morning, another blessing from God.