A Topsy-Turvy Month of March

-
Image
Topsy-turvy...that's the only word I can think of to describe the month of March. It's been disorderly, chaotic, and a bit out of joint. There have been ups and downs. Highs and lows.  It all started out well enough. My dad celebrated his 75th birthday. This was an especially big deal as he gave us all a scare last month when he came down with a staph infection, which entered his bloodstream. He was very sick and his doctor said if he would have waited 1 more day before going to the ER, the outcome might have been different.  Celebrating my dad's 75th birthday!  On his birthday, we just had a small party as he was not yet feeling 100 percent. A couple of weeks later, when Dawn was here with Faith and I stayed with my parents, I noticed he seemed like he had more energy and was feeling better. I am very thankful for that!  Another person in my family (my sister Tesa) also had a milestone birthday this month. She turned 50! We were all hoping it would work out to have ...
Post a Comment

Cardiology Fun - Stress Test and Pacemaker Check

-
Shortly after arriving home from my cardiology appointment yesterday, Faith asked, "So was everything A-OK at the doctor's mommy?"

Although I had been dreading the first part of my appointment - the stress test - everything really did turn out "A-OK."

Doing a stress test is not fun for many reasons. First, you have to take off your shirt and bra and put on one of those flimsy hospital gowns. Then they hook you up to like a dozen electrodes. You have to try to keep everything intact as you push your heart to its maximum limit. And in my case, while all of this was going on, a good-looking young guy who was an intern at Mayo was in the room. Thank goodness I had two wonderful nurses who helped to keep my gown closed and wires untangled while I was on the treadmill.

The first three minutes of the test weren't so bad but then they raised the incline and the treadmill sped up. Towards the end of the three minutes, I started noticing my legs getting tired. Then after another three minutes they raised the incline again and sped it up. After a total of 8 minutes and 54 seconds, I was done and told them I had to stop - I felt short of breath and my stomach began to hurt.

The stomachache has been a mystery symptom of mine for the last couple of years or so. It's like when my heart rate reaches its max, my stomach begins to hurt. I especially notice this in hot, humid weather. My main reason for doing the stress test was to try to figure this out.

Following my stress test, I got my pacemaker checked and found out the battery has seven months left. That means sometime in the winter I'll be traveling to Mayo to get a new battery - possibly even a whole new pacemaker implanted.

Finally, I had my consult with the cardiologist. He said as far as my stress test went, I did pretty darn good considering I only have one single functioning ventricle. He went on to say that there are some people with two working ventricles that don't even make it three minutes.

I told him the thing that bothered me was my stomach hurting because when that happens, I am forced to stop and rest and that I wish I could do more. He thinks the abdominal pain might have something to do with the fact that my pacemaker is set at a maximum of 140 beats per minute and once I reach that max, my pacemaker isn't allowing my heart to work as hard as I need it to, which limits the oxygen and blood flow.

After checking with the pacemaker guy at Mayo, he said I could try to have my pacemaker set to 160 beats per minutes which would allow my heart to work a little harder if it needed to. The disadvantage is that the higher my heart rate, the more prone it is to flutter and go into arrhythmia. Just to be safe, after getting my pacemaker reset, I'll get a Holter monitor done which will show if my heart is having rhythm issues.

It's strange but even though I have had a heart condition all my life I don't think of myself as someone who has to have limitations. I've been told to not lift my daughter when she reaches 60 pounds but in my mind that limitation doesn't exist. I want to be able to do what I need to do to care for my daughter - which includes taking her on walks in her chair pushing her up and down our hilly neighborhood without my stomach hurting and forcing me to stop and rest.

After yesterday's appointment, I am feeling thankful about how well I'm doing - considering the complexity of my heart condition. Even though I know I have to listen to my body, I still believe that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

Comments

Post a Comment

Most Popular Posts

A Topsy-Turvy Month of March

-
Image
Topsy-turvy...that's the only word I can think of to describe the month of March. It's been disorderly, chaotic, and a bit out of joint. There have been ups and downs. Highs and lows.  It all started out well enough. My dad celebrated his 75th birthday. This was an especially big deal as he gave us all a scare last month when he came down with a staph infection, which entered his bloodstream. He was very sick and his doctor said if he would have waited 1 more day before going to the ER, the outcome might have been different.  Celebrating my dad's 75th birthday!  On his birthday, we just had a small party as he was not yet feeling 100 percent. A couple of weeks later, when Dawn was here with Faith and I stayed with my parents, I noticed he seemed like he had more energy and was feeling better. I am very thankful for that!  Another person in my family (my sister Tesa) also had a milestone birthday this month. She turned 50! We were all hoping it would work out to have ...
Read more

Christmas Festivities Galore

-
Image
This season is known as the most wonderful time of the year and probably the busiest time of the year as well. Along with starting Christmas shopping, putting up our tree and thinking about getting our Christmas cards ready, we have taken part in some great Christmas events. Faith checking out some of the ornaments on our Christmas tree! Last Monday we kicked off the week with Faith's program at school called "Old Man Winter's Icicle Follies." Faith's music teacher had given us a CD with all of the music on it so Faith could learn the words better.  I must say, when Rob and I both heard the fast-moving music with all of the tongue-twisting words, we both thought the songs were a little ambitious for third graders. We really impressed when they pulled it off! All of the third graders did great!  The best part was seeing Faith in the front of the gymnasium alongside the kids in her grade looking relaxed and singing right along with the rest of them. Although,...
Read more

5 Fall Things Faith Loves

-
Image
I swear we just flipped the calendar to August and now September is right around the corner. How can that be? School has started for some of Faith's cousins and the air is a bit brisk during the morning hours.  Fall is definitely my favorite season, but for Faith, I think she likes Spring better. She loves it when winter is finally over and there are no more threats of snowstorms to ruin her plans! That being said, she is looking forward to some things next month and during the upcoming fall season.  1. Fall Leaves/Fun Flavors One of my favorite parts of transporting Faith back and forth to her therapies and day program is that we get to cross the Missouri River twice a day. We love looking at all the trees by the river, the boats in the water, and even some wildlife like antelope, wild turkeys, and lots of birds.  Along with the pretty leaves, there is a cool crisp feel to the air, and the mosquitoes are long gone. Lots of fun flavors make their comeback in coffee shops ...
Read more

A Plethora of Appointments

-
Image
Upon reflecting about the month of July, I have come to the conclusion that Faith has never had more appointments in one month than she did last month. She had over a dozen chiropractic appointments, eight ABM lessons, two visits from the Easter Seals coordinator, one occupational therapy consult, one optometrist appointment (and a partridge in a pear tree!). The Easter Seals visits were merely a formality as Faith has a new case worker and we needed to update some paperwork. Her disability case manager came along on one of the visits. Her optometrist appointment was her annual routine eye exam, and we are glad to report that Faith's eyes continue to remain the same and she still isn't needing glasses. We are thrilled about this as Faith had glasses at one time and we also had to do patching on her eyes, but her vision and her eye muscles continue to function normally! (Praise the Lord!) Faith getting a chance to relax! In June, Rob took Faith to see a chiropractor for ...
Read more