Not My Best Super Bowl Party

[silverscreenselect]

I just had the "pleasure" of watching the Super Bowl from my hospital bed. It was the culmination of a bad week of health problems. The weekend before last, I found myself getting winded very easily going up a flight of stairs, which I'd never had a problem with before. I had a previously scheduled follow-up appointment with my pulmonologist on Tuesday or I probably would have scheduled a new appointment because I was worried.

On Tuesday, I had to walk back and forth through the hospital complex, getting a blood sample drawn for my cancer followup on Friday, then going to the pulmonologist. As anyone who's ever been in Atlanta knows, you can wind up going up or down a couple of floors going between the buildings of an office complex due to the hills. So, by the time I got to my pulmonologist, I was completely winded and I had to stop twice along the way. They checked my vitals and found my pulse was 145-150, although my blood pressure was good. The pulmonologist felt I probably had a bronchial infection and prescribed some antibiotics and got me back on my inhaler. I felt a bit better by Friday when I went to see the cancer doctor. My cancer numbers were good, but my pulse was again in the 145-150 range. This time, I had parked very close to the office and hadn't really exerted myself. When I told the cancer doctor about my experience earlier in the week, he thought it could be a heart problem and sent me next door to the emergency room.

After spending most of Friday in the emergency room, they checked me into the main hospital and did an EKG and the next day an echocardiogram. My heart rate was still in that 145-150 range even though I"d been lying down in the emergency room for hours. Over the weekend, they kept me on an IV blood thinner and a drug to reduce the heart rate. It wasn't until yesterday afternoon that they got my heart rate down low enough to try to fix things. I had atrial fibrillation, and this morning they put me to sleep and attached pads to my chest and back and shocked the heart back into a normal sinus rhythm. Then, I finally got to go home.

The scariest thing about this was that I never felt any chest pains or tightness or a rapid heartbeat, even though it had probably been going a mile a minute. I was lucky I had those pre-existing follow-ups scheduled or I might have unknowingly walked around with a rapid heartbeat until I keeled over.

For now, everything is okay, although I 'm going to get a device to keep monitoring my heart rate on a regular basis. Even though they had a nice TV in the room and I was on their version of a regular diet, I would much rather have watched the Super Bowl under different circumstances.

[mellytu74]

Well, it's good that it wasn't a Super Bowl that would raise your blood pressure.

I joke but I am glad that you had the regular check-up scheduled so the doctor could catch it.

You are right - it is scary that there weren't chest pains or a rapid heartbeat, or any other symptoms.

Please take care and keep us posted.

[a1mamacat]

Dang, glad you were in the right place at the right time

Stay vigilant

[BackInTex]

Not much of a consolation, but you had a better Super Bowl Sunday than Patrick Mahomes.

Glad they were able to get things back to relative normalcy.

[Bob Juch]

I had Afib recurring for a few years until I had a nerve zapped last year.

I advise that you get a Kardia (https://kardia.com/) device to check that it hasn't come back.

[Beebs52]

Yipes, move slowly...be well.

[silverscreenselect]

As a result of my hospitalization last month, they started me on blood thinners to reduce the risk of stroke. It took me a while to get a prescription for a blood thinner at a decent price, but I finally started taking it two weeks ago. The next week, I had my yearly checkup, and my GP said I was severely anemic. I was also getting winded very easily. He ran more blood studies and found that I was doing even worse, so Monday, I checked back into the hospital.

I stopped the blood thinners and got a transfusion of two units of blood. My iron levels went back up, but I started having black stools, indicating internal bleeding. They ran tests to try to find the source of the bleeding but couldn't. (One of the tests involved me swallowing a capsule that had a tiny camera on the end of it which took pictures all the way through my system.) They still couldn't locate anything that would explain the bleeding, but it had stopped and my iron levels have stabilized. So, they released me for now today, after four days in the hospital. I've discontinued the blood thinner, and we'll keep monitoring the situation (I've got followups with my GP and cardiologist next week). This has been very frustrating and a bit scary.

[mrkelley23]

I hate to hear that. I hear so many anecdotal accounts of bad outcomes due to blood thinners that I wonder why they are still considered best practice. I don't even like taking the low dose aspirin that I'm on after my heart attack. I hope they (and you) figure it out soon.

[Beebs52]

Continuing vibes and prayers. Sometimes it seems crud just cascades and you wanna scream GIMME A BREAK! Hopefully you get a respite.

[a1mamacat]

Damn that sucks. Continuing vibes from the North.

[Game Girl]

I really hope you feel better. I also had surgery around the time of the Super Bowl but on my eye. (which is why I was not on the board for like a month, had to wait for flex spending on my end) at least a little time pass before the Super Bowl but I had a headache the rest of the night. (granted given the game there was not really much to watch after the third quarter, even commercials lowered in quality to the regular prime time in my area) this might be the first Super Bowl in which they celebrate before the clock runs out. granted the floor was on after that and I am a big floor fan. so you're not the only one who had medical issues around the time of the Super Bowl.

[silverscreenselect]

I've been back in the hospital again last week.

My problem is anemia, which they think is responsible for most of my problems of the last two months. They can't find the cause, and during this last stay, I had to get another transfusion and treatments of IV iron that were administered like the transfusion. I've got an appointment with the hematologist Thursday where they will do more extensive testing to see if they can find the cause. It may be I need bone marrow.

There is a "positive" from all this. I'm getting a handicap parking pass since I get winded walking around in a parking lot or going up a flight of stairs.

[BackInTex]

I've been back in the hospital again last week.

My problem is anemia, which they think is responsible for most of my problems of the last two months. They can't find the cause, and during this last stay, I had to get another transfusion and treatments of IV iron that were administered like the transfusion. I've got an appointment with the hematologist Thursday where they will do more extensive testing to see if they can find the cause. It may be I need bone marrow.

There is a "positive" from all this. I'm getting a handicap parking pass since I get winded walking around in a parking lot or going up a flight of stairs.

Yikes. I certainly hope they figure it out.

Won't be getting any of my high quality bone marrow. I've aged out of the registry. I joined the registry in the mid-90's when a co-worker's young son had lukemia (he soon died afterwards) and pretty much the entire Pizza Hut corporate office went and got tested (blood sample) and registered. I did get a call for a full marrow profile (early 2000's) and went in and had some taken out, but I guess I wasn't a close enough match for whatever case got me called in because I never got another call. I eventually got a letter telling me I was no longer eligible to donate as I aged out (I think when I turned 60 but it could have been before that).

[earendel]

I've been back in the hospital again last week.

My problem is anemia, which they think is responsible for most of my problems of the last two months. They can't find the cause, and during this last stay, I had to get another transfusion and treatments of IV iron that were administered like the transfusion. I've got an appointment with the hematologist Thursday where they will do more extensive testing to see if they can find the cause. It may be I need bone marrow.

There is a "positive" from all this. I'm getting a handicap parking pass since I get winded walking around in a parking lot or going up a flight of stairs.

That sounds like what elwing had -myelodysplasia. She had to have transfusions regularly until the doctor recommended thalidomide. After taking that for several years, she went into remission. The doctor was going to write a paper about it because it was such a miraculous development.

[silverscreenselect]

She had to have transfusions regularly until the doctor recommended thalidomide.

Is this the same thalidomide that was involved with all the birth defects back in the 1960s? I thought that was taken off the market as a result (I doubt elwing has to worry about birth defects though).

[mellytu74]

Continued good thoughts from here.

[BackInTex]

She had to have transfusions regularly until the doctor recommended thalidomide.

(I doubt elwing has to worry about birth defects though).

Nor would you, I assume.

[earendel]

She had to have transfusions regularly until the doctor recommended thalidomide.

Is this the same thalidomide that was involved with all the birth defects back in the 1960s? I thought that was taken off the market as a result (I doubt elwing has to worry about birth defects though).

It was a variant called Thalomid. It is still available for some conditions.
And every time she refilled the prescription she had to certify that she wasn't pregnant or trying to get pregnant. Even though she was post-menopausal.

[Bob Juch]

I've been back in the hospital again last week.

My problem is anemia, which they think is responsible for most of my problems of the last two months. They can't find the cause, and during this last stay, I had to get another transfusion and treatments of IV iron that were administered like the transfusion. I've got an appointment with the hematologist Thursday where they will do more extensive testing to see if they can find the cause. It may be I need bone marrow.

There is a "positive" from all this. I'm getting a handicap parking pass since I get winded walking around in a parking lot or going up a flight of stairs.

Do you still have your spleen?

[silverscreenselect]

I've been back in the hospital again last week.

My problem is anemia, which they think is responsible for most of my problems of the last two months. They can't find the cause, and during this last stay, I had to get another transfusion and treatments of IV iron that were administered like the transfusion. I've got an appointment with the hematologist Thursday where they will do more extensive testing to see if they can find the cause. It may be I need bone marrow.

There is a "positive" from all this. I'm getting a handicap parking pass since I get winded walking around in a parking lot or going up a flight of stairs.

Do you still have your spleen?

I still do, at least for now.

[silverscreenselect]

I had more surgery yesterday, something called an atrial ablation. (It's an outpatient procedure but they only sedated me instead of putting me fully to sleep. As a result, it was quite painful for a few minutes.) They run a tube from my groin to the heart and then burn out some gunk in one part of the heart. That's supposed to make clotting less likely and reduce the need for blood thinners. They're still trying to figure out the cause of my anemia, and they don't want to replace the stents in my heart until they do figure out why I'm bleeding internally. I'm meeting with a hematologist in two weeks who may give me some answers.

[Bob Juch]

I had more surgery yesterday, something called an atrial ablation. (It's an outpatient procedure but they only sedated me instead of putting me fully to sleep. As a result, it was quite painful for a few minutes.) They run a tube from my groin to the heart and then burn out some gunk in one part of the heart. That's supposed to make clotting less likely and reduce the need for blood thinners. They're still trying to figure out the cause of my anemia, and they don't want to replace the stents in my heart until they do figure out why I'm bleeding internally. I'm meeting with a hematologist in two weeks who may give me some answers.

That's what I had almost two years ago. They put me fully out and zapped a nerve inside my heart.