Hello Old Friend

Hello old friend.  It’s been a while since we came to visit here.  Since we last saw you many wonderful things have happened.  Olivia and Payton have grown and kept us on our toes, both girls have started school (Olivia in Kindergarten and Payton in pre-school), Renee has started on a different career path as an Advisor with a financial institution and Dwayne has continued doing some of the work he did years ago and also has assumed control of the household, staying home with the girls most days.

Renee, Olivia and Payton during our Dawson City, Yukon visit.

Life has been wonderful, full, perfect and best of all…boring.  But unfortunately our household dances to a different beat. Boring isn’t in our cards.  Perfect is for wimps and full and wonderful?? Overrated.

On October 9^th, 2014 Renee (I/me for the remainder of this post) after a long day on my feel laid down with Payton to put her to sleep.  Feeling restless, both Payton and I turned.  Perhaps she had an intuition?  Perhaps she just got used to late nights given how busy I’ve been with long days.

Regardless, we bed hopped, me trying to find her a place she would settle, her fighting sleep with all her being. In between all that I continued to feel restless.  Unable to lie in one spot for long, and if I laid on my back, every once in a while I would gasp for breath.  Also, I was cold.  Cold to my core.  So up I got, had a hot shower and then crawled between the sheets where Dwayne wrapped himself around me to keep me warm.  I finally slept.

For the next few hours I would wake momentarily grasping for breath.  Once I got up to get some water…unsure why I felt so restless.  Warm finally I was able to get back to sleep again.  Around 2 I woke up gasping again.  Sitting up in bed I debated going to the hospital. I felt wired. I felt jittery.  I checked my heart beat…it seemed light and fast.  Huh.  I have Atrial Fibrillation just like my father.   What did Dad say about it again?  Oh yeah, his doctor said 1/3 of people live with it…not immediately dangerous.  Go back to bed, I have a conference to attend to in the morning.  Wait, I’m only 40.  That can’t be good.  And plus, if it’s still going on in the morning I’ll likely have to go then and I’ll likely be late for the conference. Better to go now and be tired, then go in the morning and be late.

Attending the ER in Squamish the nurse met me with a slightly annoyed look.  I mentioned atrial fibrillation, the look turned just a tad more annoyed (or so I thought given it was 2:30 in the morning and quite frankly no one wanted to be up at that time). After some questions, my temperature and my blood pressure, the nurse took my pulse…185.  Impressive but for all the wrong reasons.

The night spiralled down from there.  A hook up to an IV, a quick ECG and positioning the de-fib paddles “just in case” the doctor proposed a game plan.  We’ll use medication to slow the heart…if it doesn’t work we’ll have to shock you.

I’m a bit light on details here but in a nut shell I remember the drugs NOT working, I remember dry heaving, I remember feeling woozy and I think I recall the mention of blood pressure dropping 60’ish /40’ish.  I heard them say they couldn’t wait for the anesthesiologist.   I thought “damn, this is going to hurt”.  Fortunately for me the anesthesiologist arrived like a white night, coming through the doing saying “I’m here!”.

When I woke my first thought was “well, I survived”.  The fun was short lived.  Next step was not a simple “you’re going home and call your doctor on Monday”.  Instead it was a trip to Vancouver via Ambulance and the statement from the medical team in Vancouver “you’re here for at least a few days”.