Joyful Transformation

If you know me very well, you know that I adore my baby brother. (Well, my older brother too, but this story is about Bruce) He emailed me this tale of his medical experience last week. With his permission I thought I would share it with you all. If you don't know he is in the Air Force has been for the last 26 years and is 45 years old......enjoy!

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Hello everyone,

The other day (the 8th) I went to mid day sick call to ask about my heart flutter I was having. Well, I signed in and put my reason for being there, when they finally saw me they started freaking out like I was going down right then. Never mind that I sat in the waiting area for an hour. Anyway they call 911 (yes this is a hospital with doctors) to take me to where? The emergency room down town. (That’s called out sourcing). Anyway they put me on oxygen and tell me how foolish I was not to come in before, then they start and IV and tell me I could have a blood clot at any second and I was a goner. Now I was having a pretty good day up till this point. I wasn’t sick or feeling bad. The only thing going on was I had to breathe a little more because my heart beats were not efficient.

Needless to say MD Tucker has had one of these before (about two years ago) and it had passed. So I wasn’t as worried as they were.

Now the ambulance team shows up. And what do they ask? How you doing? Well, why don’t you ask the doctor because I feel fine. (I was not even being sarcastic) Then he starts telling me I could have a blood clot and died. These guys aren’t real big on trying to get repeat business.
We ride downtown (no lights because I’m conscious and not complaining) and they roll me in and start looking me over. They had just got the IV on (which the Para medics had to replace in the ambulance because the one from the base wasn’t working right) and did the first EKG (second one of the day) and Walla, my heart returned to normal rhythm. I looked at the nurse and said “you guys are good”! Well, since they had me there they were not taking any chances of missing a great opportunity to run up a HUGE bill for the government. So, first I got blood taken, then chest X-rays, then a thorough (no abnormal probing) exam by a “real” doctor, then they ran me down and gave me a CAT scan of my heart with the iodine injection for special effects.

Here’s a note for you; if you go to a hospital pay attention to what they tell you. Every where I was sent or every new person I saw said the same thing: what are you here for? What can we do for you? What? I was rolled down here in a stretcher and you want me to tell you what I’m here for. You should have issued me a pad and pencil if I needed to take notes for my cat scan or what the doctor said when he walked away. I was not expecting a test and I failed to diagnose myself correctly; obviously I was the only one thinking I wasn’t going to die.

So what was the result of all this? My blood work was all good in all areas (no evidence of heart attack), my chest x-ray was clear, my cat scan of my chest cavity/heart was clear and my heart rate was excellent by the time I left. I felt great (just like I did when I came in) and they felt puzzled. The doctor said I was not having an atrial fibrillation but my heart was beating too fast. The difference is with the fibrillation one of your valves has stopped beating. That’s when you get the blood clots.

I had to go back in yesterday to see a doctor (on base) so he can send me down town to see a cardiologist. They did another EKG fourth one in two days and everything was normal. But, as I said they will be sending me downtown to a specialist.

Although I was worried (actually sacred at one point when the fifth person told me I could die) the other day by what these people were saying I actually walked away feeling better for the entire ordeal with all the test they did on me. I was really glad to hear my cholesterol was normal I always watch that. Five hours of well spent time to find out everything looks good but I have a goofy heart.

And another benefit was I don’t have to wax where they put those little sticky monitor pads (you know the crash test dummy ones) because they put them on and took them off three times and then once again yesterday.

Fortunately they gave me a wrist name tag so people would believe me. Of course at work people were already bidding for who would replace me and upper supervision thought I was out for the count. Feel the love.

Just so everyone gets the same story, it was strange day but no medicines were given and no restrictions either. To bad I was hoping I would have an excuse not to exercise.

So praise the good Lord it was a significant wake up but at the same time the good Lord has given me great health up till now. I have no reason to complain even if I do have a quirky heart.

Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Lots of love

Bruce