A prior adventure

About 10 years ago, I started noticing irregular heartbeats.  The episodes would usually last no more than a few minutes, but occasionally would last an hour or so.  It got to the point where running up a set of stairs could wear me out, if it was during an episode.  So I went to the doctor one morning when I noticed the symptom.  He gave me an EKG, and told me to get someone to rush me to the hospital - my heart was in atrial fibrillation.  I told him it would likely go away in half an hour or so, but he was adamant.  So I went back home, got a toothbrush and a paperback, and headed to the emergency room.  The toothbrush was in case they checked me in (which I doubted), and the paperback was because there's always a long wait in the ER.  I didn't even bother to call my wife, because I was sure I'd be heading home soon.

Sure enough, when they hooked me up to the EKG at the hospital, no a-fib.  The cardiologist initially thought my family practitioner must have been mistaken; but when I mentioned his name, he said he knew him and doubted he had mis-diagnosed me.  So he asked me to schedule an appointment at his office for a more complete evaluation.  After lots of testing, and assurances that the risk of a complication was low, they put me on a blood thinner and an anti-arrhythmic drug called Fleicanide.  This took care of the condition for about 8 years, although I had to cut way back on caffeine and alcohol.  I only drank decaf coffee, no caffeinated sodas, and just a few glasses of wine a week tops.

Then the arrhythmia started to return.  Eventually, it turned out that the Fleicanide can become ineffective after long usage, and can actually aggravate the arrhythmia.  I had to stop taking it, and took a beta blocker instead - which was not nearly as effective as the Fleicanide had been.  So for the next two years the arrhythmia, while not a big danger, interfered with my active lifestyle.  The next step was radio frequency ablation.  This is an invasive procedure where an electrophysiologist - a cardiologist with a sub-specialty in arrhythmia - uses catheters to zap small areas of heart muscle with microwaves to change the electrical conduction patterns in the heart.  They're not sure why, but this can more-or-less cure a-fib.

The first try, in the Fall of 2008, didn't do the trick.  He tried again in April of 2009, and that seemed to work.  But while I was in the hospital - the procedure takes several hours, and recovery takes 1-3 days - the doctor noticed that I was anemic.  He gave me a transfusion, and told me to follow up with my family doctor.  And that's what led me to the current diagnosis.

So for the last two years I haven't been exercising nearly as regularly as I used to.  I feel that I've got to get this started again, because I want to be in good physical condition for whatever treatment is in store for me next.