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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Baby Sitter

The Sears home repair guy came by today to fix the water softener. He was explaining the costs of installing the $12 part when I started feeling terrible. I was clammy, sweating, dizzy and feeling like I did last October when this all began. Kari and the kids were at school. Kari’s parents (they live 3 houses down from us) were out for lunch. I was scared, so I asked the repair man to babysit me for a bit. He was very kind and understanding. His father has been recently diagnosed with colon cancer and started chemotherapy. Thus he had some empathy for not feeling well and being alone. I felt like such a dork!! 42 years old and needing a stranger to “baby sit” me until the episode passed. I think someone is trying to tell me I’m still not humble enough.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Pacing

It is so hard to sleep when your heart is being paced.  To avoid spurts of A-fib, the cardiologist moved the lowest setting on my pacer to 70.  That means if my heart rate drops below 70 beats per minute, my pacemaker kicks in and makes my heart beat 70.  During the day it isn't as big of a problem because I am doing things and don't notice it as much.  At night, it is a different story.  I lay there in silence listening to my heartbeat and feeling it pound in my chest.  When you are being paced, your heart beats stronger.  So I feel like I just stepped out of a Biggest Loser workout all night.  Hopefully after my tests this month I can get it adjusted down some.  It doesn't hurt to hope, right...