@m0rgan I appreciate your asking about me. I haven't been on my laptop as often since my kidney surgery. I've thought about posting an update though. @Dazlin I'm paging you, too, since you asked about my health in the hummingbird thread.
I have had a hard time recovering from my kidney surgery. It is a hard surgery in general, but I think it's been harder because of what I've found out about my health.
As I posted earlier, I thought I might have Lupus or another autoimmune disease and had an appointment with my PCP to discuss this and possibly ask for a referral to a Rheumatologist. I also wanted to discuss something else with her that I had noticed about my pulse rate.
I bought an Apple Watch in November primarily because of the health features. It has a hard fall detection where it will notify emergency services and also an emergency contact. It has a one line ECG which can detect afib. It also reads your pulse and Blood Oxygen. I had checked these things but hadn't gone back to look in detail at trends. I also hadn't realized some of the things that it could do.
Around the time of my surgery I just happened to notice that my pulse had gotten down to 40 one day. Then I looked up how to go back and check what my pulse had been since I got the watch in November. It has gone from 40 - 149 BPM since 11/3/21 when I got the watch. I hadn't had any idea.
Also, I started taking an ECG when I would feel strange, and it was often "Inconclusive." That means that you're not in Afib but something might be going on that the watch can't test for. The instructions say that if you get an inconclusive reading often to let your doctor know. When I felt fine and did an ECG it showed "Sinus Rhythm" which is normal.
When I made my appointment with my PCP I told the scheduler about my pulse. When I got there, the Medical Assistant took me back to the exam room and did an EKG and a type of blood pressure and pulse reading where she takes both when you’re sitting up, then lying down, then standing. She took everything to my doctor who looked over everything and then came in. My EKG showed Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs), which are extra heartbeats. They disrupt the regular heart rhythm, sometimes causing a sensation of a fluttering or a skipped beat in the chest.
This happened three times on the test. My doctor said the EKG only lasts for ten seconds, and for it to have happened three times is a lot. She showed me what my pulse readings were that the nurse took, and there was a big variance. She said it shouldn’t vary that much. She then said that I absolutely needed to see a cardiologist, and that she would put in an ASAP referral.
What is happening with my pulse is called brachy-tachy syndrome. It’s when your heartbeat goes from very low to very high in a short amount of time. I could also have Afib but she doesn’t know. She thinks the Cardiologist will have me wear a monitor or put in a loop monitor under my skin to see exactly what’s going on and how often. She said he may do a stress test, but she’s not sure that is a good idea with this condition. She wanted the cardiologist to make the decisions on the testing. She said I may need a pacemaker.
She thinks this is the cause of everything that’s been going on since I started feeling bad last summer, and I think she’s right. I am so glad I bought this watch. I still wouldn’t know about this if I hadn’t gotten the watch. I told her I’d been getting dizzy, too.
She told me that I could eventually start passing out if I didn’t get this taken care of. I’m also at risk of stroke, cardiac arrest and other things. I hope I can get into the cardiologist soon. I asked her why the echocardiogram didn’t show this, and she said it doesn’t check for electrical problems with your heart, which is what this is. She had done an EKG earlier that showed left bundle branch block but nothing else. The EKGs only last ten seconds and often whatever is wrong doesn't show up on them. I probably should have seen her right after my surgery, but my recovery was so hard that I changed my appt. with her.
I am so sorry that these posts about my health are always so long.
The Bluebird Carries The Sky On His Back"
-Henry David Thoreau
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