Heart Update

This morning I went in for another test on my heart. I did a tilt table test. You can see the picture below to see more of how that works. Basically they strapped me to a table that stood me up vertically and then would lay me down flat. They monitored my heart while they did this for about an hour and a half. After that they pumped a chemical form of adrenaline into my IV to see how my body reacts. That was the weirdest feeling and I had a bit of a panic attack during that part. My heart rate got to about 190 bpm. It's the weirdest feeling to have your heart beating so hard and fast when you aren't even moving at all. 

They found out that there is definitely something wrong (obviously) but at least now they have a little better idea. The problem is in my atrium and they are going to have to do an electrophysiology study to find the exact root of the problem. My heart randomly starts racing and beats way faster than it normally should. The only thing that is different about my heart is that it has a pretty abnormal rhythm.  This is not too uncommon and a simple procedure. 

They are going to put me out and then the doctors go into the heart through a vein in either the thigh or neck with a catheter to gather information about how electrical signals travel through my heart. Next they stimulate the heart using a catheter. Once they find the part of the atrium that is firing the improper chemical messages they zap the area and hopefully that will make the heart start beating correctly. They stitch the catheter site up and I should be good to return to work within a week. Dr. Hwang said after this procedure I'll be able to walk up a flight of stairs and exercise without my heart pounding and racing. (So exciting!!) 

This is right as the test was starting. I definitely wasn't smiling for the rest of the test!