Posts (page 2)

I'd say they are gone, but I am not 100% certain. If I am still having PVC's, I'm not having as many nor do they have the same oompfh.

I do feel a little "off" which it says might happen in the "important safety information about this drug" pamphlet. It's like a benedryl hangover. I'm curious to see how long it takes me to transition through the side-effects.

I've decided at my two-week appointment that I will talk with my doctor about the lifestyle changes and transitioning off the drug after eight weeks. If it is truly stress-related and I can get that under control, then that's what I want to do.

Boy, yesterday was a tough coffee day. I don't drink much during the week, so my Saturday withdrawal was a tough one! Plus, I really wanted some caffeine so I could "wake up"!

So I'd been toying with the idea that I would just try the lifestyle changes first and forgo adding another med to my regimen. Then I got this message from my friend the retired ER nurse:

There are irregular heartbeats and then there are irregular heartbeats. Mine have been benign. Just very annoying. And lo and behold they are subsiding. Still I have them checked regularly to keep track of them. BUT!!!! PVCs are something different and not to be toyed with. You must follow all those instructions to the letter. PVCs can be dangerous. Not benign. Please don't let any of us tell you "I have the very same thing and all I have to do is blah blah blah." PVCs are different. Not to scare you, Sooz, but listen to the docs - not those of us who have irregular heartbeats. Sounds like we have all been told not to worry. You have not been told that. You have a whole different set of instructions. Very important. I would get a cardiologist if I were you.

The trouble with PVCs is not in the irregularity but in the irregular irreularity. That really is a description. "Irregularly irregular." That funny jagged squiggle is called the QRS. If it falls on a T wave you can be in big trouble. Just take the med. Do the other stuff. Maybe you can get off the med if you really want to some day. It would be wonderful to not ever have to take meds. But it is wonderful to live.

So, yeah, I'm definitely filling the prescription today.

Remember that short film my friend Jeff made? The one I asked you to go vote for?

Well, he didn't make the top 15. Until yesterday!!

"The Doorpost Film Project is pleased to recognize filmmaker Ted Chung’s A Thousand Words as a featured selection of Pangea Day. The Doorpost believes with Ted that his work is deserving of this exposure, and we have therefore decided to release him from his obligation to the 2008 Doorpost Film Project competition.

 
As a result of this decision, filmmaker Jeff Guerrero’s Therapy will be now be included in the final round of competition.  We congratulate Jeff on his accomplishment and are excited for his participation in the top 15!"

He's off to Nashville this weekend to receive his check. Winner of the next round receives $100,000 plus a private meeting with development studios for prospective film deals!

Go Jeff!!

I have an irregular heartbeat. I am having "PVCs" which are premature ventricular contractions. I am having enough to require medication, but not enough to be considered serious-serious.

I was actually having a pretty bad episode when she called. I was laying on the floor when I heard my phone ringing. Quinky-dink.

I have to give up caffeine. We know I am excited about that. Not. And chocolate. And all sorts of things. Get more exercise. Lose weight. You know, the usual "life style" changes stuff.

She made me laugh when she said, "I see an increase in women getting this as they become peri-menopausal." I told her, "Shut up! That's not even funny." Good thing she likes me! ;-)

I know lots of people live with an irregular heartbeat (some don't even know it), and with time I will learn to live with it too!

Today is my oldest brother's 68th birthday. I'm 42. Yes, that's 26 years between us.

To report out on today. My doctor was not in.

I also had my pre-op for my toe surgery scheduled for Friday. Yeah, that's been canceled. Sure, I'm disappointed. I waited so long in the first place, and now this. Ah, well, probably best since Friday is the 13th. ;-)

We went to see Young@Heart today. It is such an uplifting movie. Lots of laughs and smiles. And for me, tears. I welled up a couple times, but there was this moment when the tears just started. And never stopped. I cried the entire rest of the movie. Finally my friend opened her bag and gave me a tissue.

There were lovely versions of "Fix You" and "Nothing Compares 2 U" that just rocked me to my soul. Especially in the context of what was happening in the documentary and what has been happening in my life as of late.

Every day I wake up hoping that today it will be gone. And then my heart gives that funny beat and I know it is still here.

It is definitely not as strong as it was earlier in the week. When it made me feel tipsy.

This Friday I am supposed to have my toe surgery. I have a pre-op Monday that I decided to keep since we don't have anything definite yet. I figure he and my doctor will make the appropriate decision as to how to proceed.

SInce I don't think there is anything gravely wrong with me, I think my doctor and I will be discussing Clonazepam since she already brought it up. I just read the wiki page and I don't like the sounds of it.

Mom got her second steroid epidural yesterday.

I can't be in the room when they do it, so it would've been nice if they'd warned me it hadn't gone well. Instead I walk into the room and mom is near hysterical.

Apparently the pain while she had to lay on her belly was unbearable. The doctor even came back two or three times to check on her. She said something like, "I've never seen her this bad." I just nodded with a this is what it's like face. It took her a full 30 minutes to settle down. I tried to help by reading some of the parts of a Vanity Fair story on Ann Bass.

As we left, I joked that maybe our primary care doctor needed to give us matching anxiety prescriptions. She laughed, but I really was serious.