July 19, 2007
Don't you sometimes wish your heart was a heart of stone?

Doctors call it "atrial fibrillation."

I call it, "I'm sitting here in the chair watching Last Comic Standing and wondering why I can't breathe."

Per the American Heart Association:

Atrial fibrillation is a disorder found in about 2.2 million Americans. During atrial fibrillation, the heart's two small upper chambers (the atria) quiver instead of beating effectively. Blood isn't pumped completely out of them, so it may pool and clot. If a piece of a blood clot in the atria leaves the heart and becomes lodged in an artery in the brain, a stroke results.

Quivering? Check.

Medications are used to slow down rapid heart rate associated with AF.

Medications? Check.

Electrical cardioversion may be used to restore normal heart rhythm with an electric shock, when medication doesn't improve symptoms.

Electricity through the heart? Check.

I don't think you're ever prepared to be in a room when someone yells, "Clear!"

Luckily, I wouldn't know; I was out cold. Right up until the second jolt, which lifted me 4 inches off the bed and shocked me right back into consciousness.

Negatives:

Um, I'm 32 and thought I was having a heart attack?

Positives:

1. The drugs were excellent.

2. Nurse Kevin was handsome as all get out. No, seriously. Y'all get out. Kevin and I need to be alone.

3. Doctor Cardio was sweet, and he squeezed my leg to make me feel better. I have no idea his name because I was too busy staring at his zit and wondering just how young he was.

4. It seems, contrary to popular belief, that my heart was not, in fact, replaced by a piece of granite in late summer 2000.

posted by F-AF @ 02:07 AM on 07.19.07
Comments

God!
Is it wrong that i am turned on by all this medical mumbo jumbo... or have i just watched way too many episodes of greys' anatomy!

Posted by: dhruv | July 19, 2007 04:22 AM

You know, a simple text message to tell me you were all right after telling me you were going to the er would have helped. That way I wouldn't have had to wake up to your blog telling me you had electrocardioversion! Seriously.

Posted by: Cindy | July 19, 2007 07:34 AM

Eeeeeek! (Or is that 'Eeeeekg'?) You take care of yourself, mister. Don't make me fly out there to become your candy stripper. I mean striper. Yeah, striper.

Posted by: mak | July 19, 2007 07:55 AM

I hope you're going to be ok. If it's any consolation I think that photo of you is sexy as hell.

Posted by: scott e d | July 19, 2007 10:09 AM

Relieved to hear that you're OK now, and that your libido did not suffer in the slightest from your interactions with nurse Kevin.

And you do look damned good with your shirt off--though I do hope those electrodes didn't leave you with crop circles in your chest hair.

Posted by: defyinggwb | July 19, 2007 11:12 AM

Oh, and not to be a nudge, and feel free to delete this after you correct it, but it's American Heart Association (not Hearth).

F-AF responds: I was high when I wrote that! Good meds ...

Posted by: Cindy | July 19, 2007 12:21 PM

Okay, I know you're into guys and I'm totally not a guy, but mmmmmm, your chest is FINE. Oh, and I'm really glad you're okay. Let me know if you need any help with those electrode thingies, hmkay?

Posted by: cynical | July 19, 2007 04:56 PM

Ummm.... wow... I need a moment to recover. Feel better. :)

Posted by: tim | July 20, 2007 12:12 AM

wow... so glad you're still with us.
After I had a heart attack last year - yes, in my 30s - I kept finding those sticky EKG tabs on me for a week later. If I was as sexy as you without my shirt, I would have asked cute male nurses to search for them in every crevice. :)

Posted by: Gene | July 20, 2007 12:42 AM

I sympathize. I had an episode of atrial fib. when I was 23. It went away with drugs, and I've never had a relapse, but still, knowing that something was wrong with my heart was freaky.

BTW, my cardiologist told me that, while with a-fib one is technically at risk of stroke, the risk is really that great (if I remember correctly, about a 1-2% chance over the course of a year, if the a-fib is left untreated; if they get you on blood thinners and treat the a-fib, the odds are basically 0%).

Oh, and please don't wait for your next heart issue to post another shirtless picture. Those are always welcome.

Posted by: Dave | July 20, 2007 09:05 PM

That'll teach you to watch "Last Comic Standing".

Posted by: Blobby | July 21, 2007 08:03 AM

OMG--At first sight I thought it was another Creation Museum display, like Adam's cute younger brother Sven applying manna to dinosaur bites. Or however that story goes (I get my holy narratives confused).

Posted by: Lev Raphael | July 21, 2007 08:48 AM

The ECG leads are a bitch to get off if you're a hairy guy. My regular MD does an ECG every year and it takes some doing to scrape those leads off my chest.

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