Heart Event 2021

 I was getting ready for work this morning and felt a little dizzy spell. As it passed, my defibrillator shocked me. Then it went off again within 30 seconds. About a minute later it went off again.

We decided it would be a good move to go to the Emergency Room.

Dr Kadel, my cardiologist, retired last year. I still have Dr. Byazrova, who installed the defibrillator, but she only practices out of Coeur d'Alene now.

So we thought it was prudent to go to Cd'A and have someone familiar with me on scene. I went through the ER pretty quickly and they put me in a room. The plan was to schedule a Heart Cath for the next day and see what's going on.

I was stable with an occasional dizzy spell, which meant an occasional bad heart beat. (Ventricular Tachycardia) Susan left me to return tomorrow. 

Throughout the afternoon, my nurse, Charles would come in and ask me if I felt that. It was a dizzy spell and a thump in my chest. I said that I usually felt it. 

Suddenly he comes in the room and says, "You're about to get hit!"

Sure enough, the defibrillator went off. And then it kept going off. Seven times with a 30 to 45 second interval in between shocks. Plus, they shocked me once externally.

I remember being concerned, but not scared. There were people working all around me including the guy giving me CPR.

They finally got me stabilized and moved me to ICU.

We had trouble getting ahold of Susan as she went in to work and turned her ringer down.

She ended up spending the night in the ICU with me.

So now, my chest is very sore from the chest compressions. AND, we were told after we got to the ER that Dr. B had suddenly retired for medical reasons.

So that was Day One.