The scare of a lifetime...

Russell woke me up around 11:45 p.m. last night saying he needed my help. I figured someone in the ward called and we needed to go visit. That's happened before.

Nope.

This was for him. We had gone swimming today for cub scouts and Russell came with our other boys. He said when he was done his heart was fluttery and not keeping a steady rhythm. He said he was worried about it since he had felt dizzy and starting getting really sweaty. Off to the ER we went.

They hooked up wires all over him to monitor his heart beats. My were they high. As high as 209. They would flucuate up and down 20-30 numbers at a time.

They gave him a dose of Cardizem to see if it would help bring his heart rate down. Normal for him would be in the 70's or 80's. It wasn't working.

The dr. came in and said he has a condition known as Atrial Fibrillation and said a shock would help restore a normal rhythm again.

So the nurse proceeded to put shock pads on Russell. He had one right over his heart and another placed on his back.

Propofol (also known as milk of amnesia) was given with 2 doctors and another person standing by watching his vitals. As soon as the medication was administered Russell was out almost instantaneously. The doctor called his name just to make sure.

They then shocked him and immediately his heart rate came down to the mid 70's and stayed there. Which is good.

The whole procedure took maybe 2 minutes. Not long at all.

The dr. had Russell lay there for a long time afterwards making sure the heart rhythm stayed in the "normal" range. It did. Russell even had some orange juice to drink to see if it stayed down.

We got to come home around 2:30 this morning. Monday morning Russell needs to call St. Vincent's Cardiology department for an appointment.

Russell was very relieved when we went in and found something was wrong. He said this might explain a lot of things like the night sweats he would get and sometimes feeling lightheaded over the past couple years.