Work From Home 4 Life

For those of you who have been following my blog, you will have probably noticed that I haven’t made too many posts in the recent weeks/months. There’s been a good reason for this…

For some months (at least 12 or so) I had been experiencing what the Doctors deduced as heart palpitations. Unfortunately for me, whenever they hooked me up to a heart monitor, my heart showed a normal and healthy rhythm. My frustration in all of this is that no-one had ever ‘captured’ what was going on with my heart.

However, as time progressed my “symptoms” got stronger and more frequent until one Friday night when sitting at my trusty PC I had the most frightful sensation and strongest ‘episode’ ever. I knew it wasn’t a heart attack but it was serious enough to call medical intervention.

So I got my first ride in an ambulance.

Well, the paramedics not only captured my unusual heart rhythm but were also intrigued by it. I heard him radio ahead that I was in VT with 4’s and 5’s.

VT or V-tach is short for Ventricular Tachycardia. Tachycardia is when the heart beats abnormally fast. Ventricular Tachycardia is when it is one of the ventricles of the heart. Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia is when the heart is beating in an irregular rhythm. Mine was polymorphic and the left ventricle.

After being admitted, the paramedic that took care of me during my ride to hospital asked for permission to show my heart traces to other paramedics - they had never seen anything like it before.

My condition kept the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Staff busy at the hospital for a few hours trying to stabilise my heart rate, rhythm and blood pressure with drugs to no avail.

My heart traces littered the floor of the A&E floor because every time my heart went into v-tach the monitoring equipment spewed out yards of paper and I was in V-tach a lot of the time.

The doctors said that they had records of me being at A&E seven years earlier for heart palpitations. I had forgotten that until they reminded me. I now remember that they had dismissed it then as a panic attack. I have been having these “panic attacks” for nearly my whole life!

Finally I was settled enough to be moved, settled but not stable. I was admitted to the Coronary Care Unit for observation awaiting more tests and my family was sent home to get some sleep.

Sleep for me, however, didn’t come easy. Every time I moved to get comfortable my monitoring equipment alarmed. A few times I was awoken by the resuscitation team working on another patient - A scary experience.

The following morning I insisted on getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. There was no way I was going to go through another humiliation of using a bed pan and I needed a shower.

I was told no to the shower but I could have a wash and clean my teeth - yay!

So off I waltzed with my portable heart monitor and drip stand in tow. (I named my new drippy dance partner Fred as in Fred Astaire).

I was interrupted during brushing my teeth by a nurse bursting into the bathroom, apparently the simple act of cleaning my teeth set the monitors screaming.

So, back to bed…

The days that followed were filled with tests interspersed with boredom.

Blood tests showed low iron and high cholesterol but nothing else significant like evidence of a heart attack.

Ultra-sound didn’t show any fatty deposits or indicators of heart disease - no heart attack waiting to happen.

I had another ride in an ambulance to get a MRI scan of my heart at another hospital. This didn’t turn out too good as my heart went into v-tach every time I had to hold my breath.

Finally my medical team came up with a diagnosis - Ventricular Arrhythmia - and a treatment plan. First try ablation, then beta blockers, and finally a pace maker if nothing else works.

This UCLA Healthcare article “Heart Arrhythmias Respond to Ablation” describes the procedure better than I can. It makes an interesting read.

So I underwent the unpleasant ablation procedure, awake, and it seems to have done the trick. No beta blockers or pacemaker required. However I was put on a 3 month course of aspirin to thin my blood and iron to fortify it.

A week after my admittance to hospital I was released and another week of rest at home and I was back at work - not firing on all cylinders but productive again.

Recovery has been slow - I still tire easily - but I’m back and more determined than ever to succeed at working from home.

There is one thing this little adventure has highlighted for me. Working 9 to 5 to earn money is a very fragile way to earn a living.

When your ability to work stops so does your money!

It was a hard hitting reminder that the average working family cannot survive for long without an income due to unforeseen circumstances.

The best way to protect your family from financial hardship is to build that home business with residual income from various streams.

So here’s to Working From Home 4 Life!

Dee