What the h...ospital

Day 556.

What a day. This morning started out with me decorating Christmas cookies, and ended with me in the emergency department.

Baking

I've been meaning to bake some cookies for Christmas. It is something that my mom always used to do and I have been thinking of her a lot. The first Christmas without her.

Last night I baked some lovely cinnamon cookies. I got up early with my son and we decorated the cookies with melted chocolate and silver balls.

Delicious! And what a great memory we made.

Ventricular tachycardia

Fast forward to 9 am. I was getting ready for my first work call for the morning when it happened.

I felt:

• Dizziness

• Chest pain

• Shortness of breath

• Sweating

• Did I mention chest pain?

Since I've had my ICD when I have a ventricular tachycardia heart rhythm, I've experienced dizziness followed very quickly by the sensation of my ICD pacing me out of the arrhythmia. Not this time.

My symptoms kept going and going. I used my Fitbit to run an ECG and I was definitely having a ventricular tachycardia (VT). I made a phone call to the ambulance and they were on their way.

Finally after 15 minutes my ICD kicked in and paced me out of it. Shortly after the paramedics arrived and escorted me to the hospital to have my device checked.

Inevitably this led to a day at the emergency department hooked up to the 12-lead ECG. The device technicians came and checked my ICD. They spent quite a long time talking about the best way to optimize my device settings.

I apparently had a VT at the rate of 172 beats per minute, while my ICD was set to start pacing at 180 beats per minute. Ultimately the decision was made to lower the threshold to 165 beats per minute.

I waited to have a conversation with the cardiology team. I wanted to know why the VT happened while I am on Amiodarone as an anti-arrhythic medication. Was Amiodarone becoming ineffective? Do I need a higher dosage? Is something else wrong? For those who haven't been following along: Amiodarone is an anti-arrhythmic medication that I started taking in December 2022.

The cardiologist at the emergency department advised me that VTs are to be expected every so often while on Amiodarone. Not a very helpful response. Due to the VT I am now also not allowed to drive for 6 months.

I finally got home just after 7 pm. Time to put my feet up...

An updated history

I thought it would be interesting to update my event and medication history diagram with this year's details.

What stands out to me is the fact that Amiodarone has definitely made a massive difference to my life this year.

PS

I realise the irony of this post after looking back at my previous post. Haha! Premonition much?