Let's Have a Heart to Heart!!

For the past 28 years I have had occasional episodes of a racing heartbeat. The first time it happened, I was pregnant with Eliza. It started while I was driving on Grand, heading toward Greystone. It frightened me, so I pulled over in front of a house. I sat for awhile until my heart slowed down. A woman came out of her house and asked me if I was all right. I told her I wasn't sure!!

When I got home, I called my doctor, who blithely replied that it was perfectly normal for pregnancy.

This is when I wish I was obsessive-compulsive and had been the kind of person who wrote down everything in a diary!! (My old roommate Joy would have recorded it!!) What I do remember is that over the years, it occasionally happened again - but never again when I was pregnant. Once I recall being on 5th Avenue and having a car full of kids in the old pink station wagon - and it started. I pulled over and of course the kids all wanted to know why I was pulling over. I'm not sure what I said - I just thought maybe it wasn't safe to drive while feeling that way!!

Another time it happened as Dad and I were driving home from Provo after dropping someone off at BYU. He could see my heart pounding in my chest and seemed rather frightened by it all. We were out in the middle of nowhere, and by the time we were in the middle of somewhere, it had stopped.

The episodes were infrequent, mostly under 20 minutes, and entirely random. Then when I was at Bonny's when Esme was born, it started up late at night. I was sleeping on the couch downstairs with Ara and Ella and the household was asleep. It didn't stop after 20 minutes though. In fact, it kept going for nearly an hour. Then it slowed and I figured it was gone and then it flared again. It seemed to go on all night. I was reluctant to wake Bonny. Bruce was on medication for the itching from poison oak he'd gotten in. And calling the paramedics in Malibu is tricky business. I wasn't eager for sirens to come racing up the hill!! Especially since I was sure it would stop as soon as I called them!

When I got back to school, Jan Hart suggested I see a doctor, after I told her about my episode. So I did - and I was referred for a cardiology work-up. It was fairly extensive - the results? "You appear to have a rapid heart rate with occasional racing episodes. It doesn't appear to be doing any damage." Don't you love the thoroughness of medical science?

Over the years the episodes have waxed and waned. Recently I had 3 in a row, so I went to the doctor once more. I had previously been given what is actually a high blood-pressure medication and had been told to take it when an episode began. It was effective and usually the racing stopped after a few minutes. So now they have me taking it once a day in a rather small dose.

But I think my age qualifies me for more treatment - so they also have me wearing a halter-monitor for 30 days - and it is a royal pain in the neck!! There are 5 electrodes on my chest and the wires attached go to a sensor that hangs from a ribbon around my neck. The ultimate in comfort! I can take it off when I shower!!

There's also a phone I have to carry around - it's a little Blackberry actually - if my heart races, I squeeze the two sides of the sensor and then a message will appear on the phone screen. I am supposed to scroll down and find the description for what I'm feeling - and click on that so that the central location that is tracking all this stuff can identify it. (Mostly they want to see what the activity in my heart looks like when it's happening. All the tests they have run come back normal.)

Nothing has happened yet - and I shouldn't be so flippant. But I'm thinking that nothing will happen while it's on - probably two days after it's off!! And I'm wondering how it will work going through airport security. I called the airline who said it's okay. And none of the TSA choices when you call them fits. I'm thinking I will take it off for the airport and plane ride. I will alert the LifeWatch people so they won't think I've dropped off the planet - that was their suggestion anyway.

Just thought you'd all want to hear my little medical story. It is somewhat intriguing to watch your heart beating on an ultrasound - it's good to know they can do so much. Most doctors I have talked to say, "Hmm - sounds like an electrical problem!" I love that!

A few years ago, we were getting ready to leave from Phoebe's in Davis. We were driving, so it's not like we needed to catch a plane. My heart started to race and it took a while to slow down. Phoebe kept saying "There's a hospital right down the street. We can go there and get you checked." (I had been told many times to "come in when it starts so we can see what's happening" but it always stopped before you could get yourself organized enough to get to a doctor's office or hospital!)

That one lasted a while - I could have made it to the hospital.

Hindsight is everything!