26 September 2006

benign neglect

that's what the cardiologist says the treatment for my "condition" requires. basically, he is saying that what i have (the ectopic heartbeat, or premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and premature atrial contractions (PACs)) are entirely normal and not life-threatening.

but, that's easy for him to say.
sure, i believe him. my heart is healthy and strong. the stress test proved that. (apparently, too, i wowed them by staying on the thing for 12 minutes. it wasn't 3 minutes as i previously mentioned, but 12 whole minutes. suck it, losers! AND, that was with me out of shape. once i'm in shape, watch out.)

anyway, this good stress test is allegedly a clean bill of health for one year; meaning that there is little to no chance of anything heart-related happening to me in the next year. that's good.
but, the PVCs and PACs are very disconcerting. and scary. it's one thing to say, "don't worry about it, they are benign, ignore them" and it's another thing altogether to actually IGNORE your heart stopping and starting again. this ISN'T what is actually happens, but i'll be damned if it isn't what it feels like. i wish i got a copy of the EKG where one of these PAC occurred. it was crazy to see your heart flatlined for over 2.5 seconds, have a humongous palpitation, then continue on like nothing happened.

anyway, all in all, i'm heart healthy and should be kicking around for a while yet.

and i know that makes all of you feel just a little bit queasy, doesn't it? ha!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

12 minutes?! my god, you are some kind of Super Human! a new species, maybe?!

I always thought there was something inhuman about you!

j.b said...

i AM super human...that's right...

yeah, i was shocked by the 12 minutes thing. i really thought i sucked it big time, but the Physician's Assistant was all impressed with my 12 inch...er, i mean 12 minutes...then i told her that i wasn't really sure of the procedure and thought the nurse would tell me to stop running when my heart reached the proper rate....apparently, it was i who was supposed to tell the nurse that i was done...that's why i just kept running and running...i'm a lot like Forrest Gump in that way.

i was ruhnin' and ruhnin' until i couldn't ruhn no more...

and oh yeah...there's PLENTY that is inhuman about me...the 12 minutes is just a small bit of it! :)

Luis said...

you will be running circles around poets world wide & figure eights as well

christopher cunningham said...

now when someone calls you "dead inside" you can say, "only sometimes..."

j.b said...

ha! now that's funny....i'm not dead right....but NOW i am....nope, it's gone...

as for running circles..i don't know...more like triangles and figure sevens...

Kat said...

You guys are always good for a smile!

justin, Very glad you are doing good! :)

And here's a question...how did you guys get the pictures of your fists up? And can mine be holding a spatula? :)

Luis said...

yes!

have you ever done your shopping at spatula city? re: UHF

of course, you can also hold a can of ovaltine, as the ovaltine queen

j.b said...

Kat,

you do it from your profile. click on your name to the right and then adjust your profile. you'll need to upload the picture from your computer.

and NO spatulas, but oddly enough a vegetable peeler is okay. don't ask. why...

Anonymous said...

Kat, I thought for a moment you'd said "speculum" and not spatula!

Kat said...

Glenn!!!!!!!

That made my day. No thanks to the speculum. Ye Gods! :)

I'm thinking of a pencil and a spatula....or maybe the vegetable peeler. We'll see!

Kat said...

Luis! I missed yours...Ovaltine! Perfect! That's it! :) Emma and I going to work on this tomorrow!

:)

j.b said...

speculum?
wow...that would be something.

ovaltine. that's the ticket.