Over 4,000 pageviews! Thanks for reading!

Life after the loop...

Hey there guys and gals,
I wanted to give you a quick update. My loop recorder surgery went well, actually it was better than expected. My amazing cardiologist and plastic surgeon team were able to put the implant under my breast tissue instead of on my upper chest. That means that the scar won't show (even in a bikini) and the device won't show! I am very excited about that fact. The surgery went well, as expected I was in a lot of pain after (apparently it hurts more where they put mind because the nerves there are more sensitive) but the pain pills they gave me helped with that. I still have some pain when I move around and with tight clothes, but I'm told that will go away over time (this thing is only in for a maximum of 3 years anyway). Overall I'm really happy I got the loop. We have some early results which suggest we may know what is going on, but I won't know more until I get more recordings. Luckily I have been having an easier time since surgery, my doctor thinks I may be in a mild remission due to the stress of surgery. While I've been very tired and sleeping a lot, I haven't been passing out more than once a day since surgery! I'm very optimistic about that. It helps me remember that I could get better one day and have all of this be a memory. Besides the medical stuff, my life is going great! I have been catching up with old friends, started dating an amazing guy, and I've been getting out of the house more. I've been able to help more with chores in the house, with the dogs, and in the garden too! I'm looking into starting an Etsy account to make some extra money with crafts, so we'll see how that goes. I'm also looking forward to going to visit family around Halloween in New Orleans. Overall even with the POTS, life is going well. I guess its all a matter of adapting after all.
Be well,
Phoenix

There's a case for that...

Recently at a service dog training session, it occurred to me that the dogs would be trained to bring me my phone if I asked them to... in their mouth. As disgusting as that sounds, it actually will be very helpful if my phone is on a different floor of my house. The former Apple employee in me was concerned about the potential "water" damage this could cause for the phone, not to mention the potential for drops in the dirt. Ladies and gentlemen of the iPhone persuasion, I have come up with a solution that not only helps with service dogs, but also with POTS fainting in general. Introducing the Life Proof Case. Check out the website. While before POTS I never would've shelled out $80 on a case, with the number of drops mine gets and the need to have it with me rain or shine, this is gonna be invaluable. I hope you like it. http://www.lifeproof.com/the-four-proofs

Can't sleep...

Do you ever feel sometimes like you hate how you deal with things? Like things that stress you out? If its something big, I tend to shut down. I take a nap, do some mindless stuff, and wait until I am ready to deal with it before allowing myself to stress about it. That happened today. I went to the doctor and they looked at my initial two recordings. I guess I had been so focused on just getting results that I hadn't really thought through what the results would mean and if they even mattered. While its still too soon to know anything, we do know that there is something wrong with the electrical system in my heart. It doesn't seem to be anything potentially fatal like VF or long stops of the heart, but there is something they see that they think is causing me to be fainting. When the doctor was done talking about it (I glazed over pretty much on the medical speak), I asked about treatments. He paused for a minute and explained that we are already doing everything we need to be doing. If we keep seeing the same thing on the data coming in, we could try a pacing pace maker to keep my heartrate in sync with my BP short term, but that only has about a 50% chance of working and is more invasive than the loop recorder I had put in this week. When I asked what the next treatment would be if the pacing didn't work and he put his hands on his hips and said that he thinks we're at the end of the line. The only other options after that would be whatever Dr. Grubb could come up with for me. So I asked him what to do until then, he said we keep doing what we're doing, try to get as much data as possible, and just wait it out. I said, "so we're talking a wheelchair and helmet and fainting all the time?" He said we just need to wait for the data.
I know this may seem like I'm stressing over hypothetical situations, but I'm losing days, weeks, months, and years in my life that I will never get back. Since getting home this morning I pretty much was curled up in bed most of the day avoiding thinking about this. Once it got dark, I forced myself to go outside and water the plants so they don't die. I just got to bed and now the bomb has gone off. Now I'm feeling all this stress, this anger and frustration at once. Sometimes I wish I could just scream and let it all out, but thats never worked for me. I just want my life back. I know it will never be the same as it was. I know I will likely be in a wheelchair for a while. I know it won't be easy, but I'm so tired of watching my life pass me by.