My Heart story

Some of you know all of this already, but for those who don’t: I will be going into the hospital this Wednesday in order to have a procedure done on my heart. I would certainly appreciate any prayers or good thoughts that you might like to send my direction.

Here are the technical details (scroll down several paragraphs if you’ve heard all this already):

I have had a condition since adolescence where my heart periodically goes into bouts of tachycardia (where the heart beats very fast). These episodes have typically lasted from 10 seconds to 20 minutes, leaving me feeling shaky and weak, but otherwise fine. Due to the highly irregular nature of these episodes, none of my doctors in the past have felt that it was necessary to investigate further and come up with a diagnosis.

Last Thursday I started to have an episode that I couldn’t get to stop initially. I was at school, so I decided that I would go to the campus clinic in order to finally get a medical witness to this condition. Once I was there, they decided to send me to the ER. I arrived at the ER with my heart still beating 185 beats per minute, more than an hour after the episode began (this was my longest one by far). I think they were going to try shocking me out of it, but it stopped on its own before they got me into a bed. My ER doctor took one look at my EKG reading and said that I had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and needed to follow up with a cardiologist specializing in electrical disorders of the heart.

So I went to the cardiologist on Tuesday and he confirmed the diagnosis from the ER. He explained that my condition means that I have an extra pathway in the heart that transmits electrical pulses from my atria to the ventricles. When this pathway is engaged, the electricity can start traveling in a loop, and the heart starts beating very fast. The worry is that if I were to ever develop atrial fibrillation (rather likely, later in life), this extra pathway might be able to transmit that fibrillation to the ventricles, causing cardiac arrest. So he recommended that I have a procedure done called radiofrequency catheter ablation.

On Wednesday, the 13th, I’ll be going into the hospital for this procedure. It involves snaking a couple of catheters up to my heart and destroying the extra pathway. I will be going in at 8AM, and staying overnight Wednesday. I should be able to go home Thursday, though I will have to keep as still as possible for the next couple of days. After that, all should be well, and hopefully I won’t be plagued by these episodes (or worse) anymore.

But that’s enough technical information. You can look up the syndrome and procedure on google if you want more complete explanations.

All of this commotion has left me rather at loose ends. On the one hand, it feels wonderful to finally have a diagnosis, and to have a clear path forward. On the other hand, I’ve just been to the ER and the cardiologist, and I’m about to head into the hospital again, to willingly have tubes inserted into arteries in my groin, and pushed up to my heart – where they will somehow find and eliminate this troublesome part of my heart, burning away some of those cells... It’s incredible and terrifying. How did they ever come up with this? I’m told it’s an easy straightforward procedure – but it’s still my heart we’re talking about here... my heart. I don’t quite know how to understand the magnitude of all this.

My mom seems to grasp the magnitude, as mothers will, and is flying in to be with me. I am so glad that she’ll be here. I know I’ll heal faster having her next to me – or certainly I’ll feel a whole lot better. Besides, Jacob still has to teach and go to class, so it will be nice to have some company to help me out when my dear is off at school!

The season of Lent just began in the church, and I’m hearing the readings and songs in a different way: “Incline the ear of your heart to the Lord,” or “return to me with your whole hearts... rend your hearts, not your garments,” or “create a clean heart for me.” Even in the explanation of the season: “this is a time to turn our hearts to God.” The word keeps popping out at me – I can’t help laughing. But it’s true: this is supposed to be a season of opening our hearts to divine healing... How appropriate that my physical process can mirror the full spiritual journey of the season.

Or, as my dear professor said, “Think of it this way - you're gaining an improved heart just in time for Valentine's Day!”

Indeed.