OT: Rough Night.....

[Retired Sarge]

Just a FYI I'll be MIA off and on for a bit....

Right now I'm chilling out, but I've been in an out of fibrillation since last night, so around 24 hours now. Had EMS here last night, but it wasn't bad enough then or now to warrant an ER trip. Normally these issues will resolve themselves, if it gets too erratic my ICD will shock me back into rhythm.

Plus the change up of my meds, has my blood pressure all over the place. Takes a bit for your system to adjust to new meds, smaller dosage of old meds, and the stopping of other meds.

I'm exhausted since I spent most of the night tossing and turning, trying to find a position that didn't telegraph my erratic heart beat. Been napping off and on since around 0900, between watching TV.

Talked to my Cardiologist late in the day today, they put one med back to the old dosage, and are increasing the dosage of the new med they put me on. I did a download of my ICD for them to see what is going on. My yo-yoing blood pressure, and the fact it's getting so high has caused concern for my Cardiologist team. Prior to changing my medications up, my BP was borderline low or normal, last 10 days its been borderline high and high. My pulse has been bouncing all over the place also, in the last 10 days it's been in the mid 100's, then out of the blue it dropped to 60.

They had an opening this Wednesday which I'm booked for, but said that if it gets worse get my backend to the ER.

So CINC Household is limiting my time online, making sure I relax, stay calm etc. She has basically grounded me to the MBR, taken the laptop and cell phone away so I'm forced to relax. Every so often she gives me my phone back so I can post health updates on the sites I'm a regular on.

Hopefully once I see the Cardiologist, we can get my meds adjusted and get me back to my normal. Haven't had any major cardiac issues for years, then they change my meds up and I get hit with a 2x4.

Yall stay safe, stay healthy, stay warm, keep hunting and enjoying life, I'll be back on here as soon as the ticker quits throwing a hissy fit.

 

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[Deftone]

Mega prayers sent your way. Just stay down n relax ffuries. We'll still be here for ya!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

First off, take care of yourself Mike, we'll take care of the forum while you're getting your health in order.

We're all getting older, so I can certainly appreciate how unsettling this must be for you.
We never seem to appreciate life as much as we do when our heart health is involved.

Dave

 

[Tony in SC]

Kick back and take it easy for a while. We gotcha in our prayers.

 

[DCMatt]

Take care, Mike.

An interesting side note on your post... You wrote

taken the laptop and cell phone away so I'm forced to relax

.

Experts say that, for today's younger people, taking away their connectivity actually INCREASES stress and anxiety. But we don't qualify as 'younger' anymore.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Well a short update at around 0200 I came out of Afib, so I was in it for around 29 hours. As I was tossing and turning last night trying to find a position to lie in, I noticed the palpations just suddenly stopped. Lay there for a minute or two, they didn't restart, and been normal since.

So we'll see what the doc has to say tomorrow (Wednesday). Just happy to be feeling somewhat normal again.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Take care, Mike.

An interesting side note on your post... You wrote.

Experts say that, for today's younger people, taking away their connectivity actually INCREASES stress and anxiety. But we don't qualify as 'younger' anymore.

Yeah true, I've was looking for a hard to find gun part when I went into Afib. When you are forced to stay in bed, you tend to find something to occupy your time. So I went back to looking for that part. CINC Household, put a stop to it, and said resting doesn't mean playing on your phone.

So no phone, no computer, just rest, sleep, relax, calm down.........

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Mike, you've been in my prayers, and will continue to be.

I'm glad you are a Florida resident... no heart-hazardous snowshoveling for you.

Said before but I'll say again... I sincerely appreciate your Military service on behalf of the American people. ((Salute))

I also appreciate your unpaid volunteer service to the What Is It? forum. Good to have you with me on the ID-Helper team. For whatever it's worth to know, I always read a post that I see your name on.

Very best regards,
TheCannonballGuy

 

[Retired Sarge]

Mike, you've been in my prayers, and will continue to be.

I'm glad you are a Florida resident... no heart-hazardous snowshoveling for you.

Said before but I'll say again... I sincerely appreciate your Military service on behalf of the American people. ((Salute))

I also appreciate your unpaid volunteer service to the What Is It? forum. Good to have you with me on the ID-Helper team. For whatever it's worth to know, I always read a post that I see your name on.

Very best regards,
TheCannonballGuy

Oh, gosh you made me blush.......We all have our forte or areas of knowledge on here, some members (IE you and others) have a greater knowledge, that people like me wish we had.

I thank you for the kind words, as for my service it was an honor and a privilege to serve, and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

 

[ARC]

Hope all is / turns out well... and I also thank you for your service.

 

[SlateBeltDigger]

TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF, there's more to be found out there.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Hope your better soon Sarge. What years did you serve?

 

[Retired Sarge]

Hope your better soon Sarge. What years did you serve?

09 January 1986 to 12 September 2008.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Thank you all for the kind remarks and well wishes. This getting older sucks that's for sure.

Little short history, in Nov 2002 at age 35 and about a week prior to what would have been my 3rd deployment since 9-11, I had a "Widow Maker" heart attack. It was a doozy apparently, I would end up coding 7 times before they could stabilize me. Had they not restarted my heart at that time the doctor was ready to call the TOD.

I ended up with 2 stents and everything looked good, EF rate was at 45-50 % which is not common. So 40 days later I was released back to full duty, the USAF did a medical board and found me Physically Fit and cleared me for duty. It was suggested I slow down, but I went back to working out and running.

3 1/2 years later in Jul 06 at age 39, I'm starting the process to be cleared for deployment status again. They discovered my EF rate dropped, when I say dropped I mean it plummeted, my average rate was/is 24% and my lowest documented is 12%. In the words of my docs 12% is not conducive to supporting life. I had to get an Implantable Cardio Defibrillator. My docs said based on my numbers I qualified for Hospice Home Care......that was hard to swallow.

Told to slow down, and again I go back to running and working out, until I started getting shocked on an average of 5 times a year from my ICD. So then I finally show down some, but my fear was that slowing down would be the beginning of the end.

It was hard to go from being an active, young person that was use to being deployed all the time, to flying a desk. Granted I got to pass on my wealth of knowledge on my job to a younger and newer group, but I missed being downrange.

Sept 2008 rolled around and the USAF Medical Board, found me Physically Unfit for Continued Military Service, rated me at 100% disabled, and medically retired me.

My deployments:

Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm 1991 w/ 7th SOS, 39th SOW

Operation Joint Endeavor IFOR 1996 w/ 5th SOS, 919th SOW

Operation Joint Forge SFOR 1998 w/ 711th SOS, 919th SOW

Operation Southern Watch 1999 w/ 71st RQS, 347th RG

Operation Enduring Freedom 2001 w/ 711th SOS, 919th SOW

Operation Enduring Freedom 2002 w/ 711th SOS, 919th SOW

So now I'm a grumpy 54 year old, with a love of military history, being a military brat in Europe and Okinawa and then being stationed in Europe myself I had an opportunity to walk in the footsteps of history..........

 

[marion moore]

Rest, relax, get better first, it will wait for you thanks for your service. Marion

 

[Tnmountains]

Your good health is all that matters at the moment. Prayers.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Update:

Saw the doc today, went back on one of the meds for now, went off Aspirin and on an anticoagulant. They are wanting to do a Cardiac Ablation, but machine is awaiting repairs, but he's getting me on the schedule. The med I went back on is known to cause Pulmonary Fibrosis, the reason he wanted me off of it, the other option was a different med, but being put on it would require a 3 day hospital stay to watch for side effects. Something he wouldn't even considered due to Covid, his words were "I'm not going to jeopardize your health by putting you in a hospital with sick people".

So we're adjusting dosages, and meds to get my Afib back under control, until I can get the Ablation done, which he's hoping can be done in the next 2-3 months. Plus adjusting the meds will hopefully get my blood pressure regulated again, they are surprised at how erratic and high my BP was been over the last two weeks. They had me tracking it due to the med changes.

He was pretty impressed with the fact I knew when I went into and out of Afib, not everyone can feel it or knows what is going on

 

[fyrffytr1]

Sorry I didn't respond earlier but I am glad to hear you are doing better. My prayers go out to you and yours.

 

[Retired Sarge]

Well over the last few days my blood pressure has started to stabilize and become normal (Or normal for me). Now if only I can get back to a normal sleep pattern. I doze off easily around 2200-2300 then at around 0100 I wake up and I'm amped up. I'll toss and turn to around 0400-0500 before before I finally crash out again until 1000-1200. Even then I'm tired all day long and unless I force myself to stay awake, I'll end up dozing off around 1400-1500 for about 2-3 hours.

Regardless if I stay awake or doze off during the day, it's the same routine every night, it's driving CINC Household nuts.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Sarge, hope you get it worked out soon, great to have you with us. I was stationed at Kadena AFB twice on 9 month TDY during Viet Nam war 68-69 70-71. 24 hours a day 7 days a week B52s were taking off and landing to and from bombing runs to SE Asia, I was on Kadena when the B52 crashed on base during take off and blew up setting off all the bombs on the plane.

1968 Kadena Air Base B-52 crash - Wikipedia