NSVT Update: A Turn for the Better

The day before yesterday I made a trip to D.C. to see my cardiology team. For more back story on my heart issues, you can read this page. It’s a diagnosis I’ve had for 3 years now.

At the beginning, my heart was having all sorts of symptoms, beating hard, beating fast, feeling exhausted, etc. They ran tests, they found a run of NSVT. NSVT stands for non-sustained ventricular tachycardia.

I tried a couple of different arrhythmic drugs, and I couldn’t tolerate them. What worked best was sticking with Propanolol, a common beta blocker that keeps my heart beating slow and steady, slow as in normal. And as we all know from the tortoise, slow and steady is exactly what we want.

A linq monitor was inserted into my chest to keep an eye on my condition. If an episode of NSVT went to long or happened too often, we would look at doing an ablation.

Most of the time I was fine. I took my medicine everyday, and I was fine. This beta blocker changed my life. I absolutely love it. I used to get these body-shaking adrenaline rushes when I would get stressed, and it has never happened again since I began Propanolol.

Last year, as I was working on our move from Georgia, I had a longer episode, and as a result of that I had to go through all the testing again. Ablation was back on the table.

First, I had an MRI (my 2nd cardiac MRI). It showed slightly low heart functioning on one side, so then I had to get an echocardiogram to get another look at it.

For the echo, I knew I needed to pass that with flying colors to stay out of surgery. I drank lots of water, abstained from caffeine, and took my heart medicine before I went in there for the echo. Even better, the echocardiogram technician turned out to be a very talkative middle-aged lady who put me completely at ease, which always makes my heart behave itself. Stress is surprisingly powerful.

My echo came back looking beautiful. I passed with flying colors. Everyone was satisfied.

The winter and spring passed with no incidents. Then lately I noticed that my monitor, which I keep beside my bed, has stopped communicating with my implant. Normally, the implant downloads its info to the monitor base each evening, and the base sends the info to the computer at my cardiology office.

Well, it hasn’t been working since July 4th. Hmmm. So I emailed my nurse practitioner, and she said they were tracking that my battery was depleted. Linq monitors only last 3 years. I got mine in May of 2016, so this is right on time.

They set me up an appointment, and I went down there.

First, I go to the pacemaker clinic and have my heart monitor read by their machines. All looked good. I’ve only had 30 errant beats this year.

They left the whole decision of whether or not to put in a new Linq monitor up to me. I just volleyed the decision back to them. I am at peace if they are. I’ve gone a year before having trouble again before, so I’m not kidding myself. It will come back, but so long as it only comes back in short waves, and doesn’t affect my quality of life, I’m okay.

I said, “Well, what do y’all think? If you think I should put a new one in, I’m fine. If you think it’s unnecessary, I’m okay with not doing it too.”

The NP and the electrophysiologist talked it over, and they decided to simply remove the device and not put in a new one.

As for my medicine, I will probably ALWAYS take Propanolol. It has helped me a ton, so it stays.

I’m way too busy taking care of 4 boys all day to do this over the summer, and we still have a month of summer vacation left. Alan is too busy for me to do it in September, so we will take it out in October.

It’s good news, and from now on I only have to go to the cardiologist when I’m having symptoms. All good news, and yet it still feels weird to me.

Am I happy to lose the wifi-equipped device that has been with me 3 years now? Yes, but at the same time I pretty much feel sad about all of life right now. Sad that I’m out of my comfort zone, AGAIN. Sad that Alan isn’t home much. Sad that most of my children don’t have any friends here yet. Sad that my family is so far away, with no end in sight for that. Sad.

I’m not the depressed, can’t get out of bed, level of sad. It’s just sort of a quietly underlying subconscious sad, a wistful feeling. Maybe that’s a better way to put it. It’s not that I’m sad. It’s more like I’m wistful and contemplative. Change has happened, and I’m not done adjusting to it.

I think once the procedure is over and done, I’ll feel pretty excited and more like a healthy person again though.

You gotta take the hills with the valleys in life. This move is just another hill to climb. Will do. We’ll climb that hill one step at a time.

⁵ A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
⁶ To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
⁸ My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
⁹ For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

Proverbs 1:5-9