karenulijohn

What a day!  I came home from my workout yesterday morning, and Harvey had been out of bed a couple of times to brush his teeth and shave.  He was waiting for me so that he could shower.  I’m so glad that he did because, as I was enjoying my blueberry yogurt, I heard a loud crash in the bathroom.  I ran toward the noise and discovered that Harvey had fallen against the bathroom door.  He was conscious when I got there, but he said that he did not remember falling and hitting the deck.  He managed to  crawl back to the bed and was quite content to lay there and rest.  I took his blood pressure, pulse, and temperature, and only his pulse was a little high, registering at 116 bpm.  Within five minutes, I repeated the procedure, and his pulse had settled down to 68 bpm.  He decided to try again for a shower.  I braced myself in front of him as he stood up, and sure enough, he fainted again.  I managed to push him back onto the bed so that he did not fall to the floor.  I then forbade him to get out of bed for anything until I had spoken to the on-call doctor.  When I finally spoke to the doctor, he suggested I call 911 and get Harvey to the ER.  Harvey told me that he would go to the ER, but under no circumstances was I to call 911 because he did not want the ambulance, fire engine, hook and ladder, and forestry service to turn up at our front door.  I was not happy about getting him to the car and driving to Roseville, but we did it without incident.

Once we were checked in and triaged, we waited in the waiting room for approximately four hours.  When we finally got into the ER clinic, Dr. Ouligian arrived to take more details.  He then told us that Harvey’s heart rate was out of control, beating close to 170 bpm.  This is commonly known as Atrial Fibrillation.  He had experienced this once before when he was in the middle of treatment for Melanoma.  Lynda and Tara, both RN’s, started an IV with saline hydration and a drug called Diltiazem, to slow his heart rate.  The only tricky part with this drug is that it also lowers blood pressure.  Harvey was also seen by Dr. Najmabadi who, incidentally, took care of us when we first moved to Lincoln.  She was serving as the hospitalist for the day, and took no time in determining that Harvey would be admitted.  That was not what Harvey had wanted to hear.  He cried.  I cried.  But, we know that he is where he needs to be.

It wasn’t long before they had gotten him a room, and he was transported to room 185.  There we were met by Erin, his nurse and Vera, the nurse’s aide.  They got him settled and not long after that, Dr. Go, the on call cardiologist made an appearance.  Erin was surprised because it was well past 6:00pm at this point, and she told us that the doctors go home around 5:00pm.  Dr. Go is in the same practice with Dr. Y who treated Harvey three years ago.  At the outset, he told us that he has never heard of anyone dying from A-Fib.  That was a relief!  However, it can lead to stroke or congestive heart failure.  He said that A-Fib can be “pesky” for those with compromising health issues like cancer.  It can take some people four or five days before their heart rate and rhythm are within normal range.  That was another blow.  Harvey expected to be out of the hospital today.

I left the hospital around 7:00pm.  I hadn’t eaten anything since having my yogurt around 9:15am.  When I got home, I had some chicken salad and a couple of ice cream bars.  I felt like I deserved them.  Harvey called me around 9:00PM to say that he had some dinner and actually enjoyed it.  What does that say about my cooking which, when I offer to make something, he tells me he isn’t hungry and just can’t face food?

I guess the champagne toasts will have to wait for a few days!  Happy Anniversary, darling!