Post-procedure

Well, despite all the nurses fawning over Cameron and constantly checking out his groin, he was released from the hospital about 10:30 this morning.  Most of the nurses and staff remembered us from November and all of them hope to not see us a third time.  Cameron is much better off this time than last - not sure if they gave him less sedatives or what, but he was much more alert and awake when they brought him back to his room and right now he's pacing around the house...

Another Round

Current score: A-flutter 4, Cameron 1*

Two weeks ago Thursday Cameron was back in the ER for cardioversion after trying to wean himself down from the anti-arrhythmia meds again (you'll recall he started trying to wean him off in December and had problems, so the doctors finally ended up doubling his medication, hoping the extra time without problems would help his heart heal normally).  Essentially either an irregular pathway was missed by the first procedure, one of the ablated pathways has healed in a way to allow the irregular circuitry, or a new pathway has developed altogether.  And thus we have made the decision to continue with a second ablation procedure, happening this Thursday.  It should go much quicker than last time because, theoretically, there should be less work to do.  We're feeling pretty calm about the procedure since we know what to expect.  We just hope in another three months his heart will have finally healed to normal!

*Cameron gets one for the time we went to the hospital but he had converted himself before they could administer the shock.

A Trip To Victoria

Last month (Feb 2-5) Jenn and I went to Victoria and spent the weekend with her family. In case you're not 100% sure where Victoria is, I've grabbed a map for you. The route shown is not how we got there, but it gives you an idea of where Victoria is relative to the Seattle area. As you can see, it's on the southern tip of Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

Ringing in the New Year, with 200 joules to the chest....

Some of you following us on Facebook know we've visited the ER a few times in the weeks since Christmas.  Everything was looking well for Cameron the week before Christmas so the doctors took him off the anticoagulation meds and started to try and wean him down from the antiarrhythmia medication.  The very next week we were in the ER.  To date, Cameron has gone back into A-flutter/A-fib four times (that we know about) since New Year's Eve and has had to be cardioverted (shocked) twice - once on the morning of New Year's Eve and again the following Sunday morning.  This past Monday morning it happened again and the cardiologist had him take an extra dose of his antiarrhythmia medication and made an appointment for cardioversion the following morning.  By the time we got to the hospital, he had already converted himself back to normal sinus rhythm and did not need cardioversion.  However, his medication dosage was permanently upped for the time being and he is strictly off all alcohol and caffeine.  Though he has only occasionally had a caffeinated beverage since he quit caffeine last June, the cardiologists also want him to abstain from alcohol until his heart has chance to fully heal...