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...

He then went back into the arrhythmia Thursday morning.  Luckily, he was already headed to the cardiologist for an appointment to follow up with his cholesterol (which is looking good now). The nurse who took his blood pressure could hear the irregularity, but by the time they had him hooked up to the ECG machine, he had converted back to normal sinus rhythm again.  Though its not uncommon for this to happen once or twice after the ablation procedure, the frequent reoccurrence suggests one of the abnormal circuitries they tried to disrupt has healed itself or a new abnormal circuit has been formed.  There is a strong possibility Cameron will have to have the ablation procedure done again. We are still in the three month healing period from the first procedure, so nothing will happen until March at the earliest. Cameron will remain on the higher dosage of medication for another month and then they will start to wean him down again.  If he starts to shows signs of irregularity again, we'll be looking to book his second ablation procedure.

You'll remember in my last post we had decided to go to Barbados for our belated honeymoon.  Because of the uncertainty surrounding Cameron's heart, we actually requested (and got) a refund on the package we bought and will postpone honeymoon plans for the time being. Perhaps we'll celebrate our one year anniversary with our honeymoon instead!  We're still going to Victoria next weekend though, come hell or high water or another snopocalypse.  (c:  I think the snow/ice has finally all melted or been washed away by the rain. We got several inches in the span of two days, followed by a freezing rain that made the roads even more dangerous and caused all the snow to freeze into large sheets of ice.  The next day everything turned to slush and the roads were flooded.  Cameron "worked" from home.  Daisy enjoyed having Cameron around since he was constantly running in and out to play in the snow (with her).  She doesn't seem to mind the rain as much now with her raincoat - though she does not like putting it on - but she really loves the snow and, unlike me, probably misses the white winters of Flagstaff.

I've been keeping busy continuing to apply for jobs (ugh!) and volunteering about 20 hours a week at OneAmerica.  We've also made a lot of dietary changes since the New Year, following the recommendations in The Smarter Science of Slim, researched and written by one of Cameron's coworkers.  In a nutshell, we are avoiding all starches and sugars plus most dairy.  The exceptions are calorie-free sweeteners (like Stevia), plain Greek yogurt, low-fat cottage cheese, and eggs (if you count those as dairy, which they really are not).  So no grains, no sugars, no potatoes, no corn, and no processed foods.  Of course, we keep a cheat day - Sundays - where we can have those things if we want.  Four weeks in and we're not craving them as much as we used to, and too much of them on Sundays makes us feel bloated, heavy and altogether gross.  Both Cameron and I have lost weight, not that either of us is carrying much extra, but we're most excited about seeing our body fat percentages drop and Cameron's cholesterol drop dramatically in such a short time.  We had to get  Costco membership to keep up with the bulk volume of fruits, veggies, and meats we're eating.  I highly recommend reading the book if you can and the accompanying workbooks gives you a five week outline to get started. If not, at least take a look around the website or check out this blog from a group of folks in Canada who are sticking to the plan together.  It's very close to a paleo diet, but there some significant differences.  Plus, its gluten-free for those of you I know with Celiac disease.  I just made "ice cream" using frozen bananas, chocolate protein powder, and natural peanut butter.  It was delicious!