Racing Heart

Yesterday Jim called me about 2:00 pm to come pick him up from work. He was outside of his work having a cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette (ugh) before his shift and got real light headed and dizzy. His co-workers said he turned really white and was in-coherent for about 5-6 minutes. On my way to pick him up, his work called and said they called 911 and was taking him to St. John's Hospital. I met them at the hospital. By then, Jim said he was feeling fine. When he arrived at the ER his heart rate was 180 (normal is 80-90). The ER docs diagnosed him with atrial fibrillation. They said it could be caused from stress, too much caffeine, nicotine, too much exercise (we all know that's not the case) or electrolyte imbalance or possibly an underlying cause from his kidneys.

All his lab work came back fine. A cardiologist (Dr. Stokes - I worked with his father for over 20 years at MOMEDICO....small world) and said sometime they never determine the cause. They have to watch that blood clots do not form so they will put him on a small dose of heparin. They started him on a drip of diltiazem in hopes of lowering his heart rate. It started dropping to between 130-140 while in the ER. If this doesn't work, they will attempt to "shock" him and get his heart rate regular. Since this is the first time this has happened, they're hoping the medication will do the trick.

His blood pressure had to be watched so it wouldn't go to low. If so, then they gave him fluids but had to be sure not too much fluids which could affect his kidneys. This brought back so many memories of Lorraine in the hospital. They could never get one thing regulated without causing problems elsewhere because of her kidney function and hypertension.

Finally around 6:30 they put him in a room. By the way, kudos to the ER staff at St. John's. Very well organized and nice docs and nurses. Jim's nurse, Ryan, was just super. He talked with us and always kept us up-to-date what was happening. He's in room 5072 in the heart section at St. John's. Of course, he was starving. Since he's on the heart floor, he has to have a heart healthy meal, so no cheeseburger or fries for him. I went to the cafeteria and got him a grilled chicken breast and a salad. No eating after midnight, just in case they have to do the "shock" procedure in the a.m.

I left him about 8:30 pm and at the time his heart rate was down to 99. I'm thinking that's a good sign. And oh yea....he said he's done smoking. Maybe this is the answer to my prayers.

My thoughts: I think the stress of the whole kidney transplant, stress from his work, caffeine and smoking could have been the cause of his racing heart. Jim tends to keep alot of things in which is probably not good. I definitely think this was a wake up call for him.