My dad’s heart condition is
complicated, to say the least. Between serious rhythm problems that don’t
respond well to treatment, Marfan Syndrome, and a complex array of powerful
medications, most cardiologists don’t want to touch him with a 10 foot pole. His
lack of response to treatments has stumped even the world’s foremost heart experts.
He had a powerful experience this month which he said made him feel like a new
person.
If you know my dad, you know that he
is quite understated. When he describes feeling “uncomfortable” you can be
assured that he likely describing the worst discomfort imaginable. When he says
that the previous ablation procedures did not have optimal results, he’s
leaving out the part about all 6 ½ feet of him toppling to the dining room
floor when his heart spontaneously stopped, just months after the “not-so-successful”
procedure (this incident was several years ago, no need to send a card). It was this very procedure, that he was scheduled to have for the 4th
time this month. It was this very procedure that made all of the difference. At
my church, during lent, we are encouraged to ask God for something BIG. I
decided to ask for my dad’s heart rhythm problems to resolve, but I didn’t
really expect any of this to happen.
Here’s
his story (written by my Dad, shared with permission, edited by me (to make it shorter for this blog):
Background
info: For the past 30 years I have
struggled with episodes of atrial fibrillation (irregular heart rate). Since my
20’s I have had hundreds of episodes of a-fib. Atrial fibrillation is a
fairly common problem and many people are not even aware that their hearts are
out of rhythm. I have more severe version of the disorder and always know the
moment my heart goes out of rhythm and the moment it goes back into a normal
beat, called sinus rhythm. The treatments for a-fib include medication,
electrocardioversion, and cardiac ablations. I have experienced all of these
treatments.
I have tried many drugs to control
my rhythm. I have had over 50 electrocardioversions (electrical shock to the
heart to cause it to convert to a normal rhythm). The most complex treatment is
called a cardiac ablation. Ablations involve freezing or burning heart tissue
in order to repair the electrical “wiring” of the heart. This typically is a
6-10 hour procedure. I had this done in 1998, 2003, 2006, and 2013. My story
centers on the ablation I had done in March of 2013. The various
treatments provided some relief. I would sometime go for weeks or months in
normal rhythm, but eventually my old nemesis would return with a vengeance and
I would feel worse than ever. One of the medications worked very well for
me. It is called Amiodarone and it is the heavy artillery in the arsenal of
heart medications. Amiodarone is usually used as a last resort because it
brings with it some potential serious side effects including thyroid, lung,
kidney, and liver damage. I took it for several years (2009-2012) and it
was very effective at preventing afib. The downside was that I began developing
tremors in my hands, and thyroid problems.
Last August a cardiologist at the
Mayo Clinic advised me to discontinue Amiodarone. He said I was too young to be
on such a powerful medication. Because it had worked so well, I reluctantly
agreed to discontinue the drug. I resigned myself to the probability that
my a-fib woes would soon return. Sure enough, my irregular rhythm returned on
the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Through the years my local cardiologist
has become a trusted friend. He would usually tell me not to worry because we
had some treatment options. On this visit he looked over my charts with a
somber expression. He looked at me and said, “We don’t have many options.”
I grabbed at the glimmer of hope and asked him what the options were. He
replied, “We don’t have any options left. Mayo took you off the only drug that
ever worked and they will need to come up with a plan. I will continue to see
you as a patient if and when the Mayo clinic can come up with a treatment that
keeps you in rhythm for several months.” My heart sank.
The first plan of action was a
different rhythm drug called “Tikoysyn.” As much as I hate missing another
break (went to Rochester over Thanksgiving), I hate missing school more, so I
scheduled a 3 day hospital stay during Christmas break. I felt some hope that
the plan would work. I looked forward to getting relief from the incessant
pounding of my heart that had been going on for so long. Each school day had
become a struggle. I was becoming a cranky old teacher and colleague and
husband and dad. That is not my nature and I did not like it at all.
After 3 days in the hospital with
this new medication, my heart was still bouncing around. They tried to shock it
back into rhythm three times, but to no avail. The specialists came into my
room and told me that Tikosyn was not going to work for me. Then the cardiologist
in charge looked at me and asked, “What do you want to do now?" Many
thoughts flashed through my mind. I wanted to have my Christmas break
back, I wanted to quit, I wanted to be healed, I wanted to retire, I wanted to
go home and sit in my basement. I wanted another plan. I asked him what
he would do if he were me. He suggested we try another ablation procedure.
Remember that I had already had 3 of them without much success.
I visited with my primary care physician who I have been
seeing for 25 years. He never seemed too enthused about my cardiac ablations and
I thought that he might just tell me to forget about it. I had decided
that I would do whatever he suggested. If it meant just living with the rhythm
problem, then so be it. Surprisingly, he told me to go for it.
My local cardiologist also thought that I should try
another ablation. He added that he doubted it would work, but felt it was the
next logical step. I went ahead and scheduled the appointment for the Wednesday
of Spring Break (of course – I didn’t want to miss school). So I plodded
through January, February, and the first weeks of March with the old ticker
galloping away. I know that my family has faithfully prayed for my
recovery over the years, but after all of these years my hopes weren’t high.
Spring Break 2013: As the appointment date drew near,
I was having some serious doubts about going through with another ablation. The
trip to Rochester on Tuesday morning was terrible. The highway was
covered with several inches of solid ice. A strong NW wind was causing
blowing and drifting across the road. I seriously thought about turning around,
but I didn’t want to go back over what we had already been through. I
kept hoping we would “drive out of it” but that was not the case. It was
one of the worst drives I have ever made --- and I have driven on some bad
roads over the years. So about that time my stress level and heart rate were
both off the charts. We were listening to Christian radio while we drove
and heard a verse that really struck me. Exodus 14:14 “The Lord will fight for
you, you need only to be still.” I didn’t know the context until later, but
Moses said that to the Israelites as they stood by the Red Sea with the
Egyptian army bearing down on them. I more needed the Lord to drive, but
anyway, we pushed on and eventually reached the Mayo Clinic.
After a battery of tests, I met with
a doctor for a consultation about the procedure. During the consultation the
doctor explained everything that can possibly go wrong during the procedure and
then gave me a consent form to sign. The list of possible complications is long
and I was getting more and more wary of going through with it, especially since
I was quite certain it would be unsuccessful. I’m not sure why, but I did sign
the consent form. After surviving the car ride, I figured this wouldn’t be a
big deal.
The next day, my alarm went off at
4:30 AM and we went to the hospital. I had been off the medication that keeps
my heart slowed to a reasonable rate for a couple of days. As a result my rate had
been racing at 160-170 beats per minute for the past day and I was feeling desperate
for some relief. The surgery preparation involves a lot of questions, poking,
shaving, questions, and more poking. I was eventually carted off to a holding
area where I was to wait to be wheeled to the OR
As I was lying waiting and waiting
for my surgery to begin mind began wandering. I thought about how this was a
total waste of time and money. I thought about my family and friends that had
been praying for me over the years. I thought about my mother and how many
times she had been at the hospital or at home waiting for news about my
surgeries. Of course, I thought about my wife and how she has always been there
for me. Then I thought about myself and how I had not been able to pray about
this affliction for a long time. I was discouraged to the point of being sure
that God would not help me with atrial fibrillation. I thought of the
verse that I had heard on the Radio,” The Lord will fight for you, you need only
to be still.” I couldn’t think of a prayer to pray, so the idea that
maybe I should recite some good old-fashioned Lutheran liturgy. Ironically,
the only one that I could think of was “Create in me a clean heart O Lord”… and
I couldn’t remember the rest! So I repeated that short line many times, not
even realizing that it was referencing my heart. I was thinking, “Lord, I’ve
got nothing, I can’t even pray about this, I don’t want to do this, if you
would do something – I would be surprised.” About that time they did find
me and took me to the procedure room. Soon after that I drifted off to sleep
while the team went to work on me.
Seven hours later I began to come to
again. People were unhooking equipment and putting things away and asking
me how I was doing. Even though I was still very out of it, I could feel that
my heart was in the glorious sinus rhythm that I hadn’t felt for three and half
months. I was thankful, but truthfully doubtful that it would last.
Later that day, the doctor who
performed the ablation stopped in my room. He said that the ablation went much
better than he expected and that he thought it would hold (not the type of
report I’m accustomed to). In my 2006 ablation the doctor found a problem
area that he did not want to treat too aggressively. He thought that the area
would probably give me problems and within two months I went back into a-fib.
The heart is controlled by a complex
electrical system. There are no wires. Instead, the heart tissue itself
conducts electrical impulses. For some reason, the electrical impulses
sometimes go wild and cause the heart to quiver instead of beat. If that happens
in the upper chambers it is called atrial fibrillation because the upper
chambers are called “atria”. That is my issue. It is generally not life
threatening, but it does stress the heart and causes unpleasant side effects
such as fatigue and discomfort. If the lower chambers called, “ventricles”
begin to fibrillate, then that is often fatal because the blood does not go anywhere.
The problem area discovered in 2006 was with a large blood vessel called the
superior vena cava or SVC. The SVC brings blood to the right side of the heart
from the upper part of the body. The SVC does not usually cause rhythm
problems. In fact the doctor said that only about 1 in 100 cases involve the
SVC. In 2006 the doctor found the problem area on the SVC, but could not
do anything with it because it was adjacent to the phrenic nerve, which
controls the diaphragm. He was fairly certain that if he burned the heart
tissue, he would damage the phenic nerve and possibly paralyze the
diaphragm. As a result, he left it alone.
I asked the doctor about the phrenic
nerve and the heart tissue. He said that the nerve was not near the
problem area this time. When I asked how that could be said he’d consulted
with my previous surgeon and the two of them “could not give a reason for it.”
Both doctors are extremely renowned electrophysiologists who do hundreds of
cardiac ablation procedures each year, and they were baffled! I thought back to
the ancient passage written by King David that was on my mind before the
procedure. Now, I admit to being a science guy. My first reaction is to
doubt things, however, let’s look at the passage in Psalms.
Psalm 51:10 - 11 Create in me a clean heart O Lord, and Renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me
Restore unto me the joy of your
salvation, and grant me your free Spirit.
This was a life changing experience
for me. The mind, body, spirit connection was all evident, and I sense a
renewal in all three of those areas in my life. So, despite having a whopper of
a cold, my heart remains in sinus (normal) rhythm. Without a doubt, this was
the best Spring break of my life.
No comments:
Post a Comment