[Rhodes22-list] I'm back from the hospital

[Bob Garrant]

Roger
Wow. You’ve definitely gone through a serious journey.  My son-in-law has
cardiac sarcoidosis so I'm familiar with many of the procedures you
described. But each of us has a unique body and we react differently to
various regimens and medications. I think you have one of the most
important tools for your ‘project’ … a positive attitude
Stay strong.  I wish you every success.

Bob Garrant
s/v Sail la Vie 2000
Kent Island, MD

On Sat, Jun 5, 2021 at 6:44 AM ROGER PIHLAJA <Roger_Pihlaja at msn.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> The 3 day Tikosyn loading procedure went pretty well.  They took their
> best guess as to an appropriate dose and I responded well.  When I checked
> in on Tuesday morning, the initial EKG showed me going in and out of
> A-Fib.  The data logs from my implanted pacemaker showed I was in A-Fib
> ~50% of the time!  When they started dosing me with Tikosyn, I reverted
> back to normal sinus rhythm almost immediately.  They didn’t have to do an
> electrical cardiac inversion (i.e. shock treatment!) to get my heart back
> into normal sinus rhythm.  They were also prepared to do another cardiac
> ablation and upgrade my implanted pacemaker from a 2 lead to a 3 lead
> unit.  If they had to do that, the cardiac ablation would have been used to
> kill off all the remaining biological pacemaker cells and completely rely
> on the upgraded pacemaker.  It may come to that in the future.  But, for
> the moment we’re going to stick with the 2 lead pacemaker and Tikosyn.
> They also did an ultrasonic echo cardiogram to determine how enlarged my
> heart has gotten after all this A-Fibbing and measure the volume %
> ejected.  These measurements will be needed for the procedure next week.  I
> was hooked up to a wireless cardiac monitor for the entire 3 days I was in
> the hospital.  So, they were monitoring my heart function constantly while
> I was getting loaded up on Tikosyn.  By the morning of the 2nd day of
> Tikosyn loading, my wireless cardiac monitor showed I was in normal sinus
> rhythm and didn’t glitch once from then on!
>
> I actually feel much better.  But, lying about in a hospital is one thing
> and actually living a normal life is another.  So, for an initial cardiac
> insult test,  I mowed my front lawn yesterday.  I felt OK afterwards.  I
> was also climbing up on a ladder measuring the length of my mast for Allyn,
> again with no apparent ill effects.
>
> I’m scheduled for another COVID-19 test this Sunday.  Then, I have to
> quarantine until I go into the hospital on June 10th for a cardiac
> catheterization procedure.  If nothing goes crooked, this will be a 1 day
> out patient procedure.   But, this is exploratory laparoscopic surgery.
> They might have to keep me longer depending on what they find &/or if
> something goes crooked with the procedure itself.  Thanks for all the kind
> wishes and please keep me in your prayers.
>
> Roger Pihlaja
> S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for
> Windows 10
>
>