PSVT and this ole heart of mine...

When I was about 18 years old I was playing basketball. I bent over to pick the ball up and my heart jumped and then raced at about 200 beats per minute. It lasted for an hour and I was scared but did not see a Doctor. It went away on it's own with another flip of my heart. It was a year later that it happened again, this time while cleaning the tub. For many years it came sporadically. I did not think much about it. Then in the last two years it started coming quite often. Too often, as in a couple of times a week. It would be set off in different ways. Bending over and drinking ice water while exercising were common ways that set it off. Sometimes it lasted minutes and sometimes hours. The problem I had is that I was choosing to not do things I love because exercise would set my heart racing. Medications helped a little but they did not fix it. I was usually able to convert it by coughing or bearing down. There were mornings out walking when I thought I would have to knock on someones door for help. So I saw a cardiologist. He said it was time to consider an ablation. That is a procedure that burns the area of the heart that has an electrical conduction problem. The procedure destroys the tissue and the problem is usually solved. So I did it. I was not a bit scared until I went into the cath lab. Oh boy, then I got scared. The had some pretty good drugs that fixed that. 

 I went in early in the morning for a one hour ablation procedure. It ended up taking five hours and they ablated multiple areas. I have to mention that I woke up in the middle of it. My heart was beating so fast. They induce the rhythm artificially. I said something to them and they must have given me more of those good drugs. I am laying low for a week while my catheter insertion sites heal. I have three, two in the groin area and one in my neck. So far no problems except it took me two days to wake up from the meds they gave me. Oh and I had some really wild dreams mostly night mares. 

So now I am waiting to see if it worked. I feel good. My heart actually feels a little different although I cannot explain why. I will start walking again this week and see if I am free from that annoying heart arrhythmia. I am counting on it!