Not Quite Flatlined

"That doesn't feel right", I told Kate, with my hand laying on my chest. My heart had been beating out of whack the past few days. As I lay in bed that evening, it was doing it more often, every few minutes. I fought my wife's insistence of going to the emergency room, but when I called the next day to make a doctor's appointment, they told me to head to the ER.

Reluctantly, I told Kate what the doctor's office said and we were off. Of course, my heart didn't do it during my two to three hour stay. I set off the alerts a few dozen times because of a low heart rate instead. I joked with the doc that the issue in question was like when your car makes a funny noise on occasions, but not for the mechanic. Sure, it did it before and would do it again often the next day, just not when I was there.

To further the car analogy, what my heart felt like was a car's pistons firing out of sequence because the cables were crossed. Atrial fibrillation comes to mind. I do have a history of sinus arrhythmia, which is a fancy phrase for an irregular heartbeat. No big deal. From many moons ago, I also know from practicing echocardiograms with my classmates when I was becoming a certified cardiopulmonary technician that I have two heart murmurs, both in the less crucial right side of my heart. Also usually not that big of a deal.

But all of that adds up to a few more heart tests: an echocardiogram and also being fitted with a holter monitor later next week. The ER doctor expects that it's nothing, and so do I. But, one has to be sure.

Since the ER visit, everything has been feeling pretty normal, aside from a few sessions of heart hiccups but not as often or as regular. But no running until the tests are over. In the meantime, I'll chomp at the bit and seek revenge this snowshoe racing season. I'm glad I have fly fishing so I don't go too crazy, at least that has been pretty awesome lately.