In conjunction with the Associated Press’s report that Dick Cheney has been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation (AF), I’ve slightly updated my May 29 article concerning my own AF.
If your heart is pounding, it may not necessarily be love - or in the case of Dick Cheney, oil.
I was at dinner with my family in 2001 when my heart started beating rapidly. No, it wasn't because we were having meat loaf for dinner. It turned out I was experiencing an episode of atrial fibrillation, which is defined by the American Heart Association as “…a disorder found in about 2.2 million Americans. During atrial fibrillation, the heart's two small upper chambers (the atria) quiver instead of beating effectively. Blood isn't pumped completely out of them, so it may pool and clot. If a piece of a blood clot in the atria leaves the heart and becomes lodged in an artery in the brain, a stroke results. About 15 percent of strokes occur in people with atrial fibrillation."
Atrial fibrillation, or "afib", is more likely to occur in the elderly, or in patients whose heart has been compromised by illness or surgery. I don't fit any of the regular profiles, and as my cardiologist said, other than the afib, I have the heart of an eighteen-year-old. (The bad news is he wants it back!)
Since that initial episode, I have taken a variety of medications in an attempt to control my afib episodes and I have undergone two cardiac ablations:
"Radiofrequency ablation may be effective in some patients when medications don't work. In this procedure, thin and flexible tubes are introduced through a blood vessel and directed to the heart muscle. Then a burst of radiofrequency energy is delivered to destroy tissue that triggers abnormal electrical signals or to block abnormal electrical pathways."
After my second ablation failed to completely curtail my heart's fibrillation, my perplexed cardiologist suggested that I have a "mutant" heart. I'm still waiting for the super powers. As these two "non-invasive" procedures have only been partly successful, I remain on beta blockers and blood thinners to control the worst of the symptoms.
As I was lying on my back after my first ablation (you must remain still for eight hours after the procedure), I began to think about the heart, an organ which most of us take for granted. That didn't help me get to sleep, so I began to think about the heart as a metaphor. It occurred to me that the heart, as related in popular culture, performs functions other than the pumping of blood.
Article comments
1 - Robert K. Blechman
UPDATE: It has been pointed out that Cheney's heart isn't "paced" its "defibbed" which deals with heartbeart irregularities in other parts of the heart.
It has also been noted that this irregular heartbeat is not the only type of a fib that Cheney has been involved in.
2 - Dr Dreadful
When Janis Joplin (1999) sang "take another little piece of my heart"...
Quite a feat, considering she died in 1970!
3 - Robert K. Blechman
True. The date refers to the CD release of her album.
4 - Eugenia Blechman
YOur profound remarks are interesting and
introspective. So is your heart!! To me, and
lots of other people. Love and kisses, MOM