Part two (the not fun part)

Ok, now onto the big event that happened this week. We got back from Gatlinburg on Sunday and made a pot of vegetable beef soup for dinner. It was very yummy! Monday I went to work and busted my hump to get things done for my absence this week. My parents came in Monday night. On Tuesday morning, we all got up early and headed out to Vanderbilt. I was scheduled to have a catheter ablation done that morning. We got checked in and I was taken back to the prep area and got my IV started and some tests were run. I think everyone else went to get breakfast. They all came back at different times to see me. After waiting for a while, a nurse came back and told me I was pushed back. (Apparently, they had an emergency.) So, around 1pm or so, I was taken back to the OR. It was kind of freaky that I was awake and alert when they took me back. (I didn't even have an IV bag or any medicine at this point.) They put me on the table and I was strapped across my calves, thighs, and stomach. My arms went into "troughs" and were strapped in. I swear I felt like I was getting lethal injection! They gave me something to "relax" me at this point. They put IV ports in my groin area and ran catheter leads up to my heart. They began to use electrical impulses to manipulate my heart rhythm. I had to tell them when the rhythm felt like the arrhythmia I had in the past. They found it pretty quickly. They put a 4mm laser in one of the ports next and ran it to my heart. When they found the place to cauterize, they used it. It felt very odd and uncomfortable. It was my worst heartburn x100! I was over in 60 seconds. I think I was in the OR for 1.5 or 2 hours. They took the leads out and I went back to recovery. There, they took the IV ports out of my leg. I was very nauseous at this point. (No food + narcotics will do that.) I got some phinagrin (sp) and pretty much slept after that. I know that my parents left to come back to our house to take care of Shiloh and I kind of remember the trip to the cardiac observation unit. I slept when we got there, too. When I finally woke up, dinner had arrived for me. I was special and not on any diet, so I got the chicken Parmesan with strawberry shortcake. After, I was able to get up and go to the bathroom and move around a little. I put on my pj pants and talked with Chris a little. I went to sleep fairly early. I was visited every 4 hours and poor Chris had to sleep in a very small recliner chair that wouldn't stay reclined. :( The next morning, the doctor was in around 7:30 and said everything looked good and I would be released. I got breakfast while waiting on release papers. I had to be off work until Monday and will need to have a follow up in 6 weeks. For the past few days, I have been tired and have an almost constant feeling of heartburn and the area where they put the 4 IVs is sore. Otherwise, I have been doing very well. Chris goes back to work tomorrow, but my parents are coming in tonight. My dad has some things to do with the Army this weekend and so my mom is going to keep my company. A friend I work with is having a yard sale next weekend and she has agreed to take my stuff, so I am going to price it all and she will sell it. That is about all I am planning to do with my weekend. Oh, and Chris and I got to pick up our flat screen TV from the repair shop today. Yay!!! Hope everyone had a great week and will have an even better weekend!