An interesting weekend

As regular followers will already know, I am a double SCAD survivor living with congestive heart failure and LAM. I'm closing in on my fifth SCAD-aversary this August and had been able to avoid hospitalization for any reason for several years. This past weekend, I had a reminder of how fragile things can be.

After a hectic few days, I opted to sleep in this past Sunday. Late that morning I dreamed I was having a heart attack. The pain in my chest woke me up. When I came to my senses, all I felt was a tenderness around the internal cardiac defibrillator (ICD) in my shoulder and residual discomfort in my left arm.

On Monday I got a call from the Defibrillator Clinic. The RN informed me that I'd had a dangerous arrhythmia and the ICD had shocked me. So I hadn't dreamed the pain after all.

On the bright side, the device that has lived quietly in my left front shoulder for four years did it's job. On the down side, my driver's license is now suspended for six months. 

I have to confess, I had thought that I was beyond risk of fatal arrhythmia by now.  Will have to readjust my thinking on that. Needless to say, this recent experience has left me feeling very vulnerable.

I'm booked to see the cardiologist next Monday. If anything else happens in the meantime, I'm to let them know and/or go to the ER.

May 1-7 is Congestive Heart Failure Awareness Week. To learn more, contact your local Heart and Stroke Foundation