Another BS family member needs our prayers

[BluLightning]

Get well soon Doug!

[66Fury3]

We are Praying for your quick recovery Doug, stay strong, hang in there and enjoy your Nurses.....

[bearphoto]

Hi everybody. I'm home now after a week in ICU. Thank you for all the kind words and prayers. Its been a tough week as my wife's father passed away and then I almost pass away due to heart arrhythmia. Besides the usual heros we all see and talk about, the police, fire and our military, let me tell you there are many heros in our ER rooms and ICU units.

Basically i had not been feeling well off and on for the last two months and occasionally felt a "flutter" in my chest but it was very short and may occur once in a day or once in a week. In any event I made a doctors appointment. I was put on an ekg machine and told to immediately go to the ER next door. Once in there i was again put on an ekg machine and told I was being transferred to a cardiac unit 50 miles down the mountain. My heart was putting out about an extra 6 beats per normal two beats and after an hour or two there my heart went into whats called "V Tac". This is an out of control heart rate/beat where the heart beats so fast it cannot sustain the pace and it quits. At this point you are dead.

I was told that once i passed out i would then be shocked, hopefully back to life with a correct heart beat. I asked the ER nurse that was working on me to please not let me die, she responded that she would not and asked me to put it into God's hands. You better believe I did just that. I had 6 iv's in me pumping me full of everything they could imagine. For whatever reason I did not pass out even though they were waiting for me to pass out. They discussed shocking me anyway, or giving me an injection to knock me out and then they would shock me.

After what seemed like several hours my heart came back into a slower rhythm, yes with continuous arrhythmia beats. These are in a way, false beats that do not pump any or much blood. I was then transferred up to ICU around midnight. About 2 am my bp dropped to 80/40 and again they were filling me with whatever solutions to try and get my bp back up. The next morning the er doctor came in and told me they had no reason that i was alive after what my heart had been through.

After a few days i was scheduled for an angiogram and they found a 70% blocked artery in the LCD artery. This artery is also known as the "widow maker" as it is a killer. This blocked artery although a problem was not what was causing my problem. The heart was sending false signals from one side to the other in an uncontrolled manner.

So, after a week in icu i was scheduled for a stress treadmill test. While not easy, I did pass it and was able to come home a few days later. I am currently wearing a heart monitor which will shock me if i go unconscious. Hopefully that wont happen.

Now many of you have asked about my Hawaii beauty pageant photo shoot. I'm sorry to say i have had to cancel that trip. I'm also scheduled to take a 10 day corvette trip back to Bowling Green, Ky to visit the factory and museum but that may be in jeopardy also depending on how I feel.

I've been asked about any "out of body" experiences. I can only say that things appeared to be moving in slow motion and things seemed to have a "white glow" about them while in the ER.

So my bangshift friends, I'm here, I'm alive and dammit I will make another PT soon. God Bless all of you!

Doug

[BluLightning]

Great to hear from you Doug. Keep on keeping on brother!

[70chevyC-10]

Hang tough Doug - too much left to do my friend !!

[200WINS]

Great News Doug!! This sounds very serious and we are glad you took the time to get checked out. One of these days we will meet in person.....I'm looking forward to that day!! Best wishes.....

[corvettedad]

Great news hope to meet up with you on the road. Take care!
Perry

[BigBlockMopar]

Were/are you on any medication before this happened?

2 years ago I developped a similar condition, but much less severe.
I was already on anti-Cholestrolol (Simvastatine) and beta-blocker (Metprolol) against a slightly high bloodpressure.

Started one day with only 1 obvious heart arithmetic, just after lunch.
Next day, it happened again, but a little longer. And during the next day it started happening more often and after 3-4 days it became pretty much constant.
Doctor gave me something for the heart arithmetic which seem to help and decrease it the same day already by 50%, but still took a long while to completely dissapear.
He also put me through the mill in the hospital where numerous of test where done. The heart arithmetic was already gone by that time). The hospital stopped my earlier medication though.
In the end it turned out that 'perhaps' my heart/body was reacting on the Simvastatine and Metoprolol combo.

[Leon]

Good to hear you're doing better, I haven't been over here a lot but was aware of your condition from Facebook. Hang in there and get better!

[street72]

Doug, Again ,I'm glad to see you home and getting better.. I bet you will miss the Hawaii trip and the girls..

[bearphoto]

No prior meds other than an inhaler for asthma. thought i was in great condition so was shocked to have this happen.