Defeating A Fib at Last-2

A WRITER'S WIT
I had a dream, in 1985, I believe, when a friend I'd gone to school with was sick—one of the first people I knew who'd gotten the AIDS virus. I had a dream of him in his bedroom with an angel crashing through the ceiling. I wrote a poem called “Angels in America.” I've never looked at the poem since the day I wrote it.
​Tony Kushner
Born July 16, 1956

T. Kushner

This post is second in a series of four, in which I tell of my fifteen-year battle with atrial fibrillation and my efforts to conquer it. Click on Part One to take a look at last week's installment. if you missed it. Today I continue with the lead-up to the June 20th procedure at St. Davids' Medical Center in Austin.

HISTORY OF AN ABLATION

J. Gallinghouse

For a long time I was wary of having the ablation procedure done (They go inside your heart? I thought), as one is when one doesn’t have all the facts. When I ran into a friend who had had this procedure performed by Doctor Joe Gallinghouse, she had not experienced an episode in over a year after her ablation (it has now been over two years). I was intrigued, and kept Dr. Gallinghouse in mind (he travels twice a month to Lubbock from Austin to conduct follow-up visits, as well as consultations with potential patients). I continued to see my friend from time to time, and she would ask me how I was doing, and she would once again extol the doctor’s virtues.

One day when I had a routine appointment with my PCP’s Nurse Practitioner, I was experiencing A Fib, and my heart rate was 142. She had an EKG taken and emphatically said, when she showed me the results, “This is not pretty!” She, knowing the NP of my cardiologist, Doctor Brogan, called that office and set up an appointment with him the very next afternoon. I was still in A Fib at the time, and I informed him I was ready to consult with Doctor Gallinghouse. Brogan’s office scheduled an appointment for late April. At that time, I went in with a long list of questions, and he addressed them all and a few that Ken had for him. In all, he met with us for thirty-five to forty minutes—valuable as gold.
 
Monday, June 18, 2018 
Ken and I used Uber as a trial run to get to St. David’s Hospital, where I shall meet with Dr. Gallinghouse’s PA tomorrow. The ride went without a hitch, and the driver was flexible enough to drop us at the Garage #2 where Dr. Gallinghouse’s office is located on the seventh floor. We took the elevator up, and the receptionist told Ken where he would find the cafeteria on Wednesday.

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Later we walked from the hospital to the LBJ Presidential Library—fifteen minutes. The heat got to Ken so we won’t be doing that again soon. I didn’t like it either; I hate getting sweaty with good clothes on. While we wandered among the exhibits, I kept thinking ahead to Wednesday! Not good. Took Uber back to Holiday Inn Midtown.
 
There, I had a meal of fish tacos and potato crisps, both of which were spicy, but I enjoyed them. Buttered, steamed broccoli—al dente, just right. Return next week for Defeating A Fib at Last-3, when I head into the OR!
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NEXT TIME: My Journey of States-14 Delaware

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