Marshall had some pain today, but it wasn't "over-the-top" like it's been. Can't say for sure yet, but the pain seems to be lessening. His sugar levels dropped this morning during that time period when he needed to keep his stomach empty so we had to call the oncologist's office to see what to do. We spoke to Sarah and she said to give him orange juice and maybe he should consider taking the pills at a different time of day.
And then there's me: I have a nondangerous heart condition called supraventricular tachycardia. It's where sometimes the top of the heart beats at a different rate than the bottom and the pulse gets up over 200. It feels very much like a heart attack, but I know now that it isn't. For me, this comes on when I've been drinking too much coffee, which I have definitely been doing this past year. And the episodes usually start out with me fainting and then the irregular heartbeat lasts about an hour or a little more.
Well, I had one of those tonight and poor Marshall was trying to help me in any way he could from his Power Chair -- we were like the blind leading the blind. It started at 6;30 and at 9:30 the heart rate was still at 185. And I was doing all the silly things the cardiologist had told me to do: plunge my face into a bowl of ice cold water, hold my nose and then blow, cough, etc. Just when we thought the heart was not going to go back into rhythm on its own, all of a sudden it did. Then I was left with a slightly sore chest and a headache.
My sister has a more serious version of this -- atrial fibrillation -- and when her heart goes out of rhythm, she sometimes has to have it shocked back into rhythm. I'm the lucky one....
But guess what? I really think I'm going to be able to give up coffee for good this time. This was a miserable evening.
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