Monday, September 13, 2010

Fall in the GPNW and the EP Study Follow-Up

Greetings from the GPNW. It's fall now, it's gruesome. We had originally thought that we would be here through the end of October, but that plan is off the table. I can not take this climate for another month. Sun will be required, and that is not to be found here. The gray and the damp are just sucking the life out of me.
I titled this photo "Cranes in the Mist."

This is the Enatai beach on Lake Washington. All the kayaks and canoes that were for rent have been taken to storage, because no one in their right mind would get in that freezing cold water.

So - enough whining about the climate.

Sunday was my 3rd post EP study bike ride. It was fairly successful. I'm not in wonderful shape, but I was able to do a hilly 37 miles. I rode for about 1.5 hours at 148 - 152 bpm, and it was fairly comfortable. Previously that heart rate was unsustainable. So that was pretty good.

Monday we saw Dr. Broudy, the cardiac electrophysiologist who did my EP study. I really like him. He explains stuff thoroughly and articulately. He was instrumental in starting the electrophysiology program at Swedish. So if you need an arrhythmia specialist, he would be a good place to start. Anyway, I did have atrial flutter. He burned a strip around the right atrium to block the bad electrical pathway. He feels confident about a good outcome. There will be a wait to know if it's gone, however. The heart remains swollen for 3 months, once the swelling goes down it is possible that the pathway will reinstate itself. If it stays away for a total of 12 months, I can relax and believe it's gone. Cross your fingers!
He thinks I am an interesting case, and will be taking me to a conference soon. That would be my procedure CD, not me.

We're loading the wagons and departing October 1. We came up here with a list of things to do, many of which are going to get done between now and the end of the month. It's interesting how things just move to the right on the schedule until a hard stop is applied. So now we must seriously apply ourselves to RV maintenance, finishing up seeing the doctors, dentists and podiatrists (getting new orthotics has just been a trial this year) and all the other piddling minutia of daily life.

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