Saturday

I dont know when someone said I had 2nd degree heart block  and I didnt know what that meant really. The ward nurse changed the leads to the top of my shoulders saying if you have a pacemaker they wont do it if the skin is mucky because of the leads. I just looked at her pacemaker? thats extreme. Later the heart physician came around and said my thyroid was a bit low and they would put me on some thyroxin. Ok I thought thats whats caused the bradycardia no he says its not that low it wouldn't have caused that you have 2nd degree heart block you have to decide if you want a pacemaker. Then he outlined the procedure and how good the heart surgeon is, I said do I really need that, I think I was in shock, dont interrupt he said and continued the prepared speech. If you dont have one and you go home and collapse you wont be able to drive for 3 months.

I felt like Alice down the rabbit hole what was this world where they suggested sticking wires in my perfectly well if a little slow heart. I rang my husband to print off some info and asked one of the nurses for something about my condition. She gave me a folder written for a five year old but my husband and wiki came through with the basic stuff. The only answer for why they gave me was old age. Actually when I read the info I could see where they were coming from, what seemed strange to me was so obvious to them they couldnt explain properly. There is no other treatment than pacing. You can diagnose the condition definitively on ECG and according to the echogram and the enzyme? studies I hadn't had a heart attack. 

Through the night the girls said I had gone into complete heart block for 35mins and they were thinking of waking me. The lit said 2nd degree can progress rapidly to 3rd degree or complete block. I'm glad they didnt that was probably all the sleep I got.