Atrial Fibrillation...Oh My!!!

It all started about 6 months ago. Nick had a sensation where his heart was beating crazy fast (like he'd just exercised really hard), but he was just sitting on the couch. He thought it was odd, but didn't think too much of it. 

A week later, it happened again. This time, he told me about it. I'm a huge worrier, so my mind went into overdrive. We had had a relaxing evening at home and watched a movie. There was no reason for him to have a racing heart. He could tell I was worried, so he told me it had evened back out after about 30 minutes and was fine. In truth, it lasted most of the night. 

Three or so months went by before it happened again. He went to sleep fine then woke up with his heart racing. This time, he went to our family doctor, Blair MacBeath. By the time he got to Dr. MacBeath's office through, his heart had gone back to normal. The EKG didn't show anything abnormal. Dr. MacBeath gave him a few options. One was to wear a monitor for a week and see if they could record it doing anything out of the ordinary. Considering it had been three months between occurrences, they decided against this. They decided that Nick would get up to the ER or Blair's office if it happened again to get another EKG. 

Tuesday, August 26th, Nick woke up with his heart racing. He got up to ETMC to have an EKG done. Sure enough, Blair said he was experiencing atrial fibrillation and admitted him to the ER. Nick was blessed with the "A-team" as he called them of nurses and doctors. They took great care of him. They gave him a medicine that actually stopped his heart (on purpose) to try and get it to start beating regularly again. No such luck. They tried a different med, and it did the trick. The ER doc talked with a cardiovascular doctor in Tyler, and they decided to transfer him for observation and testing. 

After almost two days, Nick is being released, and we're getting to head home. He's had more EKGs than I can count. He's had an echocardiogram on his heart. He's had blood tests done. All has shown that he's as healthy as a horse aside from being a fib. After speaking with the CVC doctor, it's been decided that Nick will have an ablation done towards the end of September. He'll have to take a baby aspirin every day for the rest of his life, but we think that'll be pretty manageable. 

I'm so thankful that Nick didn't ignore this happening. A fib can result in you havering a stroke or heart attack from your heart throwing a blood clot. I'm thankful that his doctors knew exactly what to do, and have taken good care of him. 

My outside loving husband started going stir crazy after about 12 hours of sitting in a hospital bed. We were finally able to walk around more than just our floor late Wednesday afternoon. Thankfully though, we were pleasantly surprised with a large, comfortable room with a nice view. 

We've had amazing friends and family who have taken care of Brayden and checked on us. Special thanks to my mom, Aunt Nee, and Casey and Mitchell for keeping Bray happy and entertained. 

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us! I know God heard them and took care of my love.