Update on Suzy

Some of you folks have asked how Suzy is doing.

On the weight program, she's doing great! She lost 136 pounds, and has kept that weight off for some time now. She wants to drop another 14 pounds, but the surgeon says that may take months more. And it's no problem. She eats what she wants, but she currently guides what she wants so as to get the required amount of protein, then some vegetables, maybe some fruit.

All of her recent surgeries have been successful (the bariatric surgery, the knee replacement, the bowel resection), and none of them was due to a complication of any other.

However, another section has been heard from, and here's a summary of that, taken from an email we sent to our immediate family:

Sunday a week ago, Suzy had a major Atrial Fibrillation episode which ended in several hours in the Emergency Room. Part-way through that episode, during which her heart rate was running anywhere from 100 to 163, she suddenly felt the heart return to normal, all by itself. The hospital had done nothing but provide a saline solution by IV and a potassium supplement. The hospital staff confirmed that this was a "spontaneous conversion." They did advise contacting our own primary physician and our cardiologist. We went directly to the cardiologist, because our regular doctor needs a couple of weeks notice for an appointment.

The cardiologist, Dr. Gladding, learned through the interview that Suzy had a history of Atrial Fibrillation (A-Fib), even though she was unaware of it. He scheduled her for an ultrasound, or echocardiogram, which she got a couple of days ago. Today we had an appointment again with Dr. Gladding to learn the news.

The News:

The report was not good. It showed the "worst possible situation" for A-Fib: her heart has a four-chamber dilation (which means all four chambers of the heart were enlarged, particularly the right chambers). This was due largely to pulmonary hypertension. At some time, something had done damage to her lungs (Who knows what? There's no way to find out.) The lungs are hardened so that the right ventricle of the heart has a harder time pushing the blood through to oxygenate it before it returns to the left side of the heart to be pumped back through the miles of arteries, veins, etc.

The pulmonary hypertension caused the right side of the heart to dilate, stretching out to try to pump the blood, but weakening the muscle in the process. Add to that the A-Fib, which weakens the pumping of the ventricles, and she has a problem.

What can be done? Nothing at present. If things get worse, perhaps some form of catheter ablation may help. Another possibility (stand back, guys) would be Viagra! After all, the big blue pill was designed to work on plumbing problems!

For now, we are to go on living our life, don't cancel our summer trip. No one can speculate whether or when another A-Fib episode could occur. Suzy at least is quite aware of what A-Fib is, what it feels like, and what to do if it occurs: get to an ER FAST. She is in no worse condition today than she was two weeks ago before the major episode, but she is better informed at this point.

Suzy is feeling overloaded at the present time, and I am just a bit overwhelmed as well. But we know that we have been together forever, and we will always be together. Whatever happens to one happens to both, and we are a damn strong factor together!

And that's the way it is today, in ... Our Life on Wheels.