Forget clouds! This is sun!

As many of my friends know, I and my heart have been working together to recover from congestive heart failure, afibrillation, and other complications of  taking Rx medication without careful monitoring.  A leaky mitral valve and some damage to the lower left quadrant occurred.  I've been seeing my heart doc, a really good one, every month to six weeks.  Last time I was there, he did a second cardioversion, which seemed to take; but our visit this morning would reveal whether it had held.

Turns out that my heart, for the most part, seems to be trying to move back into normal rhythm.  This morning, having had to leave early for Canton without breakfast, I had not taken the pills.  Even so, the afib is less easy to spot, and normal rhythm is at least a half, if not more, of the pattern.  Doctor Satti said that the stethoscope is not picking up the afib.  That was good news.  Of course, the requisite EKG did, but that's OK.

Further, it is time to do another sonogram to measure remaining valve and quadrant recovery.  But, he wants to give me more time to heal, because, as he said, we don't plan any heart surgery.  Also good news.  And so - and this got me kind of revved up with hope - he doesn't want to see me for six more months, when he will do a sonogram.  That means my heart is self-healing.  Yes, I have to keep on taking the meds during the time.  OK.  Yes, they tend to slow me down.  Also OK.  But I wake up in the morning with energy, I can bend to pick things up without getting dizzy or short of breath, and the afib is hard to hear with a stethoscope.

To double check what I thought he was saying, I called my nurse daughter.  She was excited and confirmed that all of this news, especially, "Don't come back for six months", was excellent.  I came home flying!

I've been down for almost two years, as various parts of my inner and outer anatomy have been tweaked toward better health.  This was the first news of major import that I am headed in the right direction.  It allows me to take a worry break.  Inertia is not my enemy, and neither is light exercise.  The thrill for me is that I could actually come back before it is time for me to wind down for good.  I wasn't sure of that until today.  Nice feeling.  This is definitely sun!