Nice Beat,kinda hard to dance to.

After surviving the Widow maker, life just became new. New medicine, new cardiac diet, new rules. Life changing new rules. No worries, everything is doable.

The team of cardiologists told me some disturbing news. Lloyd’s echocardiogram – the ultrasound of the heart that provides moving pictures & info on the structure and function of the heart – had abnormal results. This massive heart attack did some significant damage to the bottom of his heart.

I knew it was going to bad news. The last I’d heard, his troponin protein level was at .73 ng/ml. Normal range is .04ng/ml; probable heart attack is above .40 ng/ml. So, tell me doc, what’s the news?

The heart was not pumping enough blood. It’s was only working at 25% ejection fraction (EF), that is the amount of blood that is ejected out of the ventricles with each contraction. The doctors informed us that the normal range is 50-70%. Lloyd’s left side ventricle is effected. An EF under 40% is considered heart failure, however with medication and cardiac rehab & exercise the doctor gave us a window of hope of raising that 25%. His blood pressure was now regularly at 90/60 – his new normal. As an educated guess, it was going to prove difficult to raise the EF because the medicines he needed to improve his heart function were the ones with typical side effects of lowered blood pressure, dizziness, confusion. Oy-vey!

Symptoms of low ejection fraction are shortness of breath, or inability to exercise; swelling of feet & ankles; fatigue & weakness; rapid, irregular heart beat; abdominal discomfort such as swelling, pain or nausea; mental confusion. The odds were like looking at a mountain top from the very bottom, so we will begin our climb from the bottom and slowly work our way up, step by step, day by day.

The scariest thing was being told that his heart could stop at any moment and go into cardiac arrest. The cardiologists had percentages of how many people with this EF would suffer SAC within 6 weeks. Lloyd would not be able to leave the hospital without wearing a defribillator 24 hours a day under his clothes, only removing for a quick shower. The company representative was on the way to meet and fit him with the LifeVest. Lloyd enjoyd calling it his manseirre.

If the electrobes weren’t hooked up correctly, it beeped. If you didn’t put the silver pads to the silver part of the vest, it beeped. The electrobes liked to have lotion on them, but not too much, or it beeped until you cleaned it. There were 2 batteries to always have a spare, because it beeped if it was low. The thing had an alarm that told you when it was going to shock the person. Stand back. Your loved one would more than likely not know they had been shocked, but it “kicked like a mule” so they might know & the blue goo would be all over. You should call 911.

All instructions were in the box. I put the reps number in my phone. Someone would be stopping by in a couple days with a couple more mansierres.

Feeling confident that there was no way we could mess this thing up, we left for home. The rep had told us that some customers were much more advanced in age & they had to be encouraged a couple of times, but they understood how to use the vest.

The first week home with the vest, no one slept well, except Lloyd. The beeps woke me up in the middle of the night, scaring me because I heard someone talking. I don’t know how he slept through it all, but he did. There were vibrations and voice prompts to test for consciousnes. The patient must press and hold the response buttons to avoid a shock. Whenever I heard it go off in the middle of the night, I had to rush out to the chair or wherever he was to wake him up so he could push the button and not get shocked.

Beep, Beep,Beep,Beep. No sleep without beeps. Eating with beeps. He could not ride the lawn mower due to the movement which might make the vest mistake it for an irregular heartbeat & truly that probably almost killed him. He got the push mower out and I caught him trying to push our half acre of lawn. He was so hot and sweaty. His heart was working way too hard in the July heat. I almost sold the mower.

When he did sleep, the electrobes got twisted, beep, beep, beep, beep. I tried to start dancing to the beeps like I was on American Bandstand – said it had a nice beat, kinda hard to dance to. I’ll give it a 5.

I’m not sure he appreciated my beeping at his expense. Sleep deprivation does funny things to a person. We all figured better to beep at home than not beep at all.

The vest was supposed to be a 90 day temporary wear. Then either his ejection fraction improved or he would get an implanted defribillator. We beeped for 6 months though instead of 90 days.