Tiffany's Thread (updates and prayers, and a place where she can smack Joe in public when he needs it :)

#4,453
#4,453
joevol33 said:
Hey @VolNExile , I'm gonna bug you one more time 😁. Her mom's heart rate got a little wacky today, and they did an EKG (I guess it was). Tiffany thinks maybe she had a light attack, and trying to figure this out. Do you understand any of this?
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boy, did I just delete a ton of stuff you aren’t asking about ! 🤣

Executive summary: Tiffany’s mom has some significant heart rhythm problems (arrhythmia), and she may have had a localized heart attack, possibly related to the arrhythmia. (I don’t know which would be the chicken or egg; meaning which one might have caused the other.)

Basic info: an electrocardiogram (ECG, ole skool EKG) looks at the electrical currents of your heart. Your heartbeats are controlled by a wonderfully coordinated dance of electrical impulses, when all is working well.

“Atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response”: her heart rhythms are out of synch between the atria and ventricles (the upper and lower chambers of the heart), most likely on the left side, although it doesn’t specify. If it’s the left side, it means that her body and brain are getting an irregular supply of freshly re-oxygenated blood. (That’s the primary job of red blood cells: carry oxygen to the rest of the body.) That means that her body and brain cells might be intermittently getting not enough oxygen to function properly.

“Myocardial infarct finding now present:”: myocardial infarct (MI) is the medical term for heart attack. Myocardial means heart muscle. Infarct means tissue death resulting from a lack of oxygen. MI’s usually are caused by something like a breakdown of a cholesterol deposit (plaque) inside a heart (coronary) artery, which physically blocks blood flow. But they can also result from just not getting enough blood flow to the coronary arteries, including from things like serious rhythm problems. “Finding” means that the EKG (ECG) looks as if she might have had a heart attack, damaging the septal wall.

“Cannot rule out septal infarct” means that there might have been an interruption of blood flow to the wall of tissue that separates the left and right sides of her heart. Some part of this tissue looks damaged on the EKG (this is the “finding” part), as if there’s been a heart attack, but it would need to be confirmed by labs, clinical readings, etc to actually be called a heart attack.

There is no indication of how serious an MI (if there was one) would be. That would need different tests.

The rest of it: there were some abnormal readings on earlier EKGs which are now gone.
 
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#4,454
#4,454
^^^ And all this is just a test report, which the docs will consider along with everything else they’ve got, like labs, radiology, clinical findings like pulse and temperature, and just how’s she’s looking and acting.

Medicine is both an art and science, and physicians have to combine all this onslaught of information with their training and observations and instincts to determine, as far as possible, what is going on.

So what you wind up hearing from her docs might barely mention the EKG report, because their concern is the big picture, and the EKG might be just a tiny hiccup in the big picture.
 
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#4,456
#4,456
VolNExile said:
boy, did I just delete a ton of stuff you aren’t asking about ! 🤣

Executive summary: Tiffany’s mom has some significant heart rhythm problems (arrhythmia), and she may have had a localized heart attack, possibly related to the arrhythmia. (I don’t know which would be the chicken or egg; meaning which one might have caused the other.)

Basic info: an electrocardiogram (ECG, ole skool EKG) looks at the electrical currents of your heart. Your heartbeats are controlled by a wonderfully coordinated dance of electrical impulses, when all is working well.

“Atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response”: her heart rhythms are out of synch between the atria and ventricles (the upper and lower chambers of the heart), most likely on the left side, although it doesn’t specify. If it’s the left side, it means that her body and brain are getting an irregular supply of freshly re-oxygenated blood. (That’s the primary job of red blood cells: carry oxygen to the rest of the body.) That means that her body and brain cells might be intermittently getting not enough oxygen to function properly.

“Myocardial infarct finding now present:”: myocardial infarct (MI) is the medical term for heart attack. Myocardial means heart muscle. Infarct means tissue death resulting from a lack of oxygen. MI’s usually are caused by something like a breakdown of a cholesterol deposit (plaque) inside a heart (coronary) artery, which physically blocks blood flow. But they can also result from just not getting enough blood flow to the coronary arteries, including from things like serious rhythm problems. “Finding” means that the EKG (ECG) looks as if she might have had a heart attack, damaging the septal wall.

“Cannot rule out septal infarct” means that there might have been an interruption of blood flow to the wall of tissue that separates the left and right sides of her heart. Some part of this tissue looks damaged on the EKG (this is the “finding” part), as if there’s been a heart attack, but it would need to be confirmed by labs, clinical readings, etc to actually be called a heart attack.

There is no indication of how serious an MI (if there was one) would be. That would need different tests.

The rest of it: there were some abnormal readings on earlier EKGs which are now gone.
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Thanks. We were very concerned about her having trouble with the surgery, even more so when they do chemo. As in, how her body is going to respond, if she can handle it. We're just afraid at some point her heart will give out from everything.
 
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#4,457
#4,457
Vjcvette said:
I have afib and pvc and medicine and different things can set it off, but it looks like they are saying that things straightened up at the end of the report.
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I’ve got atrial arrhythmias (not afib tho)*, and my previous doctor put me on metoprolol. I took myself off it PDQ because I felt horrible, but now I have a constantly lowered heartbeat and can’t exercise like I could before.

It might work great for some people, but it sure didn’t for me.

Now I might have to get a cardiologist. grumble grumble

*edit to add: and I don’t have the rapid ventricular response, which is the doozy for Tiffany’s mom. Nor do you (PVCs are premature ventricular contractions, which are generally minor issues.)
 
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#4,458
#4,458
I’m on my fourth preventative cardiologist, and he’s OK (the first three were a waste of time). He painstakingly walked me through an image of my heart and the arteries that feed it. He explained what was good and what was of concern and what impact the latter should have on my behavior. He related meds + diet + exercise to the best future state and what otherwise would mean. He spoke to me like it’s my life and my understanding and decision making were the most important thing. Golly gee, isn’t that what consultation is all about?
 
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#4,460
#4,460
VolNExile said:
I’ve got atrial arrhythmias (not afib tho)*, and my previous doctor put me on metoprolol. I took myself off it PDQ because I felt horrible, but now I have a constantly lowered heartbeat and can’t exercise like I could before.

It might work great for some people, but it sure didn’t for me.

Now I might have to get a cardiologist. grumble grumble

*edit to add: and I don’t have the rapid ventricular response, which is the doozy for Tiffany’s mom. Nor do you (PVCs are premature ventricular contractions, which are generally minor issues.)
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I don't take anything but blood thinners, and I would rather not, but once you have had a stroke that is what they recommend. I do not take a rhythm medicine, but also I do not drink caffeine or eat chocolate and stay away from anything that could cause a problem with afib. Hopefully you can find a medicine that does not cause you any problems, I rejected taking blood thinners until I had that stroke in my eye.
 
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#4,461
#4,461
Vjcvette said:
I don't take anything but blood thinners, and I would rather not, but once you have had a stroke that is what they recommend. I do not take a rhythm medicine, but also I do not drink caffeine or eat chocolate and stay away from anything that could cause a problem with afib. Hopefully you can find a medicine that does not cause you any problems, I rejected taking blood thinners until I had that stroke in my eye.
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Isn’t it fun getting older? And how do you exist without caffeine and the occasional chocolate?!

I don’t even care about the atrial arrhythmias any more. I just want my freaking resting heart rate higher than 55.
 
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#4,462
#4,462
VolNExile said:
Isn’t it fun getting older? And how do you exist without caffeine and the occasional chocolate?!

I don’t even care about the atrial arrhythmias any more. I just want my freaking resting heart rate higher than 55.
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I just took my blood pressure and it was 113/58 with a pulse rate of 77. Sorry to hear about your heart rate and I hope that you find a good Cardiologist that could find a good medicine for you. A fellow that I used to work with who also has diabetes heart rate dropped down real low and he had to have a pacemaker put in. Well getting older would not be bad if you did not have to deal with
All the new things that pop up 😛
 
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#4,463
#4,463
Vjcvette said:
I just took my blood pressure and it was 113/58 with a pulse rate of 77. Sorry to hear about your heart rate and I hope that you find a good Cardiologist that could find a good medicine for you. A fellow that I used to work with who also has diabetes heart rate dropped down real low and he had to have a pacemaker put in. Well getting older would not be bad if you did not have to deal with
All the new things that pop up 😛
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Yeah, the pacemaker possibility is creeping me out.
 
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#4,465
#4,465
Her mom's Dr sent her back to the hospital, they're going to have to shock her heart back into rhythm, and they're going to admit her.
 
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#4,470
#4,470
Ran to get little bit from school while at the gym. Her mom is having a rough time right now, we're heading to the hospital. They've shocked her 3 times, but her heart is still messed up bad, and she's having a hard time breathing.
 
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#4,471
#4,471
joevol33 said:
Ran to get little bit from school while at the gym. Her mom is having a rough time right now, we're heading to the hospital. They've shocked her 3 times, but her heart is still messed up bad, and she's having a hard time breathing.
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Tiffanys mom or Tiffany ?
 
#4,472
#4,472
joevol33 said:
Ran to get little bit from school while at the gym. Her mom is having a rough time right now, we're heading to the hospital. They've shocked her 3 times, but her heart is still messed up bad, and she's having a hard time breathing.
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Praying for you all Joe 🙏🏻
 
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