Monday, October 29, 2018

New normal...


Alas, I am still here.  There was no death by MRI this day.

I learned that I am the first non-FDA approved device MRI at Parkview, in Fort Wayne, and in the region.  There was, apparently, a tremendous amount of ... "discussion" just to get to the point of where my head could be scanned.  I understand, more, about why this was such a battle.  No one in radiology in Fort Wayne wanted to do this.

I also learned that, somehow, my atrial lead is not approved even in Europe.  The only way I could have a scan other than my head is to replace the leads and the pacemaker.  And replacing leads is extremely dangerous and not something many cardiologists will do.  When leads go bad, they are left in the body and new ones are just added.  Space junk in your chest.

I came home bloody exhausted and have had a rough day.  The treadmill torture session was rather difficult, with three different parts of my body protesting at different times.  I should have stopped, but I know that if I don't stay committed to the course, my very lazy self will come up with 1,001 reasons why I should stop early or skip tomorrow and the next day and the next.  Getting started again is always hard.

I've napped three times and battled a terrible headache.  And this evening has been filled with fainting and near-fainting.

The MRI specialist said that it might be hard on me having my pacemaker turned off for a while.  I really cannot see why, but this has been a rough day.

Maybe it is more that the MRI battle is finally over.  By the 7th of November, I should know if it was worth it.  Or rather what information it yielded ... what direction the treatment to try and address the constant shocking in my hands will be.

A year of that now.
My new normal.

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