Are we in the tribulation

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Be well. I had a similar experience a few months ago, and it was a wake-up call for me. For me, the arrhythmia was a "panicky" feeling, an irregular pounding of the heart like I was going in and out of an adrenaline induced fight or flight response, but with no detectable stimulus for that. It kinda spooked me, and Grace knew there was something squarely wrong when I said "time to get me to a hospital, I reckon". That kinda scared her, as it's like pulling teeth from a chicken to get me anywhere near a medical facility. I usually treat my own ailments out of the woods or fields, and always have since I was old enough to know how... but this was something I didn't know how to treat, so when I mentioned going to the hospital, she figured it must be something pretty serious, and I think it spooked her a bit. Maybe more than it was spooking me.

Anyhow, at the hospital they hooked me up to stuff I've never been hooked up to before - IV's (nope, never had one of those before) EKG's, and even brought in some kind of portable x-ray gizzy. brought it to me so they didn't have to take me to it. Never seen anything like that before, either, probably because I avoid doctors like the plague, so I'm not up on current technology.

Turned out my heart was just flirting with A-fib. It would jump into it for a short time, then right back out like it knew it was making a mistake or something. More out than in, but when it was in, it just felt to me like an adrenaline rush, nothing new to me, but the experience of it without any rhyme or reason WAS a new thing.

Making a long story short, they just kept me under observation for about 6 hours, checked my labs and electrolyte levels and everything looked ok, they couldn't figure out a reason for it, either. So they put me on Eliquis to keep my blood thin and metoprolol to regulate my heartbeat and cut me loose. I reckon I'll be on those drugs the rest of my days, or at least as long as they are available to me.

Scared the crap out of me for a minute, to the point that I was considering writing a letter to my son to be read only after I croaked, if that event was imminent. But it's ok now, I've calmed my silly ass down about it. I just move a little slower, and if my heart starts doing a tango, I can usually get it to stop immediately by, of all things, just taking a deep breath. I've also done my homework since then to find out what I need out of the woods if the prescribed drugs ever become unavailable to me.  I went up into the woods about a month and a half ago and got some ginseng berries while they were showing, and brought them back to plant in shady spots in my yard for safekeeping from poachers. That was when I discovered that I have several thousand dollars worth of ginseng all around me. I left it all there in the ground for a rainy day, in case I need it later, and just brought back the berries to plant. It's a replacement for the Eliquis, but takes a year and a half to even sprout, and about 3 to 5 more years before it's big enough to harvest.

Hang in there and be well - You'll be fine, 'cause I'm convinced you're tougher than I am!

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Darn!  Looks like we have something else in common!

Even the same meds.