[wildrover]

You can add this to the list of places you've worn your kilt .

Really glad you lived to tell the tale. So how does it work that if you had not lost consciousness, you would have had a heart attack? I'm (fortunately!) not familiar with arrhythmia.

[butch]

Let me clarify A heart attack in the near future was a certainty. The irregular and sipping beats brought on the blackout. Had I recovered from the blackout and just sent right back into the cruel world without finding out what caused it, my heart was just a ticking bomb. Fortunately the doctors pressed on to find the cause. Consequently they found blocked arteries, really had no symptoms, blood pressure was normal and cholesterol was within limits. Looking back there were some other dots I should have connected but thought they were just from job stress and advancing years. the doctors and hospitals I was at were terrific.

[butch]

I greatly appreciate all of the kind words and prayers from the "rabble"

[Mr. Kilt]

Wow, glad to hear things worked out in the end for you.
I make a living clearing snow in the winter. One day my snowblower died and I had to clear 17 places by hand. Having a heart attack during that was in the back of my mind the entire day.

[BatlRatl]

The best part of the story was, you are well.
Hope you remain that way.

[Bigkahuna]

Glad to hear you are well.

[O'Callaghan]

Glad you are OK. Be careful what you eat, as we don't want your arteries clogged back up. Exercise is important too, but a doctor should approve it first. Of course, they've told you all that, I'm sure.

Arrythmia can be restored to normal beats by zapping you with a synchronised defibrillator. No, I'm not a doctor, or even any kind of medical professional, I encountered these things as an engineer.

Your heartbeat has a waveform with specific parts referred to as PQRST. I think the defibrillator has to be synchronised to zap you on the R part of the waveform, as best as I can recall (see, I said I wasn't a doctor). I do know what the 'good' waveform should look like, and I know that zapping someone on the T part of the waveform is very bad news. The chap who taught me about all this wasn't a doctor either, but a government scientist.

Of course, the old fashionned way is to watch a 'scope and then press the button to zap the patient at the right time, when using one of the old style defibrillators that aren't synchronised to your heart. All they do is charge a capacitor up to a few thousand volts, which is then discharged across your heart! Give me an oscilloscope to watch your heartbeats and a high voltage light fitting to zap you with and I can bring you back to life ... or accidentally kill myself by getting shocked myself!

Defibrillating you saves you from dying, but it doesn't fix the underlying problem, of course.

Snow shovelling is a worrying business when you reach a certain age. I had to dig out three feet of snow from my circular driveway this time, and often worried that something similar would occur. I am not getting any younger and think it is time I got a snow blower or something in that line. Best case scenario I might not be able to dig out enough to get to work after the snow, and the worst case I would rather not dwell on.

[BoldHighlander]

Originally Posted by butch

I did end up with a quadruple bypass six day later, doing well

I'm glad your doing well, & will pray for full recovery.

Late last November my doc' told me I had been flying under the radar with high blood pressure / cholesterol for way too long. In December he put me on med's which has lowered both to very acceptable levels. I was also told that if this year I shed a few pounds & keep all levels down I can come off the med's