Part II of the heart

[See Part I here]

I moved into my own apartment at age 19. I was 35 minutes away from my family. My husband & I had just begun dating. I loved the freedom.
Until one day, between classes, when I walked into my kitchen & almost passed out from the shock of my heart "doing it's thing". I ended up driving myself to the ER, about 1 minute from my apartment.
My cardiologist suggested adding another beta-blocker, & he played a bit with the dosages.

Three days later, I was back at the ER. New scripts, different dosages, another trip to the ER. I saw the same ER doctors and nurses about 12 times in less than a month. Same shit, different day: EKG, chest x-rays, IV, bloodwork, not-so-fun medications pumped into the IV to 'restart' my heart's rhythm.

I tried all the stupid techniques to try to get my heart to 'restart' on it's own: take my medication immediately, cough, retch like I'm puking...none of them worked. I lost a job 4 days after starting it, due to a random episode 20 minutes before my shift started. My then boyfriend left work so many times to drive me to the hospital, when I couldn't drive myself.

Finally, after a shitty summer of being poked by needles, prodded by the same doctors and nurses, my cardiologist found a medication that my heart seemed to like.

And it worked.

It worked for about 4-4 1/2 years.

*********

I was a newlywed, I had my first 'real' job after college, I had my first house.

I started having my 'episodes' again. The first time, after all that time, I was at home folding laundry. Then, a couple of weeks later, it happened in the middle of the night, when my hubby was over-served and snoring on the couch. Then again, when I was at work, on my way to a court hearing. And again, at work. And again.

We weren't planning on kids yet, but we knew we would want them eventually. I couldn't go through this while pregnant. Not only would the pregnancy put a ton of stress on my heart, but my heart would put a lot of stress on a pregnancy. I wouldn't be able to take any medications, including the awful-feeling stuff they pumped through my IV at the hospital. And I sure as hell couldn't just 'ride it out' if I had an episode while pregnant; it was terrible.

Since there were no other medications to try, no more combinations, no other options, I opted for surgery.
I was 24 years old and I was scared shitless.