I got diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation yesterday. Again. I was going to Cardiac Rehabilitation and walking across the parking lot to the gym at Sequoia Hospital left me out of breath and, I have to admit, panicky. Worse, my blood pressure was up and the oxygen level in my blood was low. I kept telling myself that I was OK, it was just a residual from my cold, and that being in Sequoia Hospital was probably one of the best places I could be, they could test me, find something like a thorn in my leg which they could easily remove, and send me on my way completely fine. Ahhh, the joy of magical thinking. Long story short, the nurse at the gym didn’t find the magic thorn so she sent me to my cardiologist, across the parking lot, where she had a tech give me an EKG.

I was sort of relieved that it is Afib and not a heart attack but, as reality sinks in, I am starting to get bummed out. Afib is not a good deal either. Now they are thinning my blood – at $380 for a month’s supply! they sure know they’ve got us by the short and curlies – because the worry is a stroke caused by a blood clot formed by the blood not going smoothly through my pump. In a couple of weeks, they will give me a stress test and then if all goes well, they’ll stop my heart, wait a few seconds, and then reboot me. It is a lot scarier for Michele because I’ll be out, but it is pretty safe (it always works in the movies and usually in real life). In the meanwhile, I feel punk but not panicky.