Monday June 10

Well, it’s been an interesting couple of days.

As you may or not recall, we went to Lil’ SIL and Jack’s for Saturday dinner…kind of a celebratory feast for Jack’ and my birthdays. I bought a whole brisket “deckle fat removed”, whacked the flat part off and slow cooked that in our oven for 4 hours with just a rub. 225° was plenty, and had to kill two hours after it was done before our 3:00 meeting time. They provided potato salad and an arugula salad.

They recently came into possession of two little yapping puppies; a lab/shepherd mix. I am so glad the wife got to see what a pain it was dealing with them as they never shut up.

The brisket however, was a thing of beauty. All but two chunks were gone, and I had to stop the kid from stealing those out of my fridge. Her new meds may help her be more cheerful, but she’s still the same irresponsible kid. So now there is a huge hunk of brisket with my name on it, and unless I eat it today, she’s gonna ask for it. I could not believe she had the audacity to take both hunks for herself…without asking.

Sunday was a different day. I slept until around 1, and when I took my Trelegy, I felt a little strange. When I checked my BP, it showed my pulse at 136. I checked it again; same. I got the wife’s oximeter; same. BP was normal, but the pulse stayed high.

I was able to knock it down by a breathing technique I learned at rehab, but as soon as I stood up, back up went  the pulse.

Everything I read said that if one’s resting pulse is over 100, alert your doc immediately.

Well shit. On a Sunday? All the doc’s offices will say “dial 911, or go to your nearest emergency room.

The kid volunteered to go to BK and get dinner…she does that when the wife gives her the card. So we ate while we watched an episode of the Dresden Files…a 15+ year old series that lasted only one season about the supernatural…wizards, sorcerers, ghosts, and the like.

Then the wife asked if we were going to the ER..I shrugged…( that means “hell no”)

She asked again “I heard you the first time”.

Then she asked the kid, and the kid said we should go..

This was around 9 pm. The kid drove.

Then the storm hit. ‘Twas the worst storm I had driven ridden through for decades. The kid drives way too fast. Pouring rain, ugly lightning and thunder…we went right through it for the entire trip to the big city. The kid went over the center line several times. She’s a tailgater as well. I pitied the poor bastard in front of us.

I have not been so scared for my life since I took the chemical stress test back in December

I have always hated going to the ER on weekends, as they are usually a zoo with a wide range of folks with afflictions, maladies, injuries…you know what I’m talkin’ about. Being kinda late on Sunday night, not so bad at all.

We didn’t get released until 3:00 am this morning.

I was diagnosed with “atrial flutter”. They gave me an IV laced with diltiazem, and that lowered the pulse. The ER doc also gave me a Metoprolol pill, and told me to double my daily dosage, and discontinue my use of Nifedipine.

Diltiazem is a calcium channel blocker, as is Nifedipine. The ER doc indicated that the double doze of calcium channel blockers may cause my BP to bottom out, so hence his suggestion to temporarily stop using mine.

He further added for me to call my cardio guy, and tell him what happened to he can make his own diagnosis, and perhaps make further changes in medication.

The strange thing is, I felt fine…maybe a little lightheaded, but that’s normal for me.

The girls were bored to tears.

Others were not so lucky, as there were a couple of bad car accidents during the storm, and one of the ladies involved did not survive.

I did  not get to bed until 5:30, and the kid had to go to work at 11:00. I drove home, as I feared for my life if anyone else did.

In other news…oh, there is none.