GET YOURSELF CHECKED!!!

Sending more prayers and good vibes you way Jim.

Sending more prayers and good vibes you way Jim.

+1

 

Good luck Jim:   That Mercury level is no joke.  National average for Japan and Norway.   Give all large fish away.  Took me a year to get my level down. 

Any of you folks have experience living, paddling etc with a pacemaker? Seems like that is what is being recommended for me…

I believe that Fuzzy Tom has a pacemaker, but I’m not sure exactly when he got it.

On the bright side, maybe you can dangle a wire from the pacemaker that’ll serve as a built-in shark shield…

Big hugs for you Big Jim!   

Just an update on this.

Stanford docs decided that the bradycardia and pauses were most likely from the med they had me on for the A-Fib.

No pauses or blackouts since stopping the med.

Going the ablation route instead of the pacemaker, and got cleared to drive again.   

In the past month have done a stress test, multiple echo cardiograms, a cardiac MRI, and have a cardiac CT scan next Wednesday as well.

No signs of any structural issues...heart rate got up to 185 during stress test but I didn't go into Afib.

Have had a few random tachycardia episodes in past few weeks, but have all gone away by themselves.

Ablation scheduled up at Stanford on 11/28.

Haven't dove since the original Afib/Cardioversion episode and am climbing the frikkin walls...saw how much the hospital charged for the cardioversion (over $15k) and decided better to be safe and  take it easy until the ablation.

Hoping I can be back in the water by first week of January when I am meant to be out with the family in Hawaii. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

ps..attached a pic of the ECG from the hospital from when I was in Afib... 

Good to hear you are doing better Jim. 

Alex

Good news...gonna be in Maui by chance?

I had a cryoablation for the afib/tachycardia at Stanford on 11/28.

No complications, they put in 5 catheters (2 in each femoral artery and 1 in the jugular) and fed those all the way inside the heart where they found the areas of concerns and ablated them...doc said he was able to trigger the arrythmia easily and that I had AVNRT and didn't even have to go across to left atrium to get the areas where most afib starts....said he is hopeful this will fix the issue and gives me about an 80% chance that won't come back. Also off the blood thinners and don't gotta take any meds at all, which makes me very happy.

https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-conditions/blood-heart-circulation/supraventricular-tachycardia/types/atrioventricular-node-reentrant-tachycardia-avnrt.html

Felt like death for first 2 weeks after (feverish, weak, short of breath, chest pain, pulse spikes up to 190 just walking around the house etc) but since then have been feeling stronger.

Got back in water for the first time in 84 days on Saturday and did a yak dive session with my buddy Matt.

Didn't push depths or bottom times...got a nice 21.5 inch cab, found 2 reds and took one and pointed out the other to Matt to take, and at the end of the day Matt finally found the fish we were looking for all day...a big old Ling holed up in only 30 FOW.

When he came up and told me there was a big ling in the hole right next to his gun I had to restrain myself from dropping down and shooting it myself 

After he breathed up he went down and shot it right in the face...I dropped after to see if needed a second shot but could see the shooting line going right through head and knew it wasn't going anywhere...monster of a fish that was scary big looking inside the hole...back at truck taped out to 39.5 inches and 28 pounds. 

I was pretty beat the next day, but by Monday was feeling better.

Felt amazing to finally get back in the water and paddle and dive and am looking forward to getting salty with fuzz in Oahu in 2 weeks. 

 

Sincerely,

Jim

What a journey!  Power to your full health.

Yay! Big Jim is back in the water! Now we have to see when the handshake comes back.

Good stuff... mighty nice !

Must be a thrill to be back at the diving game.  Thanks for the report and pictures Jim.

This is awesome news, stoked for you! Of course the rest of us are happy that will get to see more great pics and videos to watch.

*BUMP*
I can’t stress this enough! If you have any symptoms which are not normal for you, see a doctor, get tests done, ask questions.

I was treated for cancer in 2010/2011, I’ll not go thru all that righ TV now, been clean.

In November I went to my PCP as I had a nagging dry cough, no other symptoms. Phys exam, discussion - referred to blood work and follow up. Doc noted I was considered in good health following the appt. Bloodwork comes back with some issues showing in kidney function. Again, no other symptoms. Doc reorders the blood test as all other numbers are good, maybe a lab glitch?

Second bloodwork results come back, confirms kidney issues. Doctors office calls me and tells me to go to the emergency department at Stanford. I am admitted and spend 8 days inpatient with many tests and scans. They discover I have a mass which was affecting kidneys and bladder. TBH, I had periodically had to push to void bladder.

Docs (many!) which were involved when this all was revealed couldn’t understand why I wasn’t:
In pain
Swollen face/legs
Nauseated
More difficulty peeing
Fever

Since November I’ve since spent many days in hospital, had surgery at the end of February, chemo wash the whole 9 yards+. Cancer had returned and I had to have extensive treatments.

I’m working at recovery but am sharing this just to remind everyone:

Don’t ignore little changes in health, write it off to aging.
GET YOURSELF CHECKED!