Story Time.
Back in April when Ben and Lydie were battling through their pneumonia, Mark started to feel some things in his chest. One evening he pulled me aside and told me that he was going to the emergency room because his chest didn’t feel right. This immediately was concerning for me. Mark and I are pretty relaxed about our own health – we do not rush to take medication or see a doctor when we don’t feel okay – we normally are more of a “let nature take its course” kind of people. So Mark feeling like he needed to go to the ER was really concerning for me.
They examined him and did an EKG and he was home within the hour. Everything looked fine. It wasn’t pneumonia and everything with his heart seemed fine.
But everything wasn’t fine. Mark felt completely wiped out. At first we thought it was maybe just some sort of weird reaction to the pneumonia in the house. But the kids got better and Mark wasn’t improving – he even took off quite a bit of work because he had so little energy (this was a first that I can ever remember Mark taking off work for being sick).
Mark made an appointment with his PCP and they agreed to put Mark on a holter monitor. This is a small device that you wear on your chest that records the heart’s rhythm. The doctor requested that he wear it for two weeks.
It was a really stressful two weeks. Mark was having several “episodes” a day and it seemed like such a long time to wait. Then we sent it in and had to wait for results.
We got the results back and it came back “normal”. We were so confused and concerned because Mark was not feeling normal. Then his PCP suggested an ECHO. He got that scheduled and finally got a referral to see a cardiologist. After another month of waiting and worrying we finally got some answers.
His cardiologist said he has premature ventricular contractions, otherwise known as PVCs, which “are extra heartbeats that begin in one of the heart’s two lower pumping chambers.”
We are feeling so blessed because this was truly the best possible outcome for how Mark was feeling. His doctor is hopeful that they will go away naturally with time. Mark doesn’t really fall into any of the typical reasons for PVCs – no medications, alcohol, drugs, caffeine, or injury. So we most likely feel like it is due to the viral infection and to stress.
Mark and his cardiologist came up with a really solid plan with tiers and everything 😉. Again, they are hopeful that it will go away over time and with a little help from a supplement in the meantime.
We are very grateful that it is nothing more serious. We are hopeful that with the additional supplement Mark will be feeling better and have more energy to live life the way that he wants. We are also hopeful that this autumn, when he can finally switch to a day shift, that will put less stress on his body. Lots to feel hopeful and grateful about!
