So…How’s Your Week Been?

My Friends,

I would like to share with you my "latest adventure". As a distinct benefit to you, rather than telling this story over, and over again when we happen to meet at social functions or at one of my concerts, I have “capsulated” it for you, here within…

I went in for a random "old guy treadmill test" last Monday morning. (5/7/12) When they hooked me up to the heart monitor (before the test began) the screen began to light up and blink and flash like a pinball machine. I thought that the technician had hooked up the wires wrong and that I was about to become electrocuted. However, when she grabbed the red telephone mounted on the wall, I knew I was either in deep trouble or she was calling Obama for clearance on a medical decision. (Either way, I knew that I was in deep trouble!) My cardiologist came flying into the room and told me that my heart was beating at over 160 beats per minute. (…And there wasn't even a pretty nurse in sight) They immediately injected some drugs into me to relax the heart and bring the rate down, which it did to 142 bpm. The doctor said that I was in need of additional drugs right away, but that was not the environment in which it should be done. He quickly called the paramedics and within minutes, they showed up, strapped me onto a stretcher, shoved me into an ambulance, and whisked me off to the hospital...which just happened to be right across the parking lot from the doctors office. (I'm beholdin!) In the emergency room, they gave me more drugs (I have no idea what they were, but they said "Hecho in Mexico” on the bottle.) and that knocked my heart rate down to 129 bpm. Then, while I was still in the emergency room, I suddenly had a very strange feeling sweep over me...FEAR!! Seriously, I told the nurse that I was feeling a little woozy and she glanced up at the monitor and saw that my heart had stopped beating for about four or five seconds. When I saw that flat line appear on the screen, I thought to myself, "What in the heck is happening?" I'd seen this scene several times before on General Hospital, so I knew that it was not a good thing. Then...get this, folks...in about another four or five seconds, my heart rebooted itself and bounced back to beating in a normal fashion again (about 72 bpm). It was like awakening from a bad dream! Now, with the crazy crisis behind me, they admitted me into the hospital, put me on a heart monitor, and immediately started administering additional meds and injecting stuff into me which would control the erratic heart beats and reduce the risk of a stroke. To make a long story…about the same length…a cardiologist, who was also a heart surgeon, came in and evaluated my condition and told me that he was scheduling me for a medical procedure, known as an Ablation, the following day. There, he would run a thin wire up into my artery, from my groin upward and into my heart, finding the "triggers" that were setting off the erratic heartbeats, burn them, and therefore stop the erratic heart behavior. However, that meant that they needed to move me to another hospital, which had a better operating facility. So, early the next morning, they loaded me into another ambulance and moved me again. When we arrived, I was told that we would have to "wait for a table to open up" before proceeding with the operation. (What??? Was he going to do this procedure in a restaurant?) When it became our turn in the operating room, they strapped me onto the operating “bench” (For the life of me, I don’t know why they call it a” table”. It was only about as wide as a surf board), and for about an hour and a half, Dr. Tran did his magic. He also inserted a heart monitor under the skin of my chest, which is a pretty amazing device. They kept me in the hospital for a total of five days, monitoring me closely and balancing out my new meds. I just got released yesterday (5/11/12) and I am back home again and Merilee is taking excellent care of me. I feel GREAT! In fact, I haven't felt this good in months. I am now on a med called (amiodarone), which controls the wild heartbeats, and also some other meds, including a drug called "Warfarin". It is to thin my blood, so as to eliminate the risk of stroke…just in case my heart decides to go “line dancing” again. (So, the question begs to asked, "Does this make me a "Warfaring' Stranger"?) ...Sorry! 

So anyway, folks, there are lots and lots of people walking around with this same condition and on these same meds and they are all living quite comfortable and happy lives. In fact, Merilee's father has been on these same meds for nearly thirty years and he is now turning 90. So I am feeling pretty darned good about my future. The doctor said that there would be no need for any change in my lifestyle. (Oh yeah, he did say, "No Skydiving or Bungee Jumping for a little while"..but you know how they exaggerate.) :-) I will not be cancelling any of my gigs or concerts and I will be continuing on with my career just like nothing has happened. I have a lot more Arizona Songs to be written and recorded yet, folks. However, I must say that the timing of this event was absolutely impeccable. I had just finished up a heavy performing schedule with the Arizona Centennial Celebration, and I had also just returned from tour and recording for a week with the New Christy Minstrels in North Carolina. Merilee and I had also just returned from a seven day cruise to the Western Caribbean. Luckily, none of these important events were interrupted and I now have several weeks of "down time" before needing to climb back into the saddle again. I couldn't have planned it better. (Now that I think about it, had this happened in North Carolina, the local doctor probably would have given me a pint of moonshine, sent me to my hotel room, and told me not to come out until I was better.) I'm back home again now, and “ornery“ is beginning to reappear...so look out! Seriously, once again in my life, I feel that I have been truly blessed. It just has to be more than a coincidence that I was in that doctor’s office and on a heart monitoring machine when those fireworks went off in my chest. Had that not happened, I might have unknowingly continued on in this condition and eventually had a stroke or a fatal heart attack. Though I can’t imagine why it should be so, I do feel that I was spared. As it is, the doctors think that I have been walking around with this condition for quite a while. Truthfully, I did a “Tebow” in the horse pistol when no one was lookin’. So, tell me friends......"How's YOUR week been"? :-)

Onward and upward...

The Balladeer