My same day hernia surgery turned into a 3 day cardiac floor stay. The hernia surgery itself went well. I'm allergic to surgical glue, so I have a lot of internal stitches, which really hurt. But that's not where the excitement came from.

When I was on my way to the recovery room from the surgical area, my heart went into AfiB, specifically the top chamber of my heart was beating at 156 beats per minute, out of sync with the lower part of my heart, but not pumping any blood. It took 2 doses of metoprolol in my IV before they could get my heart rate down.

When I came to in recovery, they had already done 2 ekg's, an echocardiogram, and connected me to several different heart monitors. As soon as my eyes opened, I was told I was being admitted. I was super confused.

I made it to the cardiac floor, and was supposed to have a chemical stress test the next day, but the night nurse on that floor completely messed up my pain meds and I was in absolutely EXCRUTIATING pain all night. I was supposed to get 1mg of dilaudid every 2 hours and instead she gave me 1/2 a mg every 4 hours. So they delayed the stress test by another day while they worked to get in front of the pain. It took a whole day, but I was finally doing better.

The next day, I did the stress test in the afternoon. It was horrible. Definitely didn't find it fun, that's for sure. They give you this medication that simulates you doing heavy exercising. I was short of breath, my heart rate went way up, it sucked.

I was cleared by cardiology to come home that night. Blood work, follow up ekg's, and the stress test came back good. But I'm connected to a continuous ekg monitor for 30 days. At the end of that time, I send it in to the company and then follow up with my cardiologist to be sure my heart is ok. We have no idea what caused this to happen. I've had several surgeries and everything was perfect. So this is yet another weird, rare reaction that my body decided to do because it's weird.

Edited December 15, 20232 yr by SleeveToBypass2023

Oh for heaven's sake...

It's like you keep buying the winning ticket in the medical maladies lottery. I really hope you're back to feeling better soon, and that this is the last time you have a scare like this!

8 minutes ago, NickelChip said:

Oh for heaven's sake...

It's like you keep buying the winning ticket in the medical maladies lottery. I really hope you're back to feeling better soon, and that this is the last time you have a scare like this!

It's literally the most ridiculous thing ever!!! I still have 1 more surgery scheduled for March, which is my hysterectomy. I may move that out to give more time to figure out what caused this to happen. I've never had any heart issues before, so it really freaked everyone out. Once the hysterectomy is done, I'll only have skin surgeries, a boob job, and a tummy tuck. And believe me, those can definitely wait lol I'll have them eventually, but right now I just need to get the actual health issues dealt with.

Wow, I'm so sorry that things don't go smoothly for you. I hope you heal fast and feel better soon. Scary!

Unreal. Heart issues are scary, good thing you are young and with what you've been through -strong. Although not everything is explainable, the doctors would need to provide me some answers or at least a plausible theory and safe guards before the next surgery.

I hope you are feeling better.

Boy - you sure have that gray cloud following you ! Get rid of that damn thing !!!!! You deserve blue skies and unicorns for all you went through. On the bright side ....looking at you in that hospital bed - you still look awesome like you're ready for a night on the town ! I was only in the hospital for 2 nights . I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror .... YIKES ! I was downright scary looking. *shudder*

I also had that stress test- my chest was sore for days. I'm crossing everything I can cross that you get home and feel better SOON ! ((( Gentle hugs ))))

Thank you guys so much. I don't know why my body does these things. It's absolutely ridiculous. Just 1 last surgery and then my poor body can be left alone and I can just rest and heal and actually be better.

My words cannot fully convey the range of thoughts that ran through my mind when I read about the complications that you have had. That's a helluva gauntlet to run through on your WL journey, and I'm glad that you are home and healing. Truly hope that the heart issues can get figured out so that your next surgery is completely uneventful.

8 hours ago, BeanitoDiego said:

My words cannot fully convey the range of thoughts that ran through my mind when I read about the complications that you have had. That's a helluva gauntlet to run through on your WL journey, and I'm glad that you are home and healing. Truly hope that the heart issues can get figured out so that your next surgery is completely uneventful.

Thank you so much Your mouth to God's ears....

Yes, the cause is often, if not usually, a mystery. I ran into an Afib problem a couple of years ago about this time of year, though it didn't get picked up until a month or so later when I went in for a pre-op exam for cataract surgery, and we were discussing the moderate shortness of breath I was experiencing while swimming, considered different things it could be until she took a listen and "Oh, that's it... you're not doing surgery tomorrow. Let's do an EKG as see what's going on." She had me in to the cardiologist that afternoon (it usually takes weeks or months to get an appointment). He had me go to the ER that evening to get the medication dosing down right (we can do this the fast way in the ER or the slow way back and forth to my office over the next several weeks to get this down...) Once the basic heart rate was under control, it was a visit with the cardiac electrician (electrophysiologist) to look at resetting things more permanently. The good news is that while he was in there burning out the short circuits he noted that my arteries are nice and clear, and while things are not back to a normal sinus rhythm, it's not Afibbing consistently so I don't need to be on the expensive anticoagulants.

Here's to them getting a better understanding of what's going on inside you so that you can get back to your planned life!

When I read about this on Instagram I just shook my head... I have an uncanny ability to pick up weird medical experiences but you have a PhD in them my friend! I hope they quickly find out what is going on. I'm really thankful you were still in the hospital when that episode happened and everyone was there to bring you out safely. It is good that they have you on a monitor for a while. I'd want to know what caused it before another surgery too!!

23 hours ago, ChunkCat said:

When I read about this on Instagram I just shook my head... I have an uncanny ability to pick up weird medical experiences but you have a PhD in them my friend! I hope they quickly find out what is going on. I'm really thankful you were still in the hospital when that episode happened and everyone was there to bring you out safely. It is good that they have you on a monitor for a while. I'd want to know what caused it before another surgery too!!

If there's a complication to be had, I seem to be the one who will have it. It's absolutely ridiculous. My follow up for my hernia is tomorrow (Monday) and wouldn't you know, I started having sharp pain where my hernia was repaired and also in my back (lower to middle area, almost in the kidney area). I'm so sick of this. I almost just don't even want to know anything anymore. I just want to be left alone to live my life.

On an episode of Greys anatomy there was a lady who had heart issues, they blamed it on her losing 100 pounds and having thin walls bc of this something about losing muscle mass.