[Dailydrool] To Vi Potter...re: friend with a-fib

[njmedic702 at aol.com]

Vi,
Being a paramedic, I have treated MANY patients with cardiac or neurological emergencies resulting from being in chronic atrial fibrillation.  It's not a "normal" rhythm; the upper chamber of the heart is fibrillating or quivering and actually initiating heartbeats at a rate that can reach nearly one three hundred beats per minute.  Fortunately, the heart's electrical system has a pretty amazing fail-safe mechanism and most of the time it will only allow an irregular but fewer amount of beats to actually move through the electrical system.  Every now and then, however, things can run amuck and the heart rate increases or decreases.  Both can have a negative impact on one's health.  Usually if one has chronic atrial fibrillation they are placed on a blood thinner like Coumadin.  Blood thinners prevent clots from forming in the thick blood in the upper chambers of the heart but bring their own set of risks to the table.   

I have NO idea why someone with symptoms of a potential heart or neurological problem would be discharged from the ER unless after treatment things had returned to normal; pulse rate within normal limits, a resolution of the symptoms which brought her there and vitals signs and an EKG and/or CT scan which was also within normal limits.  Cardiac conditions can turn on a dime, however, and recur, so if she had a return of symptoms a return visit to the ER was in order.  Having NO insurance CANNOT be a criteria as to whether or not person is treated in a hospital!  In fact, it is against the law to refuse to treat a person in an emergency situation.  I send my best to you both...you for being the compassionate friend (and Basset lover that you are - to make this Basset related) and her for a permanent resolution of the problem.

Sandi, Mamaslave to Delilah Belle and Dozer
The Dynamic Duo - formerly of the NJ4
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