Posted by Sarah on February 21, 2003 at 22:14:01:
When Pati's Cardioversion got postponed, we were "trying" patiently to wait, and I got on her laptop, and did a search on our bb, for "cardiover". We read Henry, and several others, who had the same story repeated of going into about 130bpm A-flutter in the early days/months post-op Maze, then after conversion, did GREAT! Even one of you had fluid in the lungs too. So, as I read these, Pati, her Father, and I really felt LOT"S better about what she's been going through! The 'search' worked like a charm!
I also had the oportunity to ask the EP technical assistant, about the difference between my experience and what Pati had. I now understand that I had defibrillation not cardioversion. The goal with Cardioverting Pati was to "resyncronize" the Atrium to the Ventricles. They had to shock her,using the computer, at just the right time.
With my Defib. it was to just shock the s--t out of my heart with a hammer, to get the ventricles out of beating 240+bpm while the Atrium's were just sitting there. (ventricular tachychardia is more like 150+)Any longer, and my heart would have damaged itself, ripping along like that, or just said to inself, "I can't take this....and quit". So these are the differences I've not been educated about for what...two month's. I of course have used the wrong terms etc through out my posts.
Thank's for the Archives, and the ability to search for words, you'll never know how comforting it is to know that someone else was down this path before, and not only survived, but flourished!!
Love ya' all, Sarah