Finally!

I finally saw the cardiologist, but...not bc I wanted to. True-I've been trying to get in touch with her, but I didn't intend on having to go to her office. Yesterday morning, I was getting in the car with the kids to take them to school, and I was hooking my seatbelt, when my lifevest alarm went off. Ok, I've experienced the "gong" sound it makes when my leads may be loose and not touching my body. This was not a gong, it was a loud alarm. And it said, "patient respond", and it was on the screen. I admit, I freaked out. I was told this could happen, it's the reason I'm wearing this oh-so-fashionable device. If I am unresponsive, the vest warns people to not touch me, and then it'll shock me. If I press the buttons, it says "treatment has been delayed"...I've never had it go off. I immediately took the battery out (I know, I know, I was not supposed to do that!!!!), but like I said, I freaked out. I got out of the car so the kids wouldn't hear what I had to say when I called my friend Kat. She didn't answer! So I called my friend Codie. She didn't answer either. I called David, but he was doing car duty, so he wasn't going to answer the phone. So I called his office, told the secretary that I needed my husband, and he ran to the phone. I was crying and told him how freaked out I was and what had happened. He said he was on his way home. My friends both called back, and said they were coming over to stay with me and the kids until David got home. They kept the kids calm and let them watch tv, while I called the doctor. David got home, Codie took the kids to school, and we left. We were at the cardiologist's office for 4 1/2 hours. Basically, I was lectured on why I shouldn't have taken the battery out. And they hooked their monitors up to mine and determined that it alarmed bc it detected an arrhythmia, but it wasn't dangerous. Ok, I hate being on pins and needles, wondering if any little movement or emotion is going to trigger this alarm. HATE IT!

Anyway, I got some of my questions answered that I've had, and some, I didn't. I am waiting to hear about the appointment for the cardiac MRI, but until that is done and a decision is made on whether or not I'm getting the defibrillator implanted, I can't even go back to work. I'm thinking that I'll be getting it, but who knows? Anyway, today I didn't have school, rehab, or basically anything, so I rested. All day long...yep. I caught up on a couple of shows, I ate my lunch, I facebooked, I talked on the phone, and I laid on the couch. I think I deserved it after being scared half to death yesterday. Of course, then I picked the kids up, and when I was helping them with homework, my alarm went off again. So, to sum up my current life=I'm still busy as ever as a mom, trying to keep up with school and my house, and living on pins and needles, hoping I'm not going to fall out anytime soon. Everyone tells me not to worry and that I'm probably ok, and that I probably don't need the defibrillator, but it's really hard to listen to that when I listen to other heart patients talk about having multiple surgeries, whether they are old or young. How do they know that I'll never have a problem again? I am trying to be as optimistic as possible, but I think that as far as my own body is concerned, I have every right to be worried.