Holter Monitor done.
Jun. 29th, 2018 08:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agoodwinsmithAs you recall, I had a cardioversion done on 16 May 2018. It seemed to go very well. I was told to expect a Holter Monitor test "some time" in the future. I sort of thought it would be within a few weeks, but as the weeks lengthened into more than "a few",I then recalled something "about a month or so" mentioned somewhere in all that. I mean: one is given information after the procedure is over - but this also means after the anesthesia, which they warn you not to sign any legal documents for at least 24 hours after, so it must interfere with one's thinking/memory a bit, eh?
Anyway, I have some difficulty understanding things that I just hear and don't see, so until I looked it up, I thought they were mispronouncing "halter" - which made sense to me because they hang it around your neck. Nope. It's this:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/holter-monitor/about/pac-20385039
I must say I am very fond of procedures that do not involve any breaching of my skin, yes.
Sadly, there wasn't a readout on the device that I could view, since I found it entertaining to do things and watch the heart monitor react while I was in the emergency and hooked up to one like you see on TV. :) Considering that the purpose of the Holter Monitor test is to see whether or not one's heart is behaving "normally", I can see that might not have been an appropriate approach.
Mine had seven electrodes attached with stickie disks - and that was the worst of the test for me. My skin was well itchy long before the stickers came off, and now that they are off, my skin is welted and itchy and very unhappy. But - nobody wanted to slice me anywhere, so that's just fine (scratch wriggle rub furiously scratch scratch).
I think for someone who likes to sleep on their tummy, this would be more difficult to endure, but I sleep on my sides, and the carrying bag and wires were all loose enough that I could shove them out of the way without accidentally detaching them. I only did that once on one, this morning while waking up, when I unconsciously gave into my scratching impulse. It was brief and the electrode snapped on again easily. They had sent me home with a few extra stickie disks, so some people must have more trouble.
I don't know when I will hear about the results. I never know which is the correct etiquette: wait politely to be called, or take charge of my own damn health and call them. Usually whichever approach I choose, the medical person has a "common sense"[1] reason that they prefer the other and expect that I should have known which because it is obvious because "common sense"[1].
Anyway. Mostly I have been feeling better since the cardioversion. I've had some wobbles, but that's normal. I'm still taking meds, so it may be because of the meds, but better is good.
[1] - I really hate the phrase "common sense". This is used by people who are too lazy to investigate their own reasons for doing something a certain way. They take the high ground that we've ALWAYS been at war with Oceania and only stupid people don't know what they know. Grr.
Anyway, I have some difficulty understanding things that I just hear and don't see, so until I looked it up, I thought they were mispronouncing "halter" - which made sense to me because they hang it around your neck. Nope. It's this:
https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/holter-monitor/about/pac-20385039
I must say I am very fond of procedures that do not involve any breaching of my skin, yes.
Sadly, there wasn't a readout on the device that I could view, since I found it entertaining to do things and watch the heart monitor react while I was in the emergency and hooked up to one like you see on TV. :) Considering that the purpose of the Holter Monitor test is to see whether or not one's heart is behaving "normally", I can see that might not have been an appropriate approach.
Mine had seven electrodes attached with stickie disks - and that was the worst of the test for me. My skin was well itchy long before the stickers came off, and now that they are off, my skin is welted and itchy and very unhappy. But - nobody wanted to slice me anywhere, so that's just fine (scratch wriggle rub furiously scratch scratch).
I think for someone who likes to sleep on their tummy, this would be more difficult to endure, but I sleep on my sides, and the carrying bag and wires were all loose enough that I could shove them out of the way without accidentally detaching them. I only did that once on one, this morning while waking up, when I unconsciously gave into my scratching impulse. It was brief and the electrode snapped on again easily. They had sent me home with a few extra stickie disks, so some people must have more trouble.
I don't know when I will hear about the results. I never know which is the correct etiquette: wait politely to be called, or take charge of my own damn health and call them. Usually whichever approach I choose, the medical person has a "common sense"[1] reason that they prefer the other and expect that I should have known which because it is obvious because "common sense"[1].
Anyway. Mostly I have been feeling better since the cardioversion. I've had some wobbles, but that's normal. I'm still taking meds, so it may be because of the meds, but better is good.
[1] - I really hate the phrase "common sense". This is used by people who are too lazy to investigate their own reasons for doing something a certain way. They take the high ground that we've ALWAYS been at war with Oceania and only stupid people don't know what they know. Grr.
