The worst thing that has happened to me
The worst thing that has happened to me was that I was diagnosed with an advanced cardiac dysrhythmia. This happened when I was in the United States less than a year. This affected me in my personal life and at school.
As you know I was diagnosed with dysrhytmia "also known as arrhythmia irregular heartbeat, is any of a group of conditions in which the electrical activity of the heart is irregular or is faster or slower than normal". The heartbeat may be too fast (over 100 beats per minute) or too slow (less than 60 beats per minute). A heart beat that is too fast is called tachycardia and a heart beat that is too slow is called bradycardia. Although some arrhythmia can cause cardiac arrest.
The first day I went to the cardiologist he couldn't find anything, so he gave me something called holter monitor is a battery operated device that measures and tape recorded your heart's activity (ECG) continuously for 24 to 48 hours or longer. Holter monitor testing is also sometimes called ambulatory electrocardiography. That exact day after I left the cardiologist he called my mother and he told her that he received a monitor test and he was concerned about it, so he spoke with the surgeon for an emergency surgery.
When I learned about my condition I couldn't believe that was happening to me. This situation happened while I was in high school and it was so difficult for me because the symptoms were not allowing me to focus in school. The symptoms of the arrhythmia are: fast heart beat, chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, weakness and dizziness. I could do almost nothing. I couldn't do sport, exercise, lift things or walk because that would increase my heartbeat.
I remember when I was going to do the surgery my mother, brother and my sister (who drove from New York to Connecticut) were there to support me. When I was in the waiting room they did me some blood test sand other tests, then they walked me into the surgery room and I remember it was cold, there were a lot of monitors, many tools, full of nurses and many wires around my body; I was so scared.
What scared me the most was that I didn't know what to expect on the first surgery because I had never gone through something similar before. After 9 hours of surgery and several hours under observation they discharged me . It was an ambulatory surgery.
After a year there was a second emergency surgery. I received a phone call from my doctor. I had to go through anther surgery and by that time mother was in Puerto Rico taking care of my grandfather. She didn't know I was in the hospital. I called her and I told her about it when I was in the hospital. She wanted to come but I told her to not because my grandfather needed her too. That was more risky than the other one. When I woke up from anesthesia I was dizzy, disoriented and hungry. They keept me two days hospitalized for observation.
After a year the third surgery. It was risky too but I was confident that it would cure my condition. At the end it didn't cure it but it made the symptoms more manageable.
The name of the surgery I got is radio frequency ablation, is a medical procedure in which part of the electrical conduction system of the heart, tumor or other dysfunctional tissue is ablated using the heat generated from high frequency alternating current. Radio frequency ablation is generally conducted in the outpatient setting, using either local anesthetics or conscious sedation anesthesia
Until today this procedure has not benefited me a lot but the symptoms are not as strong as before. The cost of each surgery was 100,000 dollar, plus I had to pay the surgeon 2,000 dollar. I have done three surgeries so far and I hope to no go through another one.
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