School started again and I am teaching Botany labs (3). I am not the coordinator as I requested, and I am very happy about this. Less stress and work! Bikash (the new coordinator) gets to tell me what to do, and I like that better than being the one to do all the planning. (At least for now anyways!) I have been working in the lab, and it is the kind of work that needs me to be here almost every day! This week I am staying a couple nights at Sharon's (biology department secretary) house. That way I can save on time, gas money, etc. So school is going well now. It has been lonely though since my friend Sam graduated. I miss seeing her at school!
I went to the doctor recently because I was having some weird things happening with my heart. I had to have an EKG, blood work, and wear a Holter heart monitor for 24 hours. The blood work was fine. I was good on everything except my sodium was slightly below normal. So I think that is good anyway. The EKG looked normal. The doctor told me to take it easy when I was wearing the monitor so I did. I sat around and watched TV, or read a book, and I also did some laundry and ironing. The monitor showed that my heart rate was normal (in the 70's) then it would jump up between 120-150. It was up and down like that all day. But that's when I felt normal. The reason I went to the doctor was because I would feel a very fast heart rate when I would begin exercising. It was too high for the amount of work I was doing. This was in February. This summer I started getting the feeling of my heart beating too fast and I would be out of breath just from vacuuming the living room (like a heart rate of 168!). I found out this is called heart palpitations. In August I started having palpitations just sitting watching TV. I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without having palpitations. Sometimes my heart would feel like it was jumping around in my chest. I also had trouble sleeping because I could feel a very strong heart beat. I would feel my pulse in my arms, hands, and my head and neck. It also felt like my head and neck had a lot of pressure. Sometimes the pulse would be in my whole body, so it was very hard to sleep if my whole body is throbbing! The cardiologist said that I have paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) which I found out is actually the same as paroxysmal atrial tachycardia (PAT), the same thing Mamaw has. I have been on medication to slow my heart down for about a week now. It seems to be helping. I still have a little problem at night when I try to sleep, but not nearly as bad. During the day I don't notice a fast heart beat but I have had palpitations a few times. I think I have gotten used to the side effects of the medicine. I don't have anymore problem with light-headedness. I still feel tired sometimes. I think the medicine has helped me a lot. I will keep you updated with anything new.
Brian is enjoying school so far this year. He says that he has a great bunch of students, and he is enjoying going to work.
