It has been two weeks since I returned home. I have resumed my normal schedule which includes coffee (now decaffeinated) and reading a paper, as well as solving a Sudoko puzzle, each morning and two bike rides a week. All has felt well and I have been able to ride without any difficulties.
An appointment this morning with a local electrophysiologist confirmed that I am no longer exhibiting any signs of atrial arrhythmia. He felt my heart, which now had a resting pulse of 57 this morning, has returned to normal on its own without any impact from the prescribed medications. That's great news! However, I learned that an event such as I experienced in Florida can and will reoccur without warning and not necessarily be tied to any exertion. The alternatives, again as were explained earlier, are: 1) take medications to control heart rhythm but that are not considered effective; 2) ignore the condition but take a blood thinner to prevent strokes and which in my case could be just a daily aspirin; or 3) undergo an ablation surgical procedure which has a 97% effective rate of permanent prevention and elimination of a blood thiner after three months. Although I was tempted to choose Door #2, Nan and I agreed and have scheduled myself for an out-patient surgery on May 27.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Monday, May 4, 2015
Tallahassee Memorial Hospital and Home
Friday, April 24- Sunday, April 26
Feeling pretty bummed out at failing a second time to complete the Coast2Coast tour, now with only three riding days left to St Augustine, and not having had a chance to say, "Good-bye," to any of this year's Coasters I found myself in another hospital ER. I was finally admitted and taken to a non-emergency room at 2 am and slept, as might be expected, fitfully.
Friday was full of visits from doctors and nurses drawing blood and recording vital statistics. My heart rate remained normal but I learned that I was being treated as if I had a heart attack. In the afternoon I had a consultation with a cardiologist. He explained the what, when and where but admitted there was no clear why the heart has an arrhythmia. He recommended that I have a surgical procedure, called an ablation, to restore an electrical circuit that was most likely damaged. The alternative was to begin a life long dosage of a blood thinner. The risk was that a blood clot might form since the heart was not efficiently clearing blood and the clot might migrate into the brain causing a stroke. That caught my attention! We discussed the alternative of returning to Atlanta for the procedure upon which was agreed.
Saturday I was discharged but delays in filing paperwork resulted in my actual departure from the hospital not happening until 1 pm. Bad storms between Tallahassee and Atlanta suggested that we were better off staying another night in a motel. The extra time allowed us to enjoy a nice lunch at Food Glorious Food. I enjoyed some fantastic mac and cheese with bacon. Clearly all the medical issues were not interfering with my appetite.
Sunday we departed for Atlanta following a route directly north using US 41 between I-85 and I-75. Not the most scenic drive ever but a traffic and stress free alternative through Middle Georgia.
Friday was full of visits from doctors and nurses drawing blood and recording vital statistics. My heart rate remained normal but I learned that I was being treated as if I had a heart attack. In the afternoon I had a consultation with a cardiologist. He explained the what, when and where but admitted there was no clear why the heart has an arrhythmia. He recommended that I have a surgical procedure, called an ablation, to restore an electrical circuit that was most likely damaged. The alternative was to begin a life long dosage of a blood thinner. The risk was that a blood clot might form since the heart was not efficiently clearing blood and the clot might migrate into the brain causing a stroke. That caught my attention! We discussed the alternative of returning to Atlanta for the procedure upon which was agreed.
Saturday I was discharged but delays in filing paperwork resulted in my actual departure from the hospital not happening until 1 pm. Bad storms between Tallahassee and Atlanta suggested that we were better off staying another night in a motel. The extra time allowed us to enjoy a nice lunch at Food Glorious Food. I enjoyed some fantastic mac and cheese with bacon. Clearly all the medical issues were not interfering with my appetite.
Sunday we departed for Atlanta following a route directly north using US 41 between I-85 and I-75. Not the most scenic drive ever but a traffic and stress free alternative through Middle Georgia.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Day 48- Tallahassee to Madison
Thursday, April 23- 48 miles
Some pictures and lots of news today. Nan drove me out to the Coasters' motel on US 90 and the starting point for the day's ride. I was a little anxious about the difficulties that I encountered the prior day but wanted to ride since this route was short and quite flat. Rose and Judy chose to escort me in case I had any recurring problems. My guardian angels:
We began riding through an Allee of Live Oak trees completely overhanging the road and passed several nurseries and horse farms. The first stop was at Tupelo's Bakery in Monticello at mile 18.
After a leisurely iced coffee and bear claw pastry it was back on the road to Greenville. I was feeling OK but not great and had to stop frequently in the shade to hydrate and catch my breath. The next stop at mile 34 was a highlight as we all had a chance to make some music with Ray Charles in his hometown:
So, feeling refreshed we set off for Madison reaching there after a struggle for me up one last hill in time for lunch. As we finished eating Judy and Rose turned to me and announced that they were going to stand in for Nan and take me to a hospital. I did not argue as it was apparent that I was not able to ride or sustain a normal pace. We found Ed and Joyce who provided transportation for our bicycles and us to the North Florida Community College center housing the Coasters this evening. Rose drove me to the brand new hospital even though it was only 100 yards away.
Registration, quick admittance to the ER and I learned that I had a sustained heartbeat of 135, roughly double normal. It took multiple attempts using three different medications to lower the rate. In addition the EKG revealed that I had a regular arrhythmia, known as atrial flutter. So, the next move since the hospital in Madison did not have a cardiologist on staff was an ambulance ride back to Tallahassee's main hospital.
We began riding through an Allee of Live Oak trees completely overhanging the road and passed several nurseries and horse farms. The first stop was at Tupelo's Bakery in Monticello at mile 18.
After a leisurely iced coffee and bear claw pastry it was back on the road to Greenville. I was feeling OK but not great and had to stop frequently in the shade to hydrate and catch my breath. The next stop at mile 34 was a highlight as we all had a chance to make some music with Ray Charles in his hometown:
So, feeling refreshed we set off for Madison reaching there after a struggle for me up one last hill in time for lunch. As we finished eating Judy and Rose turned to me and announced that they were going to stand in for Nan and take me to a hospital. I did not argue as it was apparent that I was not able to ride or sustain a normal pace. We found Ed and Joyce who provided transportation for our bicycles and us to the North Florida Community College center housing the Coasters this evening. Rose drove me to the brand new hospital even though it was only 100 yards away.
Registration, quick admittance to the ER and I learned that I had a sustained heartbeat of 135, roughly double normal. It took multiple attempts using three different medications to lower the rate. In addition the EKG revealed that I had a regular arrhythmia, known as atrial flutter. So, the next move since the hospital in Madison did not have a cardiologist on staff was an ambulance ride back to Tallahassee's main hospital.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Day 47- Marianna to Tallahassee
Wednesday, April 22- 75 miles
Again, no pictures but lots to report. The day and route started routinely when I met Murph and Alan on US 90 near the Lake Arrowhead campground. We continued eastwards crossing at mile 20 the Appalachacola River just below a dam forming Lake Seminole. We headed up an embankment into the town of Chatahoochee and a SAG stop at the Around the Corner Bakery. We did not linger but I noticed that I was still breathing hard after the climb and was experiencing some difficulty with the hills on the way out of town. I chose not to join, but waited for the group of riders that took a short detour to ride up into Georgia. We completed another 20 miles into Quincy where I took an extended rest stop drinking copious amounts of water and other liquids and eating a banana to regain strength.
Alan and Murph proceeded and I joined Judy's group as they were riding more slowly that day. Their lead rider, Ken W, was recovering from laser surgery on his left eye and they were willing to let me tag along. We left US 90 and proceeded along country lanes on a route recommended by local cyclists. I made it to the next stop and had some lunch in addition to more liquids, including a V8.
We left and soon headed into urban cycling across Tallahassee. Again, we were following a route suggested by local cyclists. However, I had forgotten how hilly the terrain is in that city. I had to stop frequently and once walked my bike up a hill. Judy's group was very kind and patiently waited for me as we slowly made our way to the eastern side of the city. We finally parted ways at mile 70 with the group going to their motel just outside the eastern edge of Tallahassee on US 90. I rode on making one more stop to drink a large Coke and then to my motel.
This evening we completed a rendezvous, planned last year with Lee and Randy, friends from Winston-Salem and Atlanta. Rose, Murph and Judy joined Nan, Lee, Randy and me for a lovely dinner at the Cypress Restaurant. We all had lots to talk about and the evening was a nice break in routine. Finally got back to the hotel and in bed by 11 pm but sleep fitfully.
Day 46- DeFuniak Springs to Marianna
Tuesday, April 21- 69 miles
Sorry no pictures on this day. I met Rose, Murph and Alan at the town library. I rode up from a motel south of town and they rode in from the campground on the north side. Today's route took us around the small lake and through the historic district of DeFuniak Springs before resuming the easterly direction along US90. We made good time through much of the same route that I had traversed during the Bike Florida event, now three weeks ago.
We reached the lunch stop before 11 am, so we all decided to proceed on to Marianna and have lunch at Bistro Palms, the nice place JJ and I discovered two weeks earlier through Trip Advisor. We were not disappointed and enjoyed a leisurely lunch on their patio. Afterwards we proceeded to the Arrowhead Lake campground and the motel, a bit further south where Nan and I stayed. We returned, first for a frozen chocolate yogurt shake for me and then later a sumptuous dinner at the campground. Very pleasant day and evening.
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