Hi Lloyd,

Wow!  What an experience.  Sounds like things are pretty much working 
themselves out, but I honestly don't remember you mentioning this last 
year either.

Just keep on truckin.

73


Don W6smb



On 5/4/2010 5:38 PM, Lloyd Rasmussen wrote:
> I shouldn't have mixed two types of information into one message.  I think I
> told people on the list last August, but you may have been gone.
>
> I went into a local hospital (checked myself into the Emergency Room at 5
> AM) with what the nurse called an "interesting-looking" EKG.  I had been
> having trouble breathing, and was reaching the point where I could only
> sleep an hour or two each night, because the breathing was almost impossible
> when I was lying down.  This is congestive heart failure, where fluid
> escapes from the heart and surrounds the lungs, creating almost a drowning
> feeling.  They give you Lasix, which makes your kidneys work harder in order
> to get some fluid out of your body.
>
> After some tests, they said that my ejection fraction was 15 or 20 percent
> (normal is 50 to 70 percent).  I had a "left branch bundle block" which is a
> nerve condition which causes no communication between the left atrium and
> the left ventricle.  Thus, the left ventricle would fire whenever it felt
> like, and the heart had to work much harder than it needed to, causing it to
> weaken and enlarge.
>
> On day 5 they installed a three-lead pacemaker for "cardiac
> resynchronization therapy".  This is the first surgery I had ever had.  I
> woke up and said I was dreaming about transmitting somewhere outside the
> six-meter band.  The technician, from the Phillipines, was a ham, so he knew
> what I was talking about, even if I was a little delirious.
>
> This pacemaker installation is an out-patient procedure, believe it or not,
> and they sent me home the next day.  After some adventures with Lasix, I was
> able to go back to work on August 13 or so.  My ejection fraction is now
> somewhere around 30 or 35 percent, which is sub-normal, but not bad.
>
> So I hope I will be around for a while longer.
> 73,
> Lloyd Rasmussen, W3IUU, Kensington, Maryland
> Home:  http://lras.home.sprynet.com
> Work:  http://www.loc.gov/nls
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> On Behalf Of Phil Scovell
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 6:54 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Reply to Lloyd and others interested
>>
>> ?Lloyd,
>>
>> I hadn't heard this about your heart situation.  I'm assuming you are
>> still
>> able to work and how are things going physically as a result of this
>> otherwise?  I'm sure others on the list would like to know, too.
>>
>> Phil.
>> [log in to unmask]
>> WWW.RedWhiteAndBlue.ORG
>
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