I remember it being mentioned. Glad things are going well.
----- Original Message -----
From: "don bishop" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 11:28 PM
Subject: Re: Lloyd's Hospital Adventures
> 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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>>
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