I won't be buying a lottery ticket with either you or Marj, Beth!

I reckon that if all of these things were lined up and coming your way, might as well all come together, leaves the way clear ahead.

Get well soon.

P.S sending you some virtual chocolate (low carb, low fat, low sugar, gluton free)

I must have!

As if all this business with AF wasn't enough, I'm having a flareup of Ulcerative Colitis again, so I'm back on the dreaded Prednisone. Not sure if that's from the new heart meds or stress, or both. I see the Cardiologist tomorrow, so will discuss all that with him.

But wait, there's more... I have a skin cancer on my nose! It came up very quickly and is about 3mm in diameter. (I hope I've got the mm right..the smallest marks on my dressmakers tape measure.) But they have to cut an area of about 2cm in diameter, so will require a skin graft and plastic surgery.

So I've been having a bit of a pity party for myself for the last few days. Then something reminded me that there's plenty of people a lot worse off than me.

Travel Bug, Pam, has had a bit of a rough trot for awhile, and she's now found out that her adult granddaughter, who's been unwell for quite a while, may have a brain tumour. She won't be answering emails etc for awhile, so no need to send her messages, but I thought by telling you all that you may say a prayer, send good vibes, loving thoughts, or whatever your beliefs are.

As for me, I'm not looking for sympathy, just informing friends of my situation.

Thanks Lynda and Bill.

I plan to go up to Deb & Lee's, who you both know, for some R&R whenever I can get away. Maybe May.

Sorry to hear of all your health problems Beth.  Hope things improve for you very soon. 

Chris

Thinking of you both Beth.   I can't believe Pam went to all that trouble for me with that going on. 

Funny, but a friend of mine up here has exactly the same thing going on with her nose at the moment.  She's got one on her foot as well.

Just do everything you have to, and try not to stress about things.  That only makes things worse.

Take Care,

Sheba.

Thanks all.

I bumped into friends at the shopping centre today, and they said a prayer for me right there in the middle of the mall, holding hands with me, with no hesitation or embarrassment at all. With normal speech too, not lowering his voice.

I must admit, I was a little embarrassed. I'm not a religous person as such, but I am a christian with my own beliefs. He wrote down my ailments in a book, apparently to take to church to have the assembly pray for me too.

So I left them feeling very blessed that they would do that for me.

Beth, sometimes it must be so hard to keep smiling but there must be light at the end of the tunnel soon, keep positive and know that you have lots of GN friends thinking of you.   Hugs and rainbows to you, cheers  Capricorn

I must admit, I went straight from Molescan to a girlfriends yesterday, and had a cry and hugs. I stayed a good few hours actually. She's a very supportive friend to me.

But I've felt a bit better today, and trying to think positive about all the ailments. But yes, it is hard at times.

Thanks c&p. Very much appreciate the support of my GN friends as well.

The human mind is the most powerful thing on earth Beth.   Just think of all those minds praying for you.  Remember too, that "thoughts are things".

Cheers,

Sheba.

Hi Beth,

I have suffered from both SVT (super ventricular tachacardia) and skin cancer for 20+ years.

The SVT really gets me down sometimes as it is so unpredictable and ends up with an emergency dash to the hospital.

Last year 2012,  was having a BBQ on Bruny Island with a group of friends, when I my wife passed a nice BBQ'd steak to me.  I had one bite and said I didn't feel like it and wanted to go back to our boat.  Fortunately one of our friends is a retird GP, he asked what was wrong and took my pulse.  "AF" we got back onboard and he took charge and motored the yacht back to the mainland where an ambulance was waiting.

Upon getting into the ambulance the paramedic announced that I had gone into SVT also and he was very concerned that any medication or treatment was extremely dangerous as they were the opposite.

Got out of IC and felt terribly depressed, never had AF and SVT before, was booked in to see a mainland specialist, my wife and I travelled to Melbourne to see him and got a phone call to say the appointment had been cancelled.  $1,000+ out of pocket and no future appointment.

I got veryy angry, told everyone to stuff it and for myself to "get over it" haven't had any problems since. My cardiologist here in Hobart is pleased.

Skin cancer, no problems, have had so many "procedures" I think I am a 500 piece jigsaw.

Purpose of this post is to wish you all the best, it's not as bad as it first seems and I'm positive that you will come through with fkyinf colours.

Ken

So I've been back to the Cardiologist today, and he was pleased with the ECG I had before seeing him. He's dropped the dosage of Amiodrone from 200 to 100. He said his plan is to get that dosage down as low as possible, which I was happy about.

One benefit to having Prednisone is it gives me some energy, which I needed today! Finding my way around the PA to departments I hadn't been to before...so much walking!

Ken, that must have been very scary. I used to get SVT, when this Dr H did an ablation in '08 and fixed it. So I completely know where you're coming from. The drug they give you is ED is weird, to say the least. For the benefit of others, it actually stops your heart for a split second and then it restarts. It gives you the strangest scariest feeling. When I had the AF the first time, it was getting pretty high at times..I think the highest I saw was 175.

But to have AF and SVT together..jeez!

Thanks Sheba and Ruth. I appreciate your words of wisdom.

Beth,

When I reached the Emergency they gave me a dose of ED, the nurse said "Gee, I have never seen a reaction like that" not what I wanted to hear (my wife was watching) the doctor cleared my wife out, I heard her on the phone, tallking to a cardio and then she came back and said, "Give him a double dose." and went out to organise it. Nurse "I have never heard them do this before"  Heart rate 210. The second dose was like being hit by the Melbourne/Sydney express, without any change in heart rate.

I knew then that once again this hospital was incompetent.

The moved me up to IC and I tried to get some sleep? The next morning the nurse come to change the drip, looked at the heart rate 187 and said, "It's no use giving you a ECG" and went of to get a drip.  While she was away (about 5 minutes) the heart "clicked" back to normal.

I have on several occassions been in the ambulance with an ECG rate of over 240.

I carry my own portable ECG with me.

The specialist that cancelled on me in Melbourne was going to perform an Ablation.

At the moment this is the least of my health troubles.

I officially joined the ranks of the "handicapped" this year, because of chronic back pain, I cannot walk very far and mobility is limited.

No way will I let it beat me, still go yachting (wife does the hard work) caravaning (same wife) etc, I just hope that she doesn't wear out.

Good luck the less drugs the better.

ken