In the hospital finally converted and

My cardiologist stopped my sotolol yesterday and admitted me to the hospital today. I converted to sinus rhythm at 5 pm. So I feel much better. Hope this new medicine stabilizes my heart for surgery. I am ready to take this step and make a new me for the rest of my life. I want to be active and vibrant.

Ok that was Friday the 17th it is now the 23rd I got out of the hospital Monday and I went right to work. Started working out yesterday with my resistance bands felt good about that and then went to my first support group meeting. Got home had an unjury shake for dinner and then boom went into fib. It is different slower no head ache but still way wack. So I went to work feel ok can't walk far but I am trying to ignore it til it goes away. Oh and my damn tire has a slow leak so I had to put air in it before work too.
Yesterday I took a whole list of questions and wrote em up and called my cardiologist and bypass docs office . Got some answers still a lot to figure out. Here they are:

Ok so I am a nurse(almost 30 years now) I am most likely a PIA(pain in the a$$) to all my doctors because I "guide" my care and treatment, ask a lot of questions, and question their answers with a lot of data and research. The list below is the q&a for my RNY surgery 9/25/12. bluepoint is my gastric bypass doctors group, I have a cardiologist and a PCP or primary care physician, and a cardic surgeon to place my IVC filter.

Doctor questions

Bluepoint doctor questions
Q: Pain control post op for arthritis Meds that can be liquid or crushed?
***no NSAID's****
A:
Q:Is there a bowel prep diet pre op
A: no
Q: Expected length of stay in hospital
A: 2 days
Cardiology and PCP questions:
Q: What are my needed meds post op?
Tikosyn per cardiologist- can it be opened and added to liquid to take?
Kdur – will be on k added fluids in hospital and monitored
Magnesium
? Actos glipizide will be off these after surgery and on a sliding scale insulin. Recommended sugar control pre op suggested sliding scale insulin now (ask my pcp to write for the insulin)
Q: Lovenox? Since I need to be off 5 days pre IVC placement and 4 days pre RNY surgery are we concerned about stroke risk? I am! Also optifast will it affect my Afib or electrolyte balance ? Bluepoint wants cardiologist to adjust my cardiac meds on optifast if needed.
A

IVC filter DOCTOR q's (cardiac surgeon)
Q: Stop Coumadin prior to insertion when?
A: 5 days prior
Q:When and where procedure done A: Fairfax or fairoaks
Q:Anesthesia used propofol?
A:General
Q: IS MAC/PROPOFOL an option
A:
Q: Do they (IVC placement doctor) need clearance from cardiology and PCP prior to IVC placement A:no

What a day

I am still in AFib feel like my head will explode and I am dizzy and weak. Can I cry now? When will this stop? I have a cardiology appointment tomorrow morning. Will be discussing changing my meds this weekend which will entail being hospitalized :( this situation has made my desire to have WLS even more imperative. I want to have the ablation procedure to cure the AFib. They will not perform t on a morbidly obeses patient. So I must lose the weight first. I sure as hell hope my heart behaves for surgery! 

More a fib sighhhh and thoughts about time off work

I am wondering about how much time off i will need to take post op. I was hoping to get back to work in 2 weeks because I dont have alot of pto. I have to use one week of pto paid time off( they lump vacation and sick time together) then I can use short term disability , which is 2/3 of my pay. I was really hoping to get back to work in 2 weeks but I think now I should plan for more like 3-6 weeks. I first didn't think about std just thought I would use pto but I don't  even have enough. I live with my son and daughter in law so we share expenses and I will have help both physically and financially.  I am hoping 66% of my pay will be enough for a month or so. I can supplement with my pto but I just don't have much and as I am writing this I am home sick because my darn heart is acting up (atrial fib) I have had it since 2004 but has historically been infrequent til 9 days ago. I have now had 3 episodes. 2 lasted 24 hr each still in this one Been over 12 hours. I might need my meds changed which requires hospitalization and cardiac monitoring sighhhh . I had planned to visit my 19 y/o daughter this w/e and have reserved a room at a hotel. Now I might have to be in the hospital sheesh. Can I get a break here

Atrial fib wtf plus mrsa

Ok since 2004 I have had intermittent bouts with atrial fib. My heart is rapid irregular and weak.  It makes my head hurt and I can't exert myself at all. I used to go to the ER and they would try medication , it never worked, then they would admit me, monitor me and schedule a cardio version. I would always convert to normal sinus rhythm before the cardioversion. I got sick of going to the ER so I now live in a anticoagulated state on Coumadin and have short acting antiarrythmic medication that I take every four hours until I convert. There is a surgical option but my wt precludes the surgery.
 In light of my scheduled wls I am thinking about this on two levels
one that I will have an episode before during or after surgery and
two that achieving wt loss will allow me to have  the surgery to put a stop to theses debilitating episodes.
 Unfortunately in the past week I have had the first episode in over a year lasting over 24 hours and then another episode also lasting 24 hours. So my concern about it interfering with my wls is very real. Also I had to use 12 hours of paid time off on friday and I need every hour for my time off for surgery.

Then there is my MRSA which is meth resistant staph aureous. This infection used to be named a nosocomial or hospital acquired infection but they changed it to MRSA and now it seems to be treated like leprosy. You are labelled for life and isolated whenever you are in the hospital. Which means i get a private room which works for me but it irritates me that I am treated like a leper and the hospital the freaking source of the microorganism is absolved of all blame or responsibility.

I feel like Michael phelps

I am hopefully experiencing the LAST of a number of things:

The last time I come to the beach on vacation and have fear of being able to get out of the ocean

The last time I slow the family down 

The last time I am unable to help chase the baby down especially because we will soon have two babies in  the house :) 

Painful yet inspiring thoughts

I live in Washington DC, city living is not designed for obese people. Parking is a bear! I hate it but when I get a good spot it does make my day lol. That's another thing I will enjoy: not worrying if I have to park far because the walking won't be painful! A painful situation happened to me last year. I am a nurse and I have worked in labor and delivery for 18 years, it is my calling. last year I moved back here from TN and tried to do a travel assignment but was not mobile enough and they fired me. It was horribly painful physically trying to keep up and emotionally when I failed. I got a Full time night shift job at the hospital I had worked in before I moved to TN in 2007. Nights was hard and my ability to be fast enough came up after 6 months during a time I had become infected with MRSA. I was put on leave, paid fortunately, due to the infection. then I got THE call from my boss and human resources questioning my physical ability to perform my job. They kept me on paid leave while they decided what to do with me eventually sending me to a desk job 9-5 in PST pre surgical testing. There I call patients before surgery to obtain a history and advise them on medications and directions to the unit. I really like the hours and the people are very nice. But I feel like a failure. In the end it is the best thing for me right now. I really answer to no one as I am still on L&d's Payroll so I can go to doc appts and take vacation whenever I need. Also It's really nice to be on days. I hated nights especially where I live. Because I was going with major traffic both directions which sucked after working a 12 hour night shift. So all in all this Job is helping me to attain my goal to have the RNY surgery and achieve my wt loss. Things do work out the way they are supposed to. That's my story and I am sticking to it lol!
PS It occurs to me that I need to lose not only a full person (in body wt) but indeed to lose A FAT person. Which philosophically speaking is just what I need to do LOSE a FAT person physically and mentally.