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How I Ruined My Heart Surgery with an Email
I know what you’re thinking…well, I know what I’d be thinking if I were reading this as opposed to writing it. What does this mean? How is it even possible and what does it say about me? Want some answers? I’ll try my best to make sense of it all for you.
The title is 100% accurate. I was scheduled to have minor heart surgery (Cardiac Ablation) yesterday to try and get my AFib (Atrial Fibrillation) under control or even better, eliminated once and for all. Atrial Fibrillation (AFib or AF), according to the American Heart Association is a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications. At least 2.7 million Americans are living with AFib. Instead of recovering in the hospital on my way to a life without suffering anymore, I’m writing this article because I couldn’t be bothered to read an entire email!
I have a tremendous team of doctors, surgeons and staff helping me through this process and I screwed it all up. In my defense, albeit a weak one at that, the instructions I received in that email told me, in its very first sentence, that I was to take my medications the morning of the procedure with just enough water to get the pills down. I typically take two to three pills a day and I assumed I was all set after following these instructions. What I failed to…
