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I’ll never know what caused the terrifying heart event, which kept me in hospital for three days at Mediclinic in Nelspruit. Was it the vigorous walking we’d done for many days? If there were something lifestyle-wise that I could do to prevent it, I wouldn’t hesitate to incorporate it into my daily life.
I asked the doctor if it could have been stress-related, and he said it was unlikely. Besides, I wasn’t feeling stressed. I was excited about continuing our world journey, especially looking forward to the upcoming three months in The Villages in Florida, where we’ll have an opportunity to see many old and new friends.
Please, if you are planning to get together, don’t hesitate to contact us so we can do so. If you’ve already contacted us to get together, we will reach out to you as soon as we’re settled. and get our passport renewals mailed to the company we’ll be using in Washington, DC.
The cardiologist didn’t restrict my activities since I wasn’t partaking in any activities that could cause such an outrageous heart event. I refuse to live my life in fear of another such event occurring. That would create stress. I have medication to take in case these symptoms occur again in the future, which hopefully can put an end to such an occurrence. Of course, it’s expected that I’d be a little concerned flying on the 17-hour flight from Johannesburg to Atlanta, let alone the other two shorter flights along the way.
But I am not going to let myself focus on that. Instead, I will look forward to arriving in Florida and beginning the next leg of our worldwide journey after spending so much time in Marloth Park, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed. We will miss it, the people and the wildlife.
The three days I lay in that bed in ICU passed quickly with so much activity around me. My sisters (nurses) took great care of me, and the kitchen staff worked hard to ensure that I only received healthy food for my two meals a day; no sugar, no starch, no crisps, and no unhealthy vegetable oils. My eggs were cooked in butter, and I was served meaty back bacon.
One of the nights, Tom brought me leftover dinner from Marloth Park in a chill box covered with bags of ice. Also, he included the balance of my keto chocolate cake from the farewell party. What a treat that was! Dinner the last night was two chicken legs with thighs attached with delicious zucchini and cauliflower, actually seasoned well. I was surprised by how good it tasted. I didn’t eat much for most of the three days, but those few good meals meant a lot.
On the second day, we were instructed to head to the cardiologist’s office for cardiac and carotid ultrasounds. Since we didn’t have an appointment, we waited for some time, me in a wheelchair, wearing a hospital gown and long pants. About 30 minutes after the tests were completed by his technicians in his office, he opened the door to his office and invited us in.
We were thrilled to hear that everything looked good on the scans, other than an anomaly in my right lung which the doctor suspected was one or more pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in the lung) due to the cardiac event. Immediately, he scheduled a CAT scan with iodine contrast to see what was wrong.
Being unable to take a deep breath and gasping for air was concerning, and I was anxious to get the test done and the results revealed. It was only a few hours later that my sister/nurse handed me the results of the scan (I never told the doctor she did this, or she’d have been in trouble for showing this to me).
With the report in my hands, I read through it quickly to see if there were any issues. I couldn’t stop smiling when the report clearly stated there was nothing of any concern anywhere in my chest (including my lungs), stomach, and pelvis. Whew! When the doctor appeared at my bedside with the report in hand, I acted extra pleased with the good news to avoid revealing that I already knew the results to prevent getting the sister/nurse in trouble.
He attributed my breathing problem to being on the drug Amiodarone, by IV, an FDA-designated Black Box drug, only to be used in a life-or-death situation. At that point, as the breathing got worse, I was thrilled when the IV bag ran out of the drug and another was not being used. Thank goodness. I was given this dreadful drug after a similar cardiac event after the original surgery, and cardioversion was required at that time, as it was on Saturday.
No doubt, it was a harrowing few days. I felt relieved to be off the drug, and within hours I could breathe again. The doctor assumed the dangerous drug caused the breathing issue, a common side effect.
On Tuesday morning, the doctor came by and released me from the hospital. Tom arrived shortly later, and we headed to the accounting department to settle the bill we’d paid in advance upon arrival. I am still waiting for the final bill to see if we owe more or if we paid enough upon admission on Saturday. I should receive that today and will share the details in tomorrow’s post.
Well, folks, that’s the story. This morning, awake at 5:30 am, I got up, showered and dressed, and started packing our stuff in the kitchen that we’ll leave in large plastic totes. We’ll only bring a few kitchen items with us. In all, it looks like we’ll be leaving behind three totes and two duffle bags with our stuff, items we’ll use when we return to Marloth Park in 14 months.
Tomorrow, after a quick trip to Komati to pick up the new emergency prescription and stop at Theo’s office to pay the bill from Saturday and also say goodbye one more time to Doc Theo, we’ll return to the house to continue to work on the packing. It’s a bigger task this time than in the past since we’ve been here for so long.
Again, thanks for all the love and concern from countless readers worldwide. Please accept my apology if I failed to respond to your thoughtful messages. There just aren’t enough hours in the day, especially right now.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, April 27, 2013:
While on a cruise with a poor WiFi signal, we couldn’t post any photos on this date. However, there is the text for the post we uploaded on that date. Please click here.
