I told you I took a month off from blogging to "square some things away." What I didn't tell you is that during that time I spent a night in a sleep lab, took a trip to the ER, visited my my doctor two times, wore a Holter monitor for 24 hours, and was given a stress test.
As it turns out, I have a heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. I won't go into all of the specifics. Basically my heart short circuits with every beat. It sounds scary and it can cause some issues (like fainting or sudden death), but the good news is -- there is a cure. At some point I will need to have an ablation. In the past this meant undergoing open heart surgery; now it's an arthroscopic thing.
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| Sorry if these pictures seem redundant. It was hard to stop myself from taking pictures of this peony. It's been equally hard to decide which ones to share with you, so I'm giving you all my favorites. :) |
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| I overheard my daughter mutter to herself, "My mom is in love with a flower." |
In the mean time, I don't have many restrictions. Of course I should try to avoid things that might make my heart beat 300x a minute (like extreme sports or intense emotional stress). If I feel like I'm going to faint, I should call 911. I can still exercise moderately.
That's about it. I sit down to write about Oliver Twist and all I can think of is, " Oliver Twist is a good book. I like it." It's hard to write about fiction when real life feels so very real.
I've been tossing around whether or not I should say something about this on the blog. This morning I finally decided that I should. This syndrome has been a major factor in my life story. It's always been there, behind the scenes, affecting some of the choices I have made. I don't really feel like this is bad news. It's just news -- really good information for me to have. I'm suddenly aware of how absolutely essential it is to have a prayerful life -- to cast all of my cares on God, to rest and trust in Him constantly.
Thank you for hanging in there with me, dear blog friends. Your encouragement is truly medicine for my heart.
Much love to all.
Adriana
