"The Incident"

From an email sent Dec 24, '03

I just wanted to send this out to all my friends to let you all know I am ok. Some of you know what happened and some of you don't so I will sum it up here.

On Dec 14 I got that terrible stomach bug that was going around. I was very sick for the whole week, not able to eat more than a cracker or a piece of dry toast... totally pathetic. I went to work for about 2 hours on Thursday and had to go home again (lumbering pasty guy was scaring the ladies in the mail room). Pukey Pukerson, that was me... BAH!

At 5:30am Dec 19 I had a what the ER doc originally called a heart attack (or heart failure) but he was later proved wrong. Myocarditis is what the cardiologist, Dr. Randy Williams, said it was. I was admitted to the Cardiac Unit at the Royal Alex and hooked up to all kinds of crazy things. I also underwent a procedure called an Angiogram (ask me about this and I will make you cringe, writhe and possibly faint). For angiogram-ish reasons my right arm kind of bruised, swollen and achy for now. Although it is feeling much better this morning (still typing this one handed though). Anyway, the myo-pericarditis was brought on by the flu (not a heart condition or an unhealthy lifestyle) and it should leave no residual effects on me. I will have that diagnosis verified in a few weeks when they want me to come back for more tests. For now I am resting at my mom's house and feeling pretty ok. I even went to see LOTR - Return of the King on Monday... But then had to come home and nap right after... weak...

Anyway... Happy Holidays to everyone. Drop me an email or give me a call. If you have invited me out anywhere, needless to say, I will not be coming... but I wish I was. Have a stick of carrot and a cranberry-soda for me.

From an email sent on Jan 8, '04

I am doing ok. I am getting stronger and faster but still not up to Brock speed. Sigh... My incision is healing nicely, you can hardly even see it, and my right hand is back to nearly normal. I have only been working 3 hours a day this week (first week back to work in a month!) and that is pretty good. Enough to get work done but not enough to get too tired. Yay.

I found out Tuesday night from the doc (a nice young fellow named Dr. VanVuuren) that I have high cholesterol. BAH! It is not very high and he is pretty certain I can drop it easily with a diet change. So here I am sipping my soy milk latte with a fridge full of low fat food and tons of fresh fruit and veggies. YAY! That will be good for me anyway. I have already lost a bunch of weight due to being sick and this will get me good and healthy now! Sigh... no more butter chicken or fried cheese I guess...

An email sent Jan 20, '04

Monday night around 6:30 I got a terrible tightness in my chest and pain when I breathed. I ignored it for a while thinking it was heart-burn from the vegetable soup I made (how does home-made vegetable soup give you that bad of heart-burn?!). Then around 9:00 I got kind of scared when my heart made three big thumps so I called my sister and she took me to the hospital. They whisked me right in. The triage nurse asked me why the hell I didn't call an ambulance... oops... but I honestly didn't think of it.

The docs were concerned it was the pericarditis and/or myocarditis flaring up. All the tests I went through during the 20 hours I was in the hospital indicated that there is nothing TOO bad going on in my heart so... we are just keeping an eye on it and a low profile for a couple days. BAH... I am tired, scared and emotional. I am getting really sick of all this. I go to see my Cardiologist on Feb. 12th. That day of testing, poking and prodding will hopefully end all this and I will be able to resume normal Brock life... I will keep you posted.

An email from February 12, '04

I just got back from seeing my Cardiologist for my much anticipated, super big, follow up appointment. After all I have been through in the last two months, plus today's Echo, ECG, and a bunch of pokes and prods I am happy, relieved, not-quite-sunk-in-yet to say that I have been given the green light to go back to living a normal Brock life. My heart is working at full capacity, pumping, beating and carrying on the way a healthy heart should. No damage, no blockage and no sign of that pesky myocarditis! The doctor even went so far as to say "You can forget this ever happened"!

PHEW and HOORAY!

Email sent on February 24, '04

I just got back from City Hall and the Health and Wellness - Heart Check Fair, where I had my cholesterol checked and... it is perfect! The RN that was taking my info works at the Cardiac Rehab Unit at the UofA hospital and according to her you are not supposed to have any blood work done for at least 6 weeks after a major heart problem. Before that time it will be all out of whack and will pretty much always produce a high cholesterol reading. SO it has been about 9 weeks now and that is the good time to have it checked and... it is 4.89 (healthy range is anything less than 5.25). WHOOPA!

The thing that bugs me is that it probably never was high... I did all this good eating, exercising and losing nearly 30 lbs for nothing... HA HA!

Emailed on March 23, '05

Hey everybody. Thanks to all of you who heard the news and called and/or emailed in the last few days. I really do appreciate your concern!

Just to catch you up (or fill you in):
Last Friday at noonish I went in to the Royal Alex Hospital due to chest pains and shortness of breath... again... They had started the night before but I was attributing them to some rich bison I had eaten... dumb... Anyway, by 11pm (still in ER) I had tubes and wires going in me everywhere, had gone bradicardic, asystolic, fainted a couple times and was being a royal pain for everyone so I was admitted to the CCU. They hooked me up to everything, did x-rays, echos, ECGs, I had a Holter Monitor AND a Telemetry Pack (google those and you will see how lucky I am)... you name it and I had it connected to me. After spending a glorious 5 nights in the CCU and Unit 24 I was discharged yesterday and am now resting at home. We still have no idea why I have recurring Pericarditis or what brought it on this time. I am still waiting for some of the Rheumatologist's blood tests to come back and I should be getting TB tests too. I intend on going to see ALL the specialists again and again to get to the bottom of this. In the meantime I am enjoying some down time. Doctor's orders.

If I was supposed to do anything for anyone in the last few days I apologize but you understand how time flies when you are unconscious... Heh heh, sigh... I will be SLOWLY returning to normal life and work next Tuesday or so. Not before. Doctor's orders.

Hope you all are well. I will give you the gory details, if you want them, over a cran-and-soda later next week.

PS. Paul, thanks again for covering my show on Friday. In between doses of morphine I was determined to make it to the club. The nurses laughed at me... a lot.

Dec 19, 2005...

Since the beginning of August I have been through every test known to man... ok, maybe not that many but still: Another Echo, 3 EKGs, two 24 hour Holter monitors, a MIBI rest and a stress, a Remmers sleep study, a RAST, a test on my Adrenal gland (which involved peeing in the same jug for 24 hours... that is a lot of pee!) and many many blood tests. I have tried two SSRI medications and an anti-anxiety drug but none were as effective as their side-effects were bothersome. I was even off work from September 7th to October 11th (thanks to good old Gov't health benefits). I have an appointment with the cardiologist, Dr. Randy Williams, this Thursday (Dec 22). Hopefully he will have some answers and/or solutions for my arrhythmia, dizziness and lack of energy. I will keep you posted.

Dec 23, 2005.

So the appointment with Dr. Williams went very well... I guess. He says that I have two types of arrhythmia but neither are life threatening or even really an issue at this point in my life (maybe in 10 years I will need a pacemaker, but maybe not). I have a Premature Atrial Contraction (PAC) during the day and a Wenkebach (long, longer, lack, must be wenkebach) at night. He is sending me for a Tilt Table test on Feb. 8th but he doesn't think it will find anything. It is just in case. Sounds like an adventure in itself. I will have to write more about it afterwards.

So once again I have a clean bill of heart health! YAY! But... I still have dizziness, trembling, muscle twitches and sudden drops in energy (as well as the thumps in my chest which I guess I can ignore now... no matter how difficult that is). So I am happy about my heart but perplexed about my symptoms. I guess it is back to the GP with me for more referrals. I am getting my allergies tested again soon to rule them out. The RAST test told me that I have no allergies and yet I cannot wear wool or be near feathers... I have allergies. I do. And maybe they are too blame. Or maybe I have a tumor. Or maybe I am just nutz.

Feb 8, 2006.

Just got back from the Tilt Table Test and it was a resounding success! Dr. Fenske was very pleased. I guess they don't get many positive results there and I was a "very strong positive". I lost consciousness and went asystolic (for 20 or 30 seconds) within 4 or 5 minutes. Usually people hang out at the 70° angle for half an hour and still have no symptoms. Then they inject you with some adrenalin type stuff and try it again. I didn't need any of that. Sigh...

Dr. Fenske recommends that I get a pacemaker. He will pass his suggestion on to Dr. Williams (my cardiologist) and Dr. Williams will make an appointment to see me. There apparently is a drug therapy they can try before the pacemaker but Dr. Fenske says being that my result was so strongly positive he would suggest going straight for the pacemaker.

So, I guess I am happy to finally have all the info and a treatment that will improve my quality of life. I am not so happy about being 34 years old and getting a pacemaker... but I am pretty tired of the thumping in my chest and the dizziness, weakness and everythng else. Plus word on the street is that pacemakers are not so bad. It is a 2 hour surgery and then every 6 months it needs to be read and every 8-10 years it needs a new battery. Doesn't sound that bad... I guess. So, Now I wait to see Dr. Williams and try not to pass out too often in the meantime.

March 9, 2006.

So, Dr. Williams had me have yet another (3rd in less than a year) 24 hour Holter Monitor on Feb 28th. I now have an appointment to see Dr. Williams on April 6th but as you can imagine I am getting anxious to find out what is going on so today I went to see Dr. Ngan. He went through the Tilt Table results and the Holter results with me and everything is still pointing to a Pacemaker. During the Holter test I had 5 instances where my Sinus Node did not fire so my AV Node did instead (to make the Atrium beat). I also had 2 instances where neither my Sinus node nor my AV node fired so my Ventricle beat by itself. None of these were a problem because they did not happen consecutively. I also had one period where my heart actually stopped beating completely for 2.15 seconds (which is not a big deal out of 73,000 beats). But the most important, or telling, part of the test was that my heart rate fluctuated between 114 beats per minute and 34 bpm. Anything under 50 bpm is not good (makes you dizzy and faint and stuff) and is associated with a Bradycardic Arrhythmia. So, that seems to go along very well with the tilt table results and both problems (as well as any crazy arrhythmia stuff) will be corrected by a Pacemaker.

Dr. Ngan also agreed that the Pacemaker surgery is a very easy procedure and my recovery will be full and complete. I will be able to do everything I did before but without the dizziness. So that sounds good to me! Now I just have to pass the next 4 weeks until I see Dr. Williams and then hope the surgery date does not interfere with our trip to Greece! Yeesh...

March 22, 2006.

No pacemaker yet and I am back on SSRI medication.

I saw Dr. Williams on Monday (they called and moved my appointment so I didn't have to wait 4 weeks) and he is really reluctant to put a pacemaker in me at such a young age. Potentially 60 years with a pacemaker is a lot of years for leads to fail, infections to happen, batteries to change and general upkeep. Also, with the erratic symptoms I have, he is quite certain I would only feel slightly better with a pacemaker, not 100% better. He showed me on my Holter results where the pacemaker would actually kick-in and it is not really that often due to how my arrhythmias work. He and I both agreed that it would be pretty darn upsetting to have a pacemaker installed (?) and still be dizzy, thumpy and blacking out. He also wants to be sure they have tried everything else possible first. Which is a good thing... I guess... but how Dr. Fenske reacted to the Tilt Table and what Dr. Ngan said about my test results really lead me to believe that a pacemaker was the solution we were looking for and I got my hopes up that I would soon finally feel better. Now I am back to trying things. I know that is better than having a pacemaker that I might not 100% need in my chest for the rest of my life (apparently the surgery to have one removed is bad) but it is still hard to wrap my head around.

So, I have a whole set of side effects to get used to from the meds but perhaps they will make me feel better (Dr. Williams says he has had good luck with them for symptoms like mine). They are also sending me to see a Neurologist in case my brain is the problem, but that appointment is scheduled for, get this, July 12th! In the meantime I guess I will take my meds and get even better at waiting.

Oh yeah, Dr. Williams said that it is not a problem that my heart rate drops down to 34 bpm when I am at rest. The heartbeat itself is steady and strong so it is just a sign of me being fit and healthy. Me and Lance Armstrong! According to Lance's website his Resting Heart Rate is 32-34 and his Max Heart Rate is 201. My Resting is 34-36 but I have never had my Max over 170. Gotta work on that!

Aug 10, 2006.

I just realized I haven't been keeping this page up to date so I will attempt to recap:

March 10th I flew to Toronto and my ears popped on the plane, the way they always do, but my left one stayed plugged well after landing. It also started ringing constantly. I thought it would go away on its own... it didn't. I went to a medi-clinic before me and Paul's gig on March 18th and the doc there said don't worry it would go away on its own. It didn't. I went to see Dr. Ngan and he told me to get a hearing test and come back in a couple weeks if it hadn't gotten better. It hadn't gotten better and my hearing was about 40 decibels lower that it was in September (last time I had a hearing test). Dr. Ngan sent me for an MRI on April 22nd to rule out a tumor in my ear (acoustic neuroma), luckily I didn't have one (and my tattoo was fine in the MRI machine). Phew... Dr. Ngan said I probably have Meniere's Disease but should wait until I see Dr. Stewart (neurologist) to find out for sure.

The SSRIs Dr. Williams put me on back in March were terrible. I felt awful on them. Nauseous, dizzy, tired, diarrhea all that good stuff. I stayed on them for 4 weeks and then stopped, like he said I should. Dr. Ngan said I shouldn't have trouble coming off them because I was only on them for 4 weeks... I did have trouble even though I eased myself off for a week. I had electric shocks (not real ones) in my head, shivers, mood swings, I was angry and irritable, it was not fun at all. But that only lasted about a month and then I was fine again... actually better than ever.

Ellie and I went to Greece in May and just before we left I got a stomach bug that flattened me. My vasovagal syncope acted up and I ended up wedged between the tub and the toilet at home (passed out) and Ellie called an ambulance. I "bradded out" two more times in the hospital and they kept me for 24 hours to make sure I was ok. They sent me home telling me to eat more salt and that there was nothing they could do about my syncope... which I guess goes a long with Dr. Williams' feelings too. We went to Greece for 16 days and I really felt much better than I had in a long time for the whole trip. I hardly was dizzy and my thumps were few and far between! Still had tinnitus in my left ear and was pretty deaf... but I felt better!

July 12th I finally got to see Dr. Stewart (neurologist). He did some quick tests and then said that he thinks I have Meniere's Syndrome (same thing Dr. Ngan suspected). He sent me home with some Hydrochlorothiazide to take for 2-3 weeks to see if it helps. He called it a "chemistry test". If it helps then I have Meniere's, if it doesn't help I probably don't have it. So, I took my first pill on July 13th. By noon I was dizzy, tunnel vision, and had wicked stomach cramps and by 2:30 I couldn't get off my office floor and had thrown up in every garbage can in the office. Sigh... Ellie came and got me and took me home. I started to get worse so my mom and her agreed I should go to the hospital. There was no way I could get up, so they called an ambulance. Again... I begged them not to, but they did anyway. After laying around in the hospital for hours, my heart had not done anything odd AT ALL and I was feeling much better so we determined it was a stomach bug and not the meds and sent me home.

It is now August 10 and I am on day 5 of the Hydrochlorothiazide again. Today I am fine but the first few days of the meds were not so good. Extra dizzy, more heart thumps, nausea, head aches, stomach cramps... so on. I think I am getting used to the pills but I don't know that they are helping. I guess I have over a week left before I am supposed to call Dr. Stewart to check in. So, here I am waiting for meds to work, or not work, again... but this time I am not worried much about my heart. Just my hearing and dizziness. The heart seems to have calmed down. Let's hope it stays that way!

Nov 17, 2006.

So, Dr. Stewart bailed on me. He sent word that "there is nothing more he can do for me". I was on the Hydrochlorothiazide for 3 weeks and then Diamox (Acetolamide) for 11 days (ended just before Waynefest on Sept 6). The Hydrochlorothiazide did nothing and the Diamox did nothing but make my feat and hands tingle and go numb. I think my ear got worse too, but it fluctuates all the time so it is hard to say. Anyway, that is it for Dr. Stewart. One visit, two medications and he is out.

On Sept 12th, Dr. Te sent me for some blood glucose tests and an abdominal ultrasound to rule out diabetes and any other organs making a mess... and rule them out he did.

Sept 27th I went back to Dr. Ngan to see if he had any more ideas and he gave me some Serc. It actually worked remarkable well. I took two pills per day and aside from some "loose-stool" I was pretty fine.

I went to see a Physiotherapist (Blair Graham) that deals with dizziness on Oct 10th. He did a few tests, some that made me nauseous and some that did nothing, and gave me a bunch of exercises to do on a daily basis to help my body use more than just my inner-ear to keep balanced. One of the tests he did was pretty interesting - he put goggles on me that blocked light and my vision all together. In one eye of the goggles there was a camera that showed my eye on a screen that he could see. He moved my head into different positions to see what my eyes did. From that he could tell that my brain thinks it is constantly turning over my right shoulder (my eyes were tracking to the left like they would if I were turning to the right, away from an object, but still trying to see it). Weird. But it explains a lot and keeps with Meniere's effecting my left ear.

Finally got in to see Dr. Ditoppa (the ENT) on Oct 19th. He was swift and efficient, like all specialists, and had my Eustachian tubes looked at (with a tube up my nose), my hearing tested, my ear pressure tested and other things I probably didn't even know about before I knew what was going on. He diagnosed me with Meniere's Disease (just as Dr. Stewart and Dr. Ngan had) and put me on Water Pills (just as Dr. Stewart had). He told me to cut down my salt intake but to not go too crazy (Dr. Williams and the Cardiologist in ER always told me to eat more salt... this concerns me). He said I could take the Serc sometimes, if I needed to, but to stick with the Indapamide (Lozol) on a daily basis for a few months (3 - 6 - a year). He ordered some tests for me (vestibular balance tests) that he said I would not like but would give them the best idea of what is going on in my ear. That was Oct 19 and it is now Nov 17 and I still have not heard a peep about these tests.

In the last few days (maybe up to 10 days) I have been feeling kind of weak and tired and anxious and dizzy. I wasn't that worried about it until Wednesday this week. I was actually so dizzy and weak that I had to go home from work after lunch. I called Dr. William's office and they set up a Holter Monitor for me for Thursday morning. I felt rotten the entire time I wore it, fighting off anxiety attacks, dizziness, heart thumps, black outs all the old stuff I thought I was done with months ago, but that is alot better than feeling good while wearing the monitor. I also called Dr. Ditoppa's office to see if it could be the Indapamide doing this to me... they doubted it but they said I could go off of it until I see the Dr next Friday (that was the soonest they could get me in). Later that night Ellie and I developed a theory that the Indapamide was depleting my potassium and that was what was making me feel rotten (all the symptoms in hermedical book fit perfectly) so I called Mom and asked her to get Dr. Te to write up a requisition for blood work - potassium, sodium and ECG. This morning I took an Ativan and headed in for the test, dropped off my holter at the Alex, and headed home and back to bed. No work for me today. I just got the call from Mom and my sodium is on the "high side of normal" and my potassium is normal... damn! So what the hell is going on? We have a new theory that I ate some under-cooked chicken on Tuesday and that this is just mild food poisoning... could be... who knows.

Anyway, I should get some results from the holter at some point soonish and I have a Cardiac Stress Test book for Dec 14th (Dr. Williams will be there for that). I guess we will see if my heart is really acting up, if it is the Meniere's making me feel bad or... who knows. I guess I will stick with the Indapamide for now since it doesn't seem to be doing anything bad to me. I sure don't want any huge Meniere's episodes again if this is what it feels like!