Bradycardia Update

 I am making good progress now on the bradycardia/PVC/VPB problem. We are hooked up now with a first class electrophysiologist at Barnes/WashU in St. Louis. He has reviewed the information from Deaconess and spent an hour talking to us. This week I had an electrocardiogram to have a look at my heart working. One ventricle is slightly thickened, but no enlargement. The valves are tight and working properly. This means the problems are definitely electrical. The doctor will be sending a monitor for me to wear several days to check out how my heart responds while working. When Deaconess had a monitor on me they told me to take it easy, and to not work up a sweat, plus, when they had me on the treadmill the technician shut it down too soon. We need information on how my heart responds when I am working hard. The Wash U doctor says to go ahead and work, lift heavy things, split wood, etc., while wearing the monitor. He wants to see how the heart responds while working and then recovering. I have been getting some tachycardia after heavy lifting, and that needs to be looked at. The possible treatments are ablation to control the PVCs and VPBs, a pacemaker to speed up the heart when it goes too slow, or a combination. Sometimes it drops down into the 20s, but mostly at rest it is mid-40s right now. The tachycardia event I had recently had the heart tripping up to 200. It is all very interesting, and a heck of a lot better than clogged arteries or an enlarged heart to deal with. We are encouraged!