The top diseases in the United States are no longer Heart Disease, Cancer or Diabetes… but Coronavirus 19!
I have Atrial Fibrillation. It is a condition that causes your heart to beat irregularly. It has a number of side effects, enlarging of the heart, thickening of the heart walls, complications of the heart muscle, and most importantly the irregular heart beats may cause blood clots which can lead to a stroke. I have lived with this condition for 15 years.
During that time, I have had major episodes of Atrial Fibrillation 5 times. Out of the 5 times I had to be hospitalized 4 of them, which required a 4 to 5 day stay at the hospital. In which I was on constant monitoring, bags of fluid where used and several medications where given to me intravenously.
The end result, I had to undergo a procedure all 4 times called a cardioversion. The procedure requires you be heavily sedated or under completely, and then they shock your heart through electrodes placed on your chest and/or back to reset your heart and get it back in to rhythm. If successful you are then monitored for up to 8 hours or overnight.
I recently visited my electrophysiologist, and after much discussion we agreed that a procedure known as a Cardiac Ablation was needed to treat my Atrial Fibrillation.
This process includes running a catheter up through a vein or artery in your leg/groin area. The catheter travels all the way to your heart, where a series of, I guess, wires maps out your entire heart. At this point they freeze the bad nerves on your heart reducing or eliminating Atrial Fibrillation all together. I was scheduled to have the procedure done on March 20, 2020.
I underwent the mandatory blood test; I did the anesthesia pre-screen and was set to be at the hospital at 9:30 AM Friday. There is certain amount of added stress getting ready for a procedure like this. And to add to that stress we have all this craziness going on with COVID19.
I received a call on Wednesday around noon from the Hospital. They were sad to inform me that my procedure had been cancelled due to the fact it was elective and not deemed necessary!? Elective!? Necessary!? WHAT!!!??? They lumped me in with the same guy that needs a knee replacement so he can improve his golf game. I asked why it was not included on the lists of approved surgeries and they simply told me that I was considered stable.
I then asked how that is determined, and they replied that I take medications which stabilizes Atrial Fibrillation. This is completely wrong by the way. I do take medications to help regulate the Atrial Fibrillation. But if the medication stabilized the condition then there would be no reason to have the Ablation, if it stabilized the condition then I wouldn’t have spent over 16 days in the hospital over 4 separate occasions! If the medications worked as prescribed, then I would have not had to undergo 4 Cardioversions!
So, if I am thinking this through correctly. My condition is not as important as a disease that does not yet exist in my area. A disease that is not spreading rampantly, yet. And that if it comes down to curing my chronic condition or someone who may or may not have COVID19 then they get my supplies and my room and I am being left to deal with my “stable” condition in the cold. BRILLIANT! WHO IS COMING UP WITH THIS!!!???
I just hope that over the next weeks or months that I don’t have a major episode of Atrial Fibrillation, because then I really will be in trouble, because that is when the hospitals are going to be filled, that is when supplies will be low and that will be when I will be at a much higher risk of actually being exposed to the COVID19 virus! But right now, right now seems like the perfect time to handle these types of procedures.
The sad thing is I have pretty much been onboard from day 1 with preventing the spread of COVID19. And I still agree that we need to prevent or slow the spread of the virus. I am just not sure shutting down our hospitals is the way to do it. It is almost comical when you think about it. The one place you are supposed to be able to go to get treatment when you are injured or sick and you can’t!
As a country I don’t believe that we are trying to slow or stop the spread of CORONA19 any longer, but that we are now in the largest worldwide competition ever to see who can have the least amount of cases of COVID19, and those bragging rights come at any cost…
The good thing that came out of this phone call/cancellation for me is I now know when it comes to decide who lives and who dies? Simply put … it is the person that may or may not be sick.
Sincerely,
Daniel V. DiOrio
Mansfield, Ohio
