Leslie Anne Tarabella Southern With a Gulf Coast Accent

Here’s the push you’ve been waiting for . . . call your doctor. Life is good on the other side of illness. 

Today is the 5 year anniversary of my PVI – Pulmonary Ventricular Isolation which corrected chronic Atrial Fibrillation. You can read about the procedure HERE. 

It was my second ablation and much more involved than the first. Recovery was rough, with a months long lingering infection making recovery hard, but in the 5 years since, I haven’t had one single episode of A-fib. It is a miracle. 

Heart problems are either “plumbing” or “electrical.” Plumbing issues are usually (but not always) related to poor diet, too little exercise or genetic factors. I had none of that and was the picture of health, but had electrical problems, related to  . . . “we don’t know.” The doctors explained, “some people just have this, we don’t know why.” Strokes run in my family, so I was in danger. 

The worst thing was that I looked normal, but always felt like I was gong to pass out. No one believed me. “Help me move this table” or “Carry this for me.” was innocent, yet it would send me into peril. 

I attribute my racing heartbeat to being so full of joy that it overloaded and shorted out the circuit. Now that my Electrophysiologist has known me for 5 years, she agrees.

Looking back, I appreciate my healthy heart, but more than that, I appreciate life even more. It’s true that you don’t know how good you have it until you’ve had it bad. 

Having my breath literally sucked out of me for years when I was only sitting kept me from enjoying normal things. I missed out on my sons’ activities and little things were exhausting. Travel was nearly impossible and carrying groceries or laundry almost wiped me out. I was stubborn and insisted on doing things the normal way and would push myself to get out and work in the yard or take the stairs when I should have been in the elevator. 

But now, life is good. I appreciate every single day and thank God for my doctors, family and friends who took good care of me. I appreciate every single hour that goes by where my heart beat is steady. The only time my heart races now is when I exercise, swim, run, twirl the baton, play with dogs, carry heavy bags of dirt for the garden, dance around the house or look into Bob’s green eyes — which is as often as possible. 

If you have a health issue that needs addressing, don’t put it off. Call a doctor and get treatment now. Life is too amazing to spend time on the sidelines. 

There are batons to twirl and dogs to chase. 

For more information about A-fib click on my collection of Pinterest stories HERE.