So, what has been going on since the last substantive update??
We are both back at work now teaching, and that has been a great pleasure and much needed focus for our energies coming out of the holidays and recuperation. Sonja continues her physical therapy, and we've created a new network here of physicians and cardiologists to continue to track her condition.
Along those lines, roughly two weeks ago her new cardiologist, Dr. Mauser, attempted a procedure called a cardioversion. This is an out patient procedure in which the patient, Sonja, is sedated, and an attempt is made to gently shock (oxymoron fully intended) her heart back into a regular rhythm.
One of the lasting results of her hospitalization is that her heart is still in atrial fibrillation, albeit a very regular and now medicinally controlled form of a. fib... this is not a medically dangerous circumstance per se, but it does require the continued use of certain powerful drugs that can potentially have dangerous side effects. So, with Sonja now finally strong enough to attempt the procedure, we went into the local medical center and Dr. Mauser gave it a shot.
If that last sentence sounds a bit cavalier, it's because we all knew going into it that the chances for success weren't great. After a period of three to six months, the body begins to assume that the a. fib. is in fact the "normal" condition, and it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the regular heartbeat, if in fact the rhythm is able to be changed at all.
In Sonja's case, she was sedated, and an attempt was made; her heart was shocked (they don't use the paddles, by the way, except in emergency circumstances...I was going to use a photo of said paddles to lead this posting, but realized with some waning shred of good taste that someone might see it and assume the worst or wrong scenario...so a smiling picture of Sonja with Mac instead, albeit from a few years ago), but the first attempt didn't take. After a short interval, a second attempt was made, and this one worked, at least while she was there in the hospital.
Over the next few days she felt no major change, until the fourth day when she felt significantly better. The good news is that improvement seems to have held, though later testing has shown that the second attempt did not; her heart is back in it's "regular" a. fib. As it is not a life threatening situation, the plan now is to continue to monitor her meds and her heart, and through exercise and nutrition continue to help her to grow stronger. She is fine with that, and while still not 100%, she is fully functioning in her life again and, I might add, loving every minute of it.
That is not to say that the transition back to "the Real World" has been easy. Just as after a major surgery the patient is often confronted by depression, anger, and guilt, so coming back to work again and returning to society at large has been difficult. Under crisis such as we experienced, one's mind (and I would argue, spirit) only allows you to face so much and only when your physically able to confront it. So there have been some hard times as we both, in our own ways and on paths dictated by separate experiences, struggled with the randomness and irrationality of feelings buried for a latter time. The process is difficult even as you know it is healing. We have dealt with it as best we could, talked it through when that might help, and I think in some ways maybe even grown from it. There's no choice in this kind of thing; it's what happened to you, and now it's about turning and looking at it, like it or not. It's part of the package.
And so, continuing under the category of More Information Than You Ever Needed To Know, next on the medical horizon are specialized trips to the dentist and a colonoscopy (for both of us...I'm overdue as well), as well as the monthly to tri-monthly monitoring checkups. We are entering a busier time here at the university as well. I close this weekend in a relatively successful production of the Passion Of Dracula (the students have done splendidly, and that is, after all, the point of it all in this given context). Sonja goes into a staged reading of a new play by a student here, guest directed by Richard Hamburger, and then the following week we go into rehearsals for As You Like It....Sonja as Corin, the Shepherd(-ess), and I as, once again, dear old Duke Senior (you have to feel for a guy trying to run a country who's only name amounts to "Duke, you know, the older one"). We have yet to hear anything from the Powers That Be here about next year, and know only that we are likely to be back in Philadelphia for the summer. And given the pretty much continual levels of snowfall here this winter, that's sounding pretty good right now.
Hope this finds you all in great good health and joyous frame of mind. We think of you all often, and send much love your collective way from us both!!! More to come in the next couple of weeks.....
-- Paul
P. S. -- And as a special note to all of you who were kind enough to send financial help our way when we needed it most, I hope to soon have, finally, good news on the Medicaid Front. And please know, all of you, that while our process of thank you note sending may have had the wheels fall off here, you are and will be in our hearts for, well, the rest of our lives. Thank you, all of you, and again, love from us both!!
