Oh, Cheryl, I do so wish I were there with you. Can only imagine what you are going through. All I have to offer is my thoughts and prayers. Put your arms around yourself, it's me give you a warm heartfelt hug. Check your email.

So sorry you're having to go through this. Hugs to you, Mike and your family.

MamaP thoughts & prayers for you Mike & your family.

I've been to the hospital and back already...by the way Latrobe area hospital is supposed to have a great heart center. Anyway I will go back later today, I had to take care of stuff at home also. Mikes in good spirits this morning..heart doctor changed his BP meds and is considering what's next, he will remain in hospital for now and on IV Heprin. the Heprin is a blood thinner to prevent blood clots caused from Afib. they don't know what's caused this, but I think I do...his BP was high..they changed his meds and his BP dropped to much too fast..which can send the heart into * what the hecks going on* which can cause the heart to go out of rhythm. ...so the top and bottom part of the heart arnt in sync with each other. His lung exploratory and biopsys have been cancelled for tomorrow, too risky with uncontrolled Afib.

My son Michael is here, he stayed last night in case we had to run to the hospital thru the night. I imagine he will stick around.

I will keep you informed.

Thank your all for your support..I don't feel so alone.

Nope, definitely not alone :)

Thinking of you and sending virtual hugs. Please remember to take care of yourself in whatever way you can.

"I'm sounding wacko here I know" Nope, you're just the normal super human being you always are!!!!

Thank You. !!!

Cardio doc called me, said they spoke with lung doc and they MIGHT push forward with tomorrows lung procedures...they will know better later today, they seem to think the importance of the procedure out rules the risks...so we will see...I'll let you know. ...thanks good folks.

Sending all good thoughts. I wish we had a laundry detergent to wash all of THIS away!

Lizzie, just WOW....such an amazing heartwarming story!!! Thank You for sharing.

I wonder if there's a link between lung cancer and Afib....my mother died of lung cancer in 2008, she was diagnosed with Afib 9 months before she died, 4 months before finding the cancer.

But I have to remember Mike hasn't been 100% diagnosed with cancer yet...but they sure do keep calling it that.

I feel better today and had a talk with myself. LOL...Not that I've ever been good at following orders. I'm going back to the hospital later, and have to find this man's flip flops, if only he would put them where they belong, LOL...can you tell I feel better I'm complaining about this old man. Haha

((((((((((Cheryl+Mike+family)))))))))) Beaming positive thoughts and energy your way. I wish hot water and sodium percarbonate could vanquish all of this.

Stay steady pinky. They can sort the a fib. So sorry to hear this.

I'm home...ok..the resident doctor came into Mikes room around 4pm and said Mike could go home..the nurse looked distressed and left the room..about 15 minutes later the cardiologist was out at nurses station which is directly across from Mikes room and everyone could hear the cardio saying .* who do you think you are releasing my patient, this man is under my care until I release him*

Mike will have the lung procedure in the morning. He will be transfered to another hospital in the early morning and they will stop the heprin 2 hours prior to this invasive testing. Afterwards he will be transfered back to Latrobe hospital to rest awhile..than Cardio will step in and start a battery of testing...cardio doc told me something is going on but he doesn't know what until testing is done. Currently they have his BP looking lovely 110/70.....until he stands up and it shoots up to 150....9 steps to bathroom and its 180...he's still having episodes of heart being out of rhythm. Doctor says this is either caused from a heart disease or his diseased lungs are causing it. We just don't know yet. Regardless of what's causing it he won't be going back to work anytime in the forseeable future if at all.....I'm to notify his employer and the doctor is drafting a letter. .I have to leave here at 6.30 in the AM and meet him at the other hospital. ..hopefully I will know more tomorrow and have good news.

I thank you all for your good words....your all a tremendous support system.

I'm there with you Cheryl & Mike!!!

Please get some rest tonight, you have a busy morning....

Thanks for keeping us up to date with Mike's health. So sorry Mike, you and your family are going though this tough time.

You're whole family is constantly in my thoughts and prayers.

Please be sure to TAKE CARE OF YOU. Don't let yourself run down. We all care too much about you.

XOXO

Girl, get some rest. Most important thing you can do for him tonight. (((hugs)))

Go to sleep. Just try to hang in there :/ We're all thinking about you.

You are in my most fervent of prayers.

For what it's worth, I can relate to your situation - my hubby has been struggling with cancer for the last year. I can't do much more than pray like crazy, try to keep his spirits up, cook him what ever appeals to him and drive him back and forth to treatment. As far as "looking after myself" the best I've managed is to keep regular hair appointments and spend time with the grandkids. Some days I actually find laundry therapeutic. My hampers have never been so empty and my ironing is almost caught up :-)

Clothes go in dirty and come out clean. If only we could figure a way to stuff our hubbies into our front loaders...

I'm praying like crazy for you and your family up here in Canada!

MamaP, thinking of you and family. Hoping and praying that things will turn out OK. Don't forget to take care of yourself. You are not alone. You have your laundry family here to support you. Plenty of shoulders for you to lean on if you need it.

Saying prayers for you & Mke. (((Hugs)))

This morning I arrived at the 2nd hospital where #1 hospital was transporting Mike to for the lung stuff..mike wasn't there nor was he on the list to arrive...found out he was in transit..BUT not on the surgery list...the dumb resident doctor cancelled that lung procedure and never informed anyone....lung doc did see and speak to us and he's joined teams with the cardio doctor to jump this resident doctor...ANYWAY.....Mikes CTscan from a few days ago...showed a bit of a miricle...things have changed on the scan...the size of the large mass' es have gotton a tiny bit smaller and they changed shape....doc said I'll be honest I believed you had cancer and I believed it to be in latter stages, but now I'm comfortable telling you I do not think this is cancer. He said no way it would have shrunk...but we don't yet know what it is..they will scan him every 4 weeks...its more important to take care of the heart right now....YAHOOOOOO.

He's changing fro heprin to another blood thinner today along with other meds..than he will come home either tonite or tomorrow.

Afib is treatable....so what caused it...his PCP lowered his BP to much too fast...exactly what I thought happened. He will now remain on blood thinners and cardio will let us know what else may need done.

All in all this is all EXCELLENT news. I'll take Afib over lung cancer....but cardio is furious with the PCP..knowing Mikes BP dropped so much in 24 hours and did not have him admitted and monitored knowing the risks.

I don't know anything about Afib...do you???

Thank you all much for all your great good wishes...it may very well be what saved this old man.

JOY!!!!! I am so happy for you and your husband!! Afib seems a dawdle compared to cancer! Sending you prayers for a smooth recovery.

Thank you Lord! That's great news Mama.!!

First, big congratulations on the encouraging news. About atrial fibrillation: There can be many different causes, which will determine the treatment. My mom has had atrial fibrillation for decades (she is now 90), so there are various ways to manage it. At this point in her life, she is in atrial fibrillation more than not, but early on she would go in and out of the atrial fibrillation. In my mom's case, it is caused primarily due to faulty heart valves. She was not and is not a candidate for surgery, so she is managed with meds and careful monitoring. She does have to take a heavy duty blood thinner because the issue with the valves combined with irregular heartbeat means that blood can pool and start clotting----a risk for strokes. She has to watch her diet because of the medication to make sure the blood doesn't get too thin. The other downside is that when she has been in the emergency room for unrelated issues there is always concern that she may need surgery, but with the blood thinners in place that's a riskier proposition than usual. So they try to allow time to reverse some of the thinning before any procedures. Thankfully, she hasn't needed surgery in the end, so it hasn't been an issue. But I mention that because it is probably the worst complication we've dealt with, and it's been manageable.

As far as treatment, one goal is to get the heart back into rhythym. In some cases, they use an electrical impulse to shock it back into rhythm---not the most comfortable procedure. My mother has never had to do that. She has, however, used medication to get the heart back into rhythm. As I said before, at this point in her life it's almost constantly in atrial fibrillation.

Hope that helps. Just remember everyone's experience is different---especially considering the many and varied reasons for developing atrial fibrillation.

Afib is a day at Disneyland compared to Cancer MamaP. So happy. And before you know it, Mike will be back at work and out of your hair!!!! ;) XO

Mama! I'm thrilled for you and Mike and for your family. And proud of you for the way you handled what must have been agonizing fear these last days. You may be putting up with that old boy for a good many more years yet though, you understand that ;0)

My BIL has Afib. He's a man 63, 6'10" and in pretty good shape. He had some episodes while playing racquetball at the Y so exercising hard at those moments. After some cardio testing in a cath lab, Afib is controlled by medication at this point and he's travelled abroad, done all kinds of things since his diagnosis.

Our tech (forestry engineering technician) who has worked for us several years had a procedure for Afib last week. His doctor gave him the go ahead to work, and working with DH means tough hiking, off trail, steep and often slippery or rocky ground. He is also in excellent shape, his wife a fitness instructor at the college for many years (I think she starves him she's so strict on what they eat!). But the last three months he has had so many periods of lightheadedness, racing heart, DH was afraid to go out in the woods with him, afraid of what could happen if they were a couple of miles away from the truck. His procedure was an ablation, small insignificant entry point in his groin and a one nights hospital stay. 48 hours recovery at home. He came over, said he's taken brisk walks, played golf, feels great. He wants to work if we have anything for him to do ;0)

So glad I stopped here to get the good news! Hope it only gets better from here!

Oh MamaP, I've been refreshing this page numerous times today to make sure I see an update from you. What great news! I'll take Afib any day over cancer (never thought I would say this in a million years!). I'm so happy and relief for you and family.

Great news!! Doing the Snoopy happy dance here. My father has again, caused by a mistake in surgery for an abdominal hernia. I don't understand how that happened, but it's controlled by medicine. A friend has afib and his type required the ablation as was mentioned already. So much better than cancer.

Great news! My stepsister's husband had afib - treated with ablation.

My husband had ablation surgery on both sides of his heart on July 28th, and he is doing great. He has atrial fibrillation on one side of his heart, and atrial flutter on the other side. So they went up through the veins on each side; freezing some areas on one side, cauterizing an area on the other side. Afib and aflutter are both electrical problems in the heart, and different from clogged veins/arteries. For a number of months prior to the ablations they controlled his heartbeat with drugs. If a person is a poor candidate for surgery, then the docs will keep him on the drugs. If a person can handle surgery, and would like to drop some or all of the drugs, then they look into the ablation idea. If the drugs don't get the heart to 'convert' back to a normal beat, then they sometimes use those paddles to jump start the heart back into right rhythm, but they use some anesthesia first so it doesn't hurt. Then the drugs can be used to keep the heart in rhythm.

I'm no expert, but we just went through this, so I hope this info helps a little.

I'll continue to pray for Mike's healing, however God may choose to bring it about.

Happy to hear papaP is on the road to good health. The stress you and your family has been under is awful. Please take care of yourself and allow others to support you. We need and want a healthy mamaPinky and family.

So glad to hear the wonderful news!!!! Tears of joy for you!!!!! Wishing you and papaP fortitude and faith and a great cardiologist!!

Thank You! !! And Thank You all for the info on Afib, I'm sure I will be learning a lot.

THIS OLD MAN IS HOME!!!

We just got home a short while ago. The kids and the dog were so glad to have him home. I suppose that now I know things are looking better for him I can change his lavender sheets that he hates. LOL. But I'm keeping the lavender linen spray to keep him in line LOL.

I already put a call into his doctor as they wrote down in his release to give him the new BP meds and the old ones..they didn't do this in the hospital, not to mention the old ones lowered his BP too much.

Ya know what I learned ....I always said I'm the rock of the family..but with him in the hospital and me thinking he was gonna ↓↓↓....I now know he's the rock, I'm just a pebble.

But I'm still the Laundry Queen Hahahahaha!!!!

Good news, indeed! Not only a firm diagnosis but treatable! Yea! Sounds like an awful lot of doctors involved, though.

This is good news for sure!....Home is always good. I'm sure you still have some medical treatment and issues to deal with so continued prayers for those. Did you get an answer for his leg pain yet?....

Such good news! No worries about afib. A dozen ways to get rid of it, and if that fails, a dozen ways to treat it. My husband's BF has had it for ten years at least, and he is quite young -- 58-ish -- does well and has a good prognosis.

Oh mamapinky, yay! What good news! A miracle really...Nice to have him home too I bet. Us women are the "rocks" of our families. You are so much more than a pebble! ;) My husband tells me that often. Without us, everything would fall apart. We often don't think it, but we are. :)

Been so worried but now HAPPY HAPPY NEWS !!!!!

I didnt have internet access last night due to I am in Devon England but now it is up and running.

Take care dear MamaP and I truely believe that love from alot of people can help anything to go away.

Love Björn

Devon! My favorite place on earth! You lucky dawg.

Pinky, now I think on it, the docs gave my sis that same scare about 10 years ago. Big spots in her partner's lungs. 85% chance of cancer, and he was a smoker. (Scared her so bad she lit up all his tobacco in the fireplace then called the priest and got married so she could have legal rights to manage his care.). But by the time they got the biopsy scheduled, the dark spots were half gone. Biopsy showed some rare lung infection. Three weeks of antibiotics and he was fine. They just celebrated their 15th anniversary. And he doesn't smoke anymore. She threatened to rip out his pretty, pink lungs with her bare hands and she is the type to do it.

He's doing very good. His PCP called me today to check on him, nice of her. She also won't release him for work, stay home and maybe after the 12'th he can go light duty. I do agree he needs to rest.

I Thank all of you for all of your support, its kept me stronger than you can imagine. I'm very lucky to have such good and caring friends....Thank You!

Geez, MamaP, what a rollercoaster! I hope you're sleeping better with him home. :)

mamap - what good news about your hubby! Fingers crossed that he will get better from this day forward. (((Hugs)))

Sending hugs and smiles and prayers. I know this part of the healing process will have its own challenges for both of you. Sending you both all my best.

After this week's roller coaster ride, you both need light duty until the 12th…

So relieved! Glad Mike is on an upward swing, and glad you held tough (though I had no doubts). xoxo

oh my- been super busy and just checking in now: so happy and relieved to see the updates. MamaP - so so so glad to read this! The whirlwind you have been through! All for good!! Yay! now you can do your laundry experiments (but keep an eye on your hubby so he doesn't decide it's time to check out the roof shingles ). So happy for you!