#Superventriculartachycardia

[faofinn]

Day 16 - Dizzy

@mediwhumpmay

Fao hadn’t felt right in a while. He’d been tired for ages, and whilst his depression often made him fatigued, this was worse. He’d been trying to head off a spiral for a while, and his recovery from the shooting that had nearly killed him had been understandably slow. He’d hated it, hated being laid up and it taking so long. He’d gotten better, a few months in, feeling better and starting to pick up work and other things. Work was great, working in the basement with Steve was great too, and getting back involved with his family business again felt right. 

When Harrison had arrived, that month had been incredible (after a rocky start). It had been a glorious summer, warm and sunny, and they’d spent time getting lost in each other. It had been freeing, and exciting, and Fao had to admit he really liked spending time with Harrison. And then he’d left. Jetting off back to god know where, and it left Fao alone. Of course, he wasn’t actually alone, but it felt like it without Harrison. They’d had so much chemistry, formed such a connection so quickly, and when he left so suddenly it was just gone. But he’d been trying to keep himself on the straight and narrow, working hard. But this fatigue kept hanging over him, he was constantly just exhausted, far outside of his normal. 

He’d been struggling to work out for ages, too. Every time he pushed himself, he’d get palpitations. Only for a split second, but it was enough to make him feel shit. Standing up too quickly made him dizzy, though that wasn’t that unusual for him when his blood pressure sat on the low side. It was getting more common, though, and often the dizziness came as the same time as the palpitations, only a split second. 

He’d had them when he smoked, too. The rush of nicotine making his head spin and the flutter in his chest come back. He knew it wasn’t right, but he’d convinced himself it would go away in time, that his body just needed to self-regulate. He’d been through a lot, after all. The sore, tightness across his chest every so often ought to have scared him, but he’d grown used to aching. After all, it still wasn’t that long since he’d been literally shot in the chest, had his ribs broken by Finn’s CPR that saved his life. He was going to hurt. 

Things had eased a little, and he’d started to think he’d been making it up. Maybe it was anxiety, or his shitty sleep, or his chest healing up slowly. He could’ve pulled something, surely that was it. 

But then he woke up feeling absolutely fucking dreadful. His chest was tight, and the pain was certainly something. He was exhausted, and dizzy, and when he stood up he damn near passed out. He felt awful, but forced himself to get up and brush his teeth. It made him feel better, and he swallowed his meds with a grimace and headed downstairs to get himself a coffee and try and wake up a bit. Maybe that would stop him feeling so crap. 

It didn’t. It made him feel worse, and he dragged himself down to the basement to do some work. He needed to keep his brain busy, and going through the supplies would do that. He’d been spending a lot of time with Finn, trying to work out how best to organise the basement to take more and more complex cases, avoiding hospital for their men where they could. It helped that Fao had his qualifications too, was gaining more experience. Some things would still need hospital, but after Fao’s dramatic reappearance, he wanted to get them better stocked. Finn had struggled, and he didn’t want him to be in that position again. 

By lunchtime, he was really struggling. His chest pain had really kicked up a notch, and he couldn’t catch his breath. It was like he’d just run miles, and yet he was just sat at his desk. He pressed a hand to his chest, and figured he should at least get up to rest on the sofa, hoping that might help. Maybe he just needed a nap. 

But standing up made him so, so dizzy, and he groaned, gripping the desk. Fuck. He couldn’t pass out, he just couldn’t. 

"Fao?" Finn glanced up from his desk. "You look like shit. Why don’t you sit down?"

“I was… was gonna go lay down.” Fao said slowly. 

"Let me do a few checks?" Something wasn't sitting right with Finn, and he wasn't going to let Fao leave.

“Dizzy.” Fao mumbled, and managed to sit back in his chair before his legs gave out. 

"What else?" He asked, grabbing the monitors.

He was still struggling to breathe, his chest tight and painful, his heart pounding. “Hurts.”

"Your chest?"

“Mm. Can’t breathe…”

"Right, okay. You’re gonna be okay, yeah? I'll get these checks done and we'll see where we're at."

He nodded. “Too… too fast.”

"I know. We'll get it sorted, yeah?"

“Really dizzy.”

"Lean back as much as you can."

Fao did as he was told, leaning back in his chair and closing his eyes. It sort of helped to stop the room from spinning, but he desperately wanted to lay down. 

"Was Steve around?"

“Don’t know.” Fao managed. 

"Okay. Okay, sure."

“Finn.” He whined, feeling worse. 

"What?" He was completely out of his depth, and Fao was only making it worse.

“Really don’t feel well.”

"Yeah, I know. I'm trying, Fao." He whined, reaching for his phone to call Steve. "How long has this been going on? Can you get on the bed? You're gonna hate me."

Finn’s questions were too much and Fao whined. He could probably get on the bed, though. “Yeah, bed.” He mumbled. He just about managed to get there, with Finn’s help, and it felt much better than his chair. Didn’t feel like he was about to hit the floor. 

Finn moved to hold Fao's hand. "We've got two choices. Your heart isn't working like it should. We can either give you drugs that'll stop your heart and hopefully put it back to normal, or I can sedate and shock you. Neither is nice and I don't want to do it."

Fao frowned. “What’s wrong wit’ it?”

Finn sighed, his voice wavering slightly. "I probably fucked it up when I fixed you up and now you've got fast AF and you're gonna hate me."

Well, that wasn’t good. “Not your fault.” He mumbled. 

"It was."

Fao didn’t have the energy to argue with Finn. He felt hazy, the dizziness wasn’t stopping, and he was struggling to catch his breath. Everything was too much, too fast, and Finn didn’t seem to be helping.

"Fao?" 

FInn’s voice dragged him back to the present. “Mm?”

"You can hate me and all that later, when you're better. But you're gonna feel like shit in a second, and I'm sorry." He rushed, pushing his drugs. "I love you, I'm sorry."

The drugs really did make him feel like shit, and Fao groaned. He hated it, Finn was supposed to be helping, not making him feel worse. 

"I'm sorry, you're gonna be okay, I promise. Just relax, you're gonna be okay." He murmured, silently placing the pads on. "You're gonna be okay."

Steve finally appeared in the basement, frowning at the sight. “Finn? What’s going on?”

The drugs had given Fao a split second of relief before the pounding of his heart was back. He whimpered, feeling again on the verge passing out, darkness tinging his vision. 

"I can't do this. He needs cardioverting. You're gonna have to do it."

[lovesilentfury]

🔪🔥 Credit to from @strength_in_struggles (@get_regrann) - What doesn't kill you gives you a dark sense of humor. 😂😈 #chronicillness #invisbleillness #dysautonomia #neurocardiogenicsyncope #posturalorthostatictachycardiasyndrome #POTS #ehlersdanlossyndrome #medicalzebra #hemiplegicmigraines #gastroparesis #chronicpain #intractablemigraine #superventriculartachycardia #epilepsy #postconcussionsyndrome #antiphospholipidsyndrome #lupus #osteoarthritis #toomanyillnessestohashtag #illnesshumor #dontdoubtme GoddessStrong (at Park Hill, Denver) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1fQK4nF-kl/?igshid=t3lhi1ln73xq

[jessabitofeverything]

June 8, 2016

Celebrating life. Still can't believe it's been 10 years ago that I had to undergo heart surgery because of a rare rapid heartbeat condition I was born with called Supraventricular Tachycardia. Today, I never fail to live life to the fullest and always try to do everything and anything I can. Being capable, being healthy, being able to get up and do what you love is a GIFT that we should always cherish. 

Do it now while you can. Live. 

Last month was #svtawareness month. SVT is an abnormal heartbeat condition. My heart was either beating too fast or too slow. The resting heart rate is usually 60-80 beats per minute, but mine was beating at 250 beats per minute. Grateful that I was treated right away. If not, I could have developed heart failure, passed out, or even die suddenly if my heart had beat too slowly or or too rapidly to pump blood into my body. 

It’s something I keep very personal, and rarely talk about. My friends from elementary school probably remember me being in a heart monitor or not. I didn’t really want the whole world knowing. 

I remember all the meds I had to take, the tests I had to run, all the times I had to come in for an EKG which is an electrocardiogram, a test that checked for problems with the electrical activity of my heart. I then had to get procedures done where they burned ventricals in my heart so it wouldn’t create an extra beat. The process was so complicated and intricate, I hated being so young and not having the knowledge of what was happening to me.

Now that I’m older, I have a better understanding of everything. Now that I can speak out about it, I just want people to be aware of any type of heart problem. It tends to be ignored when it is something more serious. Don’t ignore your body! Always get checked, pay attention to kids, always be careful.

Keepin’ it simple. I’m grateful every day, and happy that I can keep pushing, keep dancing, working, having fun, doing me. 10 years have passed, and I’m able to live a normal and healthy life with no constraints. Forever thankful. My ticker is still ticking.