Lori Frugality

My mom has a heart thing. We never knew why, we just knew about twice a year when she'd move slower and sigh every few minutes that that meant her heart was suddenly racing. It'd start usually when she bent over to pick something up, and wham, cardio workout pulse: the heart thing. (I told she'd make major money if she could figure out how it worked and marketed it; motto "the workout without the work".)

"Mom are you having your heart thing?"

::exhale and a squinty mind-your-own-business smile:: "Maybe."

"Mom, you should go lay down."

It's hard to get this woman to stop. And it's even harder to get her to go to the doctor. If I had the heart thing I'd make an appointment the first weird beat I got. Maybe I'm paranoid. But it's been going on for years and she's never gone to a cardiologist.

Until recently. It started happening more frequently and lasting longer. Like 4 hours plus at 200 beats per minute. And nothing she did could get it to stop. With some pressure from us, she finally met with a cardiologist. He told her next time it happened to come in to the office so they could do an EKG.

Well about a month ago she was sitting reading a book and it started again. After many hours she decided to go into the cardiologist. He told her she needed a certain shot, and she had to get it in the emergency room.

She was a little ticked. Here's her slightly stubborn side coming out. She ducks out of the office and goes, not to the hospital, but to her primary care doctor. She explains that their insurance has a high deductible and the original reason she went to the cardiologist is to avoid ER expenses. Isn't there something else she can do?, she asks.

The PCP let her wait it out a bit in his office, to see if it would slow down or stop. After a time he kindly told her it might be better to pay some ER expenses now than pay for some kind of major crisis later. Good call. So she relented and made her way over to the hospital.

She got an angry greeting from a nurse telling her she should have come straight in and they've been looking for her. In no time she was told from a young doctor with a ponytail she'd be receiving a shot that would reboot her system--briefly stopping her heart. "Some people describe the sensation as a crushing darkness." Lovely. She realized then why that shot probably wouldn't be administered in a little cardiologist office.

Happily, she rebooted fine, and she shortly left and drove herself home.

The condition itself is not life threatening, but certainly not good for a body once it reaches its older years. So she herself actually opted to meet with a specialist that could do a non-surgical procedure--which she stressed to me, was not a surgery--where they go in through a vein in the leg and zap part of her heart--the AV node (?)--with a laser or something. I guess it basically kills that little non-essential part that's created the heart thing.

She had her surgery this morning, so I suppose she no longer has the heart thing. Rest in peace, heart thing. We will always remember thee, for the forbearance and frugality you inspired in one so dear.

On another medical note: perhaps my own bare bones attitude toward spending money is not choice but genes.