So, this post is a bit different from the norm, but I think it will do me good to write it, so here we are. April 18th, 2024, was a bit of a “game changer” for me, but the story starts the day before. It was my daughter’s 13th birthday, and while I was very proud, I’d also been feeling a bit off. Nothing super obvious, but I’d had a few head rushes when I got up quickly, and that felt notable. I had a doctor’s appointment booked for the following week, so I figured I’d just bring it up then and get checked out.

When I got out of bed on the 18th, though, it was apparent something more was happening. I had four notifications on my Apple Watch that I’d had a “Low heart rate overnight,” so I decided to go directly to the doctor’s and get things checked out. I’m sure glad I did.

After an amazing consultation with a nurse practitioner and an ECG, it was clear something was going on with my heart. The initial result showed I had some form of arrhythmia called a first-degree heart block. The nurse, being highly skilled and talented, gave me some great advice on getting through the ED quickly, so I was off to the hospital to get a chest x-ray and some blood work done before presenting to the ED staff. Armed with all this information, I was quickly assessed. Further tests (mainly testing my heart under load) showed that I had, in fact, a third-degree heart block, a serious issue that basically translates to being at high risk of sudden cardiac arrest. The doctor said at the time it was quite likely I’d need either a pacemaker or an ICD implanted.

Obviously, this was quite a “surprise”…

I can’t say I quite knew what to think at the time. Particularly because I felt basically “fine.” I kept thinking, “But I’m only 43, I look after myself, this can’t be right.” In hindsight, I think I was basically a bit numb. I more or less just took things as they came; I sort of assumed that with a bit more time and information, we’d get a clearer picture of what was going on.

At this point, I was admitted to the hospital as it just wasn’t safe to send me home. My heart could basically just stop at any time, and I think we can all agree that sounds like a good reason to bunk up with some medical staff. Over the next few weeks, I had a series of tests done to try and get that clearer picture. An MRI of my heart showed some small scarring, which seemed to be the cause of the heart block. A PET scan identified the source of that scarring as an autoimmune disease called “Sarcoidosis“.

It was now clear an ICD was the way forward. A week later, I was having the device implanted. The day after surgery, I was out of the hospital; three weeks and one day following admission. I can’t even express how grateful I am to all of the hospital staff. I will have more to say about this in future posts.

To say this was a surreal experience would be a total understatement. On my way home, I found myself in a BP petrol station waiting on a coffee. Twenty-four hours earlier, I wasn’t allowed more than twenty meters away from a nurse with a defibrillator; now I had one in my chest. Completely bizarre.

It’s now a month later, and I’m still coming to terms with all this. Needless to say, there is a continuing road to go down with this sort of thing, so there will be more to follow on this subject. The good news is that, at least for the time being, I’m safe, my kids have a father, and my wife has a husband. Amazing how something like this makes it very clear what really matters; for me, it’s them.