Kate is in the hospital

My girlfriend checked herself into the hospital on Monday to deal with an ongoing heart problem. It’s been a hectic week to say the least, but she’s doing well and she’s gotten a huge amount of support from her friends and family. In fact, I’ve now got a pretty touching backlog of people to thank and questions to answer, and I’m going to try and tackle it tonight. In the meantime, here’s the story so far.

A few weeks ago, Kate started getting heart palpitations and dizzy spells. As time went by, they started getting more frequent. She was fitted for a heart monitor last week, and the results revealed a wide range of troubling irregularities. Her doctor scheduled some appointments and tests for this week, but by the time Monday morning rolled around, her heart was acting up so much that she decided to check herself into the local hospital. They ran some tests and admitted her to cardiology.

The first thing they did was rule out the worst case scenarios. There’s officially no indication of heart disease and no signs of anything life-threatening. The culprit seems to be an electrical fault, and we’re hoping that it can either be repaired or managed with medication. Everything they’ve done so far has helped, but there are still more tests to run before they’ll know what the best course of action is.

In the meantime, Kate’s in good spirits. She’s been moved to a larger facility, where she’s got a private room. Her parents flew in from the UK last night, and they’ll be in town for the next few days at least. Above all, if something happens, she knows she’s in the safest possible place. So she’s happy, and therefore I’m happy. Deliriously tired, but happy all the same.

I don’t need to tell you it’s been tough, but our family and friends have been great, and the folks at work were very cool about letting me take some time off. Monday was all the more stressful because my brother’s girlfriend Christie got some bad medical news of her own. It’s been a couple of sleepless nights for the lot of us, but it’s a testament to the kind of great people our girlfriends are that they’ve both been more concerned with how the other’s doing than with their own situation. They’ve each cracked their own nervous jokes about my brother and I choosing broken girlfriends, but come on. Not to get mushy, but we lucked out big time in the girlfriend department, and we know it.

That said, I also really like the fellow my sister’s been seeing, so much so that I gave her a call on Monday to warn her that he might be next. If you’re reading this, Scott, be careful out there.

At any rate, that’s what’s happening. They’re doing a few more tests today, and the results should come back shortly. She’ll be in the hospital for another couple of days at least, but things are looking up. Thanks again to everyone for their support and concern.

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