Whoa. Olessia caught this on video. I was chasing and being chased. My watch said it was for about 7 minutes (doesn’t seem like much). It apparently surprised my heart. I ended up pretty winded and my heart was racing. This was on Sunday the 26th.
An hour later, my heart was still chugging away, even when sitting at the dinner table and not moving much. I checked my Apple Watch: Atrial fibrillation. Ah, now what? The watch says to call 911. The Queens hospitals are great, but are also overrun with COVID-19. I called my insurance’s nurse-on-call. They said to call 911, but considering I’m in Queens, they suggested I either contact my cardiologist if I have one, or try driving to a hospital that is outside the city. Oddly enough, my general doc had spotted something last year and had me go to a cardiologist so I was able to give him a call.
This was on Sunday.
Monday, I hear back from my cardiologist. They want to see me to run some tests, but most everything is closed. My doc found a location that was open and handles cardiology and I went in. He confirmed it’s atrial fibrillation.
They want to restart my heart (defibrillate) but nothing is open to do it. Word is maybe next week something will open up and I can get in. In the meantime, no extraneous activities.
I was impressed with the Apple Watch. I knew it could check for atrial fibrillation. I didn’t think I would ever have a need to know what exactly was atrial fibrillation.
And a shout out to the healthcare workers. Everyone I interacted with did awesome protecting themselves and me from COVID-19 and that was greatly appreciated!