An Alien in My Chest

I've an alien inside my chest. I've always had it since I was young. It's normally dormant, but at certain times it stirs and flip-flops. It used to stay asleep until I had demanding exercise, such as sprinting. These days, especially since I stopped tramping two years ago and my overall fitness diminished, it can wake up any time. Still it usually behaves and goes back to sleep after some time. …


Last weekend it misbehaved for the first time, right middle of the Rugby Test! It kept flip-flopping, about every ten heartbeats. Because it is inside my chest, when it flip-flops, my heartbeat halts. Of course my heart, being a heart, starts beating automatically soon after, only missing one heartbeat. But if that happened at every ten beats, you'd be missing ten percent of your blood flow your heart was supposed to produce. I was quite sure the alien would go back to sleep eventually. But last weekend, I was with a friend, who became concerned enough to call an ambulance for me.

Sure enough, the alien went back to sleep halfway to the hospital. But it was still active when the paramedics arrived, and their portable ECG was able to capture its activities. After rather lengthy wait at the Emergency Department, I was seen by a doctor. He assured me the alien would not rip my chest open, or do any other serious harm to my life. But he also advised me if the alien becomes restless too often, I should consult my GP, before sending me back home. My poor friend was a way more distressed by the whole thing than I was.

Now my alien has a name. PVC or premature ventricular contractions. It's a quite common arrhythmia (heart rhythm disturbance) among healthy adults and can be triggered by exercise, lack of sleep, anxiety, excess caffeine or alcohol, smoking, lack of potassium or magnesium, or dehydration. However lack of exercise and fitness could also predispose you to more frequent episodes. It is normally non life-threatening and should resolve itself, just like the young ED doctor said. On the other hand, various sources advised the patient should seek medical attention if it occurs more frequent than five times a minute. It was happening about ten times a minute last weekend, so I'm really grateful for my friend for calling ambulance.

Anyway, nothing has really changed for me. I still have the alien in my chest. But now I know this alien is not supposed to be dangerous. I also know what I should avoid to keep it calm. Still it is unsettling to feel the alien stir inside my chest.

[Update Sunday 20 June]
My poor friend didn't invite me over for rugby last night, which is OK. She might have had other engagement, or simply wanted to have a quiet rugby night (a bit of oxymoron) by herself.

I did watch the test, a delayed coverage, and enjoyed it. The Welsh were strong, uncompromising and disciplined, They made the All Blacks work hard in the first half. But sadly their fitness level betrayed them in the second half, when they allowed a couple of soft tries by AB backs. ABs had a few lucky moments, which let them get away with the 42-9 scoreline. Could have been a bit closer otherwise. Excellent game.

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  1. So have you known for years that you had PVC, or was it just diagnosed during this most recent incident? It sounded like a very unsettling experience. Did you tell your friend what were you experiencing, or was it obvious that something wasn't right.Having read about some of your amazing and very strenuous tramping experiences, I was really surprised to hear that you had this disorder. As to exercise, it sounds like regular exercise is good for you, but that exercise can also trigger an episode. So I was a bit confused. :confused:Anyway I'm glad to hear that you are okay and that you have some insights on how to deal with your condition.

  2. Yes, it is supposed to harmless. But knowing is one thing, feeling it is not quite the same.BTW, have you noticed the title was a pun/tribute to "An Angel at My Table"?

  3. My father was only 10 years older than me when he died of a massive heart attack, so i know how chest pain can be alarming sometimes.. 😆 No I hadnt, but I am unfamiliar with "An Angel at My Table" 😀

  4. Thanks for your comment and kind words, Deb.I've always been aware of my fluttering heart 🙂 And I'd read a range of information about arrhythmias and narrowed my DIY differential down to atrial flutter, premature atrial contractions (PAC) or PVC. But until last weekend it had never happened when I was able to get medical attention to have it properly assessed. The portable 3 lead ECG the paramedics took finally confirmed the diagnosis of PVC.I've become aware episodes were somewhat more frequent and persistent in last 12 months or so. And I did tell my friends about it. Last weekend my friend noticed I kept feeling for my pulse in neck, looking pale and seemed "not there". I myself felt unable to concentrate on rugby (which was the first test match of the season and supposed to be a big deal), or pay attention to anything else but what went on in my chest. When she called 111, she had me talk to the operator and I had trouble spelling my name out. So something was apparently wrong.It is actually quite common among endurance athletes. I know at least one other very fit tramper who has this condition. I think his case is more severe and he is on a medication. But he continued tramping at less demanding level and still very fit for a person of his age. I'm the first to admit I've been complacent in keeping my fitness level. Still it's a kind of difficult for me to accept I've lost all that fitness in a space of two years and now suffers a heart condition 🙁 , though benign. In hindsight I was experiencing PVC even when I was actively tramping, but while I was fitter episodes were short, infrequent and hardly bothersome. I'm aware I need to improve my fitness level. But exercises may trigger me to another bad episode. So there's a nice dilemma for me. Funny thing is my PVC doesn't happen during or straight after exercise, but some time later while I'm not doing much. Apparently being worried about it also triggers and exacerbates an episode. Oh, and other predisposing factors I've forgot to mention were heavy meal and hormonal change (the M word, you know?). So the lesson here is be calm and peaceful, avoid full stomach and do not get old.:D FYI PVC is also a symptom experienced by people with heart valve problem, MI or other heart disease, and can develop into a life-threatening arrhythmia in those people. The doctor can rule that out by examining the proper (12 lead) ECG, as my ED doctor did last weekend.Another rugby test is on tonight. I'm hoping my friend is not too scared to invite me over again.

  5. I'm sorry to hear about your father. Both my parents are alive and reasonably well. But my mother has had a few worrying health problems in past, which worried me to death."An Angel at My Table" is the second volume of NZ author Janet Frame's autobiography. A movie with the same title was made in 1990 directed by Jane Campion. Frame had suffered mental illness since her youth. If I remember right she described the moment when her creative epiphany manifested as 'one day, an angle visited me at my table' or something like that. (I haven't read the book, to tell you the truth)

  6. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    However if you want to talk Sci-Fi I can hold my own

    Is that a challenge? 😀

  7. I am sadly not very well 'read'. I can mutter some lines from some classics but thats the lot really. However if you want to talk Sci-Fi I can hold my own

  8. If ya like, I read lots of Sci-Fi… Iain M Banks at the moment and a Brian Aldiss too (I like to read them two at a time) :yes:

  9. Too many to remember it all, I liked all the Asimovs, early Clark, also an excellent author called CJ Cherryh. Baxter is good stuff too. Kate wilhem sounds familiar but the title doesnt.

  10. I don't know if I can match you. I used to read a lot of Sci-Fi (more US than UK) until late 1980s. But not quite up-to-date with current trend. I haven't read Banks. I did read "The Long Afternoon of Earth" (AKA Hothouse) by Aldiss and liked it. On top of my favourite writers in my About, I liked S R Delany, especially Babel 17; Roger Zelazny, especially the first Amber series and Lord of Light; and Kate Wilhelm, especially Crewiston Test. There's a few others but I'm having a senior moment and can't remember them 😆

  11. Yep, read most of them… Greg Bear – Eon and Eternity, they were awesome. I have read most of Anne McAffery, good stuff.Theodore Sturgeon less so, Jack Vance is very humerous in his writing, there is always some dark humour in there. Douglas Adams is another favourite, maybe not true Sci-Fi but very funny to read

  12. You didn't find McAffery too girlly/chicklit-ish? 😀 I also like Vance's dry dark humour. Gene Wolfe also has a delicious sense of humour. I haven't succeeded reading Adams, yet. A friend lent me Hitchhiker's Guide once but I couldn't go further than the first couple of pages. I might give it a go.

  13. I'm not familiar with Baxter. I know about Cherryh but never got around to reading her work. I've read a few Asimov, including the Foundation series. My favourite Clark is Childhood End. I remember a few more while I was re-pegging large items on washline. Frank Herbert, especially The Dragon in the Sea, Dune Messiah and Whipping Star; Orson Scott Card, especially Songmaster; Jack Vance (Demon Princes) and Ann MacAfry, especially Dragonquest and Crystal Singer. Other novels I used to like are Olaf Stapleton's Sirius; Theodore Stageon's More Than Human; Greg Bear's Blood Music; Alfred Bester's Tiger Tiger (The Stars My Destination);and A E van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle.Now that's a lot more than a few more 😀

  14. I think the Hitchhikers Guide was originally written for radio so it tends to set the scene a lot in the beginning. Have you noticed that modern books never set the scene? I used to like Dennis Wheatley as a kid, he spent the first quarter of a book setting it all up, then a big roller coaster ride after that.

  15. The Dune books are awesome, I am not so keen on the 'new' ones by Herbert Jnr and Pournelles son though. Heinlein wrote some good stuff, i havent read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress though. I stareted with good old Edgar Rice Burroughs and his (highly improbable) Mars books

  16. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    Edgar Rice Burroughs

    I'm unfamiliar with him, but I just asked my husband. He said he did a book about Martian women with big boobs and skimpy clothes :eyes:, and that he has a series of books about swords in small spaceships…

  17. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Lord of Light

    Ooh, I liked this one, too. :happy: I "read" the first book in the Amber series and enjoyed it, but at the time I was listening to audio books on my commute and that was the only one that was in audio form, so I didn't continue on with the series. I've read Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere" and enjoyed that. I've read the "Dune" series, and Douglas Adams. I've read Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", and really enjoyed that. I'm not nearly as well read in sci-fi as my husband (:sst: or either of you), but I still have enjoyed quite a few works, and I think it's a great genre.

  18. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    Mine was the Dorsai's

    I'm not familiar with Dorsai! Relatively new compared to Lensman, isn't it? the Wikipedia article I had a quick look said, '… is said to have explored the role of a commander the way Starship Troopers explored the role of a trooper.' I did like Starship Troopers when I read it, and loved the movie, which was more of satire than your usual dramatisation. Is Dorsai! like Starship Troopers?Originally posted by debplatt:

    Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress"

    My favourite RAH was Puppet Masters. And I do like Starship Troopers, too.

  19. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    He also created Tarzan, you know?

    :doh: I was thinking sci-fi, and Tarzan never crossed my mind. I can't say I've ever read any of the Tarzan books, but I've certainly seen film interpretations of them. 😀

  20. ERB never forgot importance of pleasing his female readers. He also created Tarzan, you know?I loved his Mars series, and liked his take of lost world (The Land That Time Forgot, I think it was better than the original Lost World)But my favourite heros in my teenage years was the lensmans.

  21. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    Have you noticed that modern books never set the scene?

    Yes. But some of them have a big "extra" section at the end telling you all about the world. The first author I noticed doing that was Frank Herbert with Dune. But, of course, Tolkien did that long before Herbert in Lord of the Rings, didn't he?

  22. Originally posted by debplatt:

    even ability to kill with thoughts, and only given to the most elite officers in the Galactic Patrol

    I find myself wondering how angelic you'd have to be not to accidentally misfire a negative thought

    Luckily you'd need a additional chip in your head to do that. But when the hero used the mind-kill ability on a special mission, he killed anyone unlucky enough to come across him. I was about 13 or 14 when I read that part, and really didn't like the idea of acceptable collateral damages at all, even in a story.

  23. @Mimi's mum: Thank you for the flash back. :lol:I'm going to blame not remembering on the fact that my mum used aluminum saucepans when I was a kid… 😀

  24. Originally posted by debplatt:

    it could be that the zombie apocalypse has begun.

    Could be the Twilight Saga? 😉

  25. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Rather than the A word?

    Well, aluminum begins with an "A". 😀

  26. I was just thinking to myself, "How did this post end up being about sci-fi?" :confused:Perhaps it's because aliens were referenced in the title. :DOriginally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    My favourite RAH was Puppet Masters. And I do like Starship Troopers, too.

    I really liked "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress". I'd probably like other works of his, too. However, I am currently in technical-reading mode, so it's perhaps not the best time for me to be exploring it.:left: :right: And my daughter recently learning that I hadn't read the Spiderman graphic novel that she got me a while back, so I am kind of in hot water over that. I have been told I'm not allowed to put it back into the book shelf until I've read it. :eyes:

  27. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    even ability to kill with thoughts, and only given to the most elite officers in the Galactic Patrol

    I find myself wondering how angelic you'd have to be not to accidentally misfire a negative thought, and … oh, I'm soooo sorry. :rip:

  28. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Could be the Twilight Saga?

    Okay, that's scarier. The vampires have a lot more on the ball than the zombie's do.But I'm sure that true love will transform them… :left: :right:

  29. Originally posted by debplatt:

    I'm going to blame not remembering on the fact that my mum used aluminum saucepans when I was a kid…

    Rather than the A word? 😀

  30. I havent read all of the lensmen books, I am struggling to remember much about the one I have read… Time for a re-read I think! The first Dorsai book was published in 1959, I didnt realise it was that long ago. I liked Starship Troopers as a film (good fun film, plenty of tongue in cheek humour), havent read the book though. Larry Niven and the ringworld books is anither favourite. There is always room in a blog for a bit of Sci-Fi :yes:

  31. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    It's the old-fashioned goodies kill all baddies dead

    Killing them dead is so much better than killing them … not dead? If you find yourself in the latter situation, it could be that the zombie apocalypse has begun. 😆

  32. Originally posted by debplatt:

    I was just thinking to myself, "How did this post end up being about sci-fi?" Perhaps it's because aliens were referenced in the title.

    Actually it started off like this:Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    BTW, have you noticed the title was a pun/tribute to "An Angel at My Table"?

    Originally posted by darkesthour:

    … I am unfamiliar with …

    Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    … NZ author Janet Frame's autobiography. …

    Originally posted by darkesthour:

    … However if you want to talk Sci-Fi I can hold my own

    Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Is that a challenge?

    Now you are eyewitnessing the clash of Sci-Fi buffs. 😀 But really DH is much more widely read than me. I'll probably end up burrowing CJ Cherryh, Dorsai! and perhaps Hitchhiker's next time I go to the library.

  33. The most famous lensman book would be Galactic Patrol. It's the old-fashioned goodies kill all baddies dead kind of space opera with no limitation or creative restraint. Big blaster/rayguns, hand-to-hand combat using space-axe, the inertial canceling faster than light space travel, ourtageously powerful WMDs such as beams capable of pushing another planet into the evil alien planet and destroying it and sphere of negative matter consuming another enemy planet, etc. The lens contains a sort of super life-power/force that gives the wearer mindreading/telepathic abilities,or even ability to kill with thoughts, and only given to the most elite officers in the Galactic Patrol. Totally outrageous but truly fantastic stuff.

  34. Sadly the good guys also killed non-baddies happened to live on baddie planets. War always sucks, even in the fantasy land. 😥

  35. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    he killed anyone unlucky enough to come across him.

    But you said…Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    It's the old-fashioned goodies kill all baddies

  36. Originally posted by debplatt:

    But I'm sure that true love will transform them…

    Thank you for stopping there, Deb. I've only seen Twilight, but hoping to get New Moon DVD before going to see Eclipse at the cinema. I just hate spoilers.

  37. Originally posted by debplatt:

    I read Twilight, but no further, so you can rest easy.

    OK. I'll try not to talk about it when I see New Moon and Eclipse.I'd better go and get the washing in. Thank you for stopping by, Deb. See you.

  38. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    I'd better go and get the washing in. Thank you for stopping by, Deb. See you.

    :bye:

  39. Well it just goes to show that the non-baddies living on the planet should have killed all the baddies themselves. Then they'd have nothing to worry about.:left: :right: I'm sure due process was followed, right? I mean, jurisprudence-wise, there must have been some way of determining who was a baddy. Oh… wait.. they're all going to be killed anyways. No harm, no foul. 😀

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