INTRO

My name is Andi. I live with a heart condition called AVNRT (AV Node Re-entrant Tachycardia). We are not sure how long I've truly had this, but my family believes I was born with it even though I was barely diagnosed in 2011.


So I will start with a quick intro, I've never written a blog so I apologize ahead of time if it sounds weird, I think it's weird to talk about myself HAHA!

I had a few fainting episodes growing up which seemed random, but now in retrospect, I had the same exact feeling and warning signs/symptoms as my most recent syncope episode which led to a series of events leading to a diagnosis. I know now that they were all caused by tachycardia and not dehydration like previously believed.

I had a cardiac cryoablation on November 19th, 2011 at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital, a branch of Stanford Univ. Hospital that considered the AVNRT "cured" (a cessation of declined quality of life). I was 19.

Now I am age 22, going on 23.

I am one of the few 2% that regressed after the ablation, and now have had to resume cardiac care.

I'm here to share my story.

I started a bucket list in 2008 and one of the items needing to be checked off of my list is to create my own blog. So here goes nothing!

Friday, February 7, 2014

Measuring Spoons

I recently discovered the spoon theory and I am still attempting to figure out what exactly I need.

The Spoon Theory is a metaphor that many people with different types of chronic illnesses utilize in order to describe to a healthy person what our day consists of and how we have to constantly think about when we plan out our days.

The reason I bring this up today is because my boyfriend is struggling to understand why I have enough energy to hang out with my twin, but not have energy to finish the laundry, etc.

So the way I start, I start myself off with 20 spoons a day. You can't add spoons. Spoons are measurements of energy. With each spoon you lose, you lose a level of energy

 This is what my day consisted of:

 Spoons         Activity
20................getting out of bed
                    getting dressed (I only wear scrubs to work so it's easy) -1 spoon
19................searching for my name tag and looking every where for my  nursing shoes. -1 spoon
18................driving to work in 30 degree weather without a working car heater. -1 spoon
17................morning medication pass -1 spoon
18...............oh man, I didn't realize I had student nurses today. They easily take up -5 spoons
13...............Lunch med pass. Charting on my shift -1 spoon
12...............Meeting with my boss about my current health issues -2 spoons
10...............paying rent -1 spoon  
9................. going to the grocery store or dinner supplies -1 spoon
8.................(this is 6pm barely btw) writing this blog and just thinking about what I still needs
                    to be done today.  -1 spoon 

What still needs to be done today:
                  1 spoon to take a shower
                  1 spoon to finish the load of laundry I didn't finish  folding yesterday
                  1 spoon to eat dinner because I'm so exhausted I'll need to utilize a spoon  
                  1 spot clean the living room and clean dishes after dinner
                  1 to get ready for bed  
 
    So at the end of the night, I'll have 3 spoons left. -1 spoon if I have a hard time falling asleep....

 If I run out of spoons, I will have literally made myself sick to the point I could end up in the ER. It has happened before, and it's not a good feeling. The worst part about only having the 3 spoons left is that I'm a nurse and emergencies happen at work all the time! Today luckily nothing exciting happened. But last week when I had someone dying on me, I used 15 spoons to keep the man alive and stable enough to get the the ER across the street....it happened at 7am...I had 5 spoons left for the rest of my day. I was so exhausted I couldn't even cry if I wanted to (and I really wanted to) by the time I got home.
So for anyone with any sort of chronic illness, I would suggest putting this theory into play and see how your life can improve by planning tasks (spoons) ahead of time. And if someone wants to step in your shoes, this is a great way to express what it is like to HAVE to plan activities around your amount of energy you have.

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