Day 93 on the Mississippi River

Day 93

September 7, 2022

Wednesday

LRM 672

1623 miles completed

I paddled 32 miles today.

Last night about 10:30 I started having an irregular heartbeat (atrial fibrillation). I’ve experienced this several times in the past. Each time I’ve experienced this the interval  since the previous time has gotten less, and the duration of the event has gotten greater. The last time I experienced this was  several months ago, and it lasted several hours. I quickly ran through some options in my mind.

I thought about dialing 911 and played out this scenario to an unsatisfactory endpoint.

Then I thought about calling Kelley, my daughter, who is a doctor. She’s not a cardiologist. Calling her would be a whole lot because she’s my oldest daughter and a little bit because she is a doctor.

I decided to wait it out and handle it myself. In the past my heart has returned to normal rhythm on it’s own.

I took an extra dose of Metoprolol. I already take Eliquis twice a day. And, I started drinking water… Lots of water.

I think the afib was caused by too much salt on my chicken Alfredo. I accidentally put too much salt in it and ate it anyway. I think that threw my electrolytes out of whack.

I wasn’t getting enough oxygen. The least exertion would make me feel faint and caused my chest to hurt. It made me have doubts about my choice of actions. I went to bed and tried to relax. When I relaxed I felt better.

At 1:30 AM I had to get up. Just getting out of the tent was a chore. I drank more water. At 3 o’clock I got up again, drank more water, went to the bathroom. All this exertion was giving me problems: almost fainting and chest pains.

The river had risen several inches. I had to move everything about 15 feet to keep it out of the water. I moved the food and cooking gear then sat and rested for five minutes. Then I dragged the tent with everything in it 15 feet. Then I sat and rested for 10 minutes. Then I moved the kayak 15 feet and went back to bed.

7 o’clock the next morning I woke up and my heart was still fluttering away. I managed to get up and make coffee. I did this while sitting down. I sat and drank coffee until about eight. Then I started gathering up stuff and packing up. I packed an item then I sat and rested five minutes. I repeated this until I had everything packed up. It was 10:00 o’clock.

But this time I had consumed a gallon of water and was starting on the 2nd gallon.

I have never had a fib last this long before. I thought it was time to start considering getting to the hospital. Three or 4 miles downstream is a waterfront park that’s attached to a casino. My plan was to stop there and get transportation to the hospital in Tunica, if there is one.

I pushed out into the current and took advantage of a favorable wind. I managed to travel the 3 or 4 miles with hardly any paddling. When I got there I found it was closed and the weeds had taken over. The gate was locked. So I decided to continue. If I’m going to have to call 911 I might as well let him come get me on the water. That would be a lot more fun having them get me a boat. I continued to drift and take  advantage of the current and the wind.

At 12 o’clock I began to feel better. My heart had regained its natural rhythm. I could paddle again without discomfort.

It feels so good when it quits hurting. I paddled strong the rest of the day and found a very nice campsite at 5:30. I got as many miles today as I got yesterday.

It is a beautiful clear night with lots of stars and a warm breeze and no mosquitoes