Genesis

So, here I am deciding to start this blog and realizing that probably nobody will read this post for probably a year. By then I’ll be famous and 3 of my biggest fans will search the archives to find out this all started. Can we say I’m starting out without many delusions? OK, maybe I am being a little optimistic. Anyway, if you are here wanting to know why this blog is called 3zacharm and how it got started and all that, I’ll stop chattering, and tell you the story. Just a warning – it involves dying not once, but twice!

As long as I can remember, I’ve had times when my heart would race for a few beats. I would cough and it would go back to normal. One November evening about 9 years ago, my trick didn’t work. I laid down to rest, did all the relaxation exercises I knew ( which were a lot, more on that later), but nothing worked. Finally, I called my doctor, and since my pulse was about 140, she told me to go to the ER. Not being the brightest light in the harbor, I drove myself the 10 miles to the hospital. They gave me some medicine to slow my heart rate and it worked so well that my heart stopped – first time “dead”. My heart started to beat again after only 7 seconds, and I converted back to a normal heart rhythm the next morning, but they kept me in ICU for about 4 more days watching to make sure I was OK.

Long story as short as I can make it – lots of tests, never found anything wrong, no medicine, no followup, everything cool for 9 years. Well, a few episodes of racing, but coughing fixed it.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago – July 28th, 2009. Getting ready to go to bed, I noticed my heart rate was irregular and fast. Remembering what happened last time, I was reluctant to go to the ER. Took an aspirin and thought “Maybe it will be back to normal in the morning”. It wasn’t. And when I got up I felt dizzy and nauseated, so I went to the ER. This time I got someone to drive me. Told them the story about the medicine before, and they gave me the same medicine (Cardizem), but a very small dose and then a very slow drip. This time it took 3 hours, but my heart stopped again. This time for 23 seconds. I converted to a normal rhythm on my own again, and after about a week of every-other-day trips to the ER, ended up with a pacemaker to keep my pulse from dropping below 60, which was happening “too often”. We’re still messing with the medicine the doctors want me to take to keep me out of atrial fibrillation, but at least I know I’m not going to crash!

So, you’ve got the logic by now, right? I was born in 1956, then I got another chance in 2001, and now I’m on my third life! So, I’m figuring this one is charmed – therefore the name – 3zacharm.

What are my plans here? Well, I’ve been told I have a different perspective than most, so I’m here to share my perspective, maybe inspire someone to have a better life than they would have otherwise, and I guess whatever else will unfold on its own.