johnpalmer

So:
Microsoft made an offer. It wasn't *great* but it's a tiny bit better than my contract rate when you consider that I'll get health insurance without paying a significant chunk of money each month with after tax dollars, plus vacation, paid sick time, and other benefits.

It's a bit scary going back - but this time, I'm ready for a lot of the things that could go wrong. And I get to do a job I love!

I'd considered taking calcium channel blockers, in hopes that they might fix an arrhythmia. Near as I can tell, they make me worse... and this *might* be good news. See, calcium channel blockers make it a bit harder for current to flow through the normal path on your heart, to cause it to beat. Thus, CCBs should slow your heart rate down - it should take longer to build up the charge to actually fire. But if you have a secondary path - which is a cause of some arrhythmias - the charge might more readily fire down that pathway. I have an appointment with a cardiologist to discuss options - and hopefully, there are some. That'll happen in early February.

I'm a bit nervous here. Will we find something?

If we find the right thing... well, sometimes you can fix these things with a catheter procedure that basically burns out the incorrect pathway using microwaves. It sounds like it's often outpatient and low risk. I'd want to know more (how *do* they target this?), but that's my biggest hope. But even if it can't be fixed, it might be treatable. I might step back a bit closer to normal (in certain limited areas).

Interestingly, my left hip is also playing an interesting new game - I'm hoping it's the last (or penultimate or at least antepenultimate!) game. It feels like it might be. So it's like I've got a whole bunch of possible good things converging. I'm trying to remain detached, but it's hard not to get a bit excited :-).

Sending my love out to you all - I hope life, the universe, and everything, really, is treating you well.