911 Calls To My Home

A number of you are most likely aware that my wife Maryann has been having episodes or spells over the past month, so we have not left her alone. During this time, 911 & Fairfax Rescue have been called three times and I must comment that they certainly are a wonderful group of people. Along with them, Fairfax Fire (Greg Hartman & Justin Hayes) also assisted in getting her transported.

It has been somewhat of a stressful time as no cause could be found. We both had an appointment with our Doctor, Dr. Alan Ramsay, a week ago Thursday and he in a matter of about 20 minutes covered all bases and ordered a "Halter Monitor" for Maryann. The "Halter Monitor" has a couple of probes and arrived on Tuesday by FedEx. The probes were attached and daughter Sharon called the number that came with the Monitor and they had her do a base recording for future reference.. What you do is hit the record button, then at the end of the record, you call the number they give you and keep the noise down as much as possible and place the speaker over the receiver of the telephone and they get the information on the other end of the phone.

We were instructed that if she had another episode, we were to push the record button and call the number they gave us.

As luck would happen, on Wednesday night, as she was sitting in her recliner about 9:55, she had another episode. My daughter Sharon jumped up out of her chair and immediately pushed the record button. She then called the number after Maryann came out of the episode and the person at the other end had her play back the recording over the phone. After hearing the recording, she told my daughter that Rescue needed to be called immediately as there had been a pause in her heartbeat. The person at the other end, who I think was in Massachusetts, said she would contact Rescue and for my daughter to take another recording, which she did and to remain on the line. Rescue was called and we were told was on the way. Sharon made sure it was Fairfax Rescue and not Cambridge Rescue, due to our mailing address. Meanwhile, I used my cell phone to call my other daughter next door who also rushed over.

Maryann was coherent at this time, but very tired and wanted to get into bed, but convinced her to remain seated in the chair while another recording was taken and played back to the person who was listening to the monitor recordings in Massachusetts.

After my daughter got here, we put her in her wheel chair and brought her to her bedroom and sat her on the bed where she was able to lay down. 3 members of Fairfax Rescue arrived and another was on the way to help transport her. Since her records are all in Burlington and she had already been down a few days earlier, we asked that she be transported to Fletcher Allen Health Care. Rescue checked with Northwest and since she was stable, they gave Rescue permission to transport her to Burlington, where they were waiting for her.

Meanwhile, The Monitor People found out which hospital she was going to and transmitted the recordings to Fletcher Allen so that when she arrived they were aware of what had happened and were waiting and prepared for her.

They knew what the problem was, thanks to the Heart Monitor. When the nurse said we could go down to see her, they had all kinds of monitors on her and she explained to us that what she had was a problem with the electrical system in her heart, where the upper part was not communicating with the lower part and that she was definitely being admitted. She told us that they would either install a temporary pacemaker immediately, or wait until the next day. She was indeed an extremely knowledgeable nurse and did a great job explaining the problem. I had no idea the heart had an electrical system, however, we were all very relieved to finally, after a month, find out what was actually going on.

It not only relieved the stress on us, but also on Maryann, if you can understand you have something happening, but have no ideal what it might be.

They installed the Pacemaker on Thursday and Maryann came home on Friday. Although very weak yet, her color is much better and she is recovering slowly, thankful she now knows the cause. Her heart rate was running at 37 & 38 before the pacemaker was installed, so it is no wonder she was having a few episodes.

We of course are very fortunate to have a primary care giver like Dr. Ramsay, who put a plan of action in place, that solved the mystery. Maryann had an appointment with a cardiologist on Thursday, but never did make that appointment. Another thing we are very fortunate for, besides having our Rescue & Fire Personnel, is to have such a high tech Medical Facility. They were absolutely wonderful and responsive. Don't know the ladies name on the other end of the "Halter Monitoring System", but she sure was wonderful and Thank God Sharon was here, as I would have hated to have been alone.

Needless to say, if any of you think I might be forgetting about my web site, or answering e-mail, there have been a few things going on here at the Raymond Household, but things are looking up and once Maryann regains her strength, things should get back to normal. A special thanks to my wonderful family for all their help.