Atrial Frustration: A Cardiac Arrhythmia Saga

According to the Mayo Clinic, "Mr. Ehlert is a delightful young man from Kansas." ATRIAL FRUSTRATION chronicles his long and winding path through cardiac arrhythmia. Atrial Fibrillation and its attendant drugs seem ubiquitous now, but were unknown to an otherwise-healthy 39-year-old.Starting with an ER walk-in, Ehlert and his heart have experienced: Atrial Fibrillation, Atrial Flutter, Tachycardia, Bradycardia, Tachy-Brady Syndrome (of course!), Sick Sinus Syndrome, a cardiac birth defect, Junctional Rhythm and more. Ehlert's fourth grade music teacher had been right: he had no rhythm! A fluid but highly-attended treatment regimen including rhythm and rate control drugs, electrical cardioversions, catheter-based ablations, and the mother-of-all-open-heart surgeries has been a frustrating and life-altering tack. Millions of Americans are arrhythmically-afflicted. Symptoms may vary, but the emotional toil is universal. Ehlert is now happily bionic, mostly in-rhythm, and his latest Mayo discharge even goes so far to offer that he's (back to being) "a very pleasant gentleman."