Daniel

Where to start? Where to start? There's quite a list of updates for Dan . . . but I guess we'll start with his own words:

"I have atrial fibrilation. Even as a kid I noticed my heart would race from time to time, but it was rare and mild. In the last several years it has become more regular and more severe. It is not life threatening, but it is annoying to be sitting still and find myself out of breath and light headed as though I'm about to pass out. So I came in for surgery on Thursday [February 28] to have ablated the errant electrical cells causing the irregular rhythms. During the surgery, the doctor was successful at mapping all the bad cells, but he mapped them in all the worst places. Some he found in my pulmonary veins, others he found in my right atrium and most he found in the left atrium. The bad cells in the right atrium are easy to fix. The rest are complicated. First, ablating the cells in the veins will likely cause scar tissue that occludes them. That's no good because then oxygenated blood doesn't get from my lungs back to my heart. The alternatives for dealing with those cells as well as the cells in the left atrium have a high risk of piercing my heart. If that happens, my esophagus could also be pierced (fatal), or I could bleed out into my chest (fatal) or I could have a blood clot (stroke). None of these options appeal to me in my early thirties. So rather than surgical intervention, I am now on a nice little drug regimen. The drugs are bad enough in a high enough percentage of people, that they administer them for the first three days under observation in the hospital. So rather than day surgery and being back to normal Thursday, I have been in the hospital for three days just sitting around waiting for a negative reaction to the drugs. None so far . . . "

So - that's the very wordy explanation for why he was in the hospital for three days and all havoc broke loose in the ward with people concerned for my husband's heart! I was grateful for the concern and the offers for help - but most of all, I was grateful it wasn't an issue where I needed more than minimal help. He's healthy and fine - and that's all that matters!

He's the Priest's Quorum advisor - for those who aren't LDS, that means he hangs out with the 16 - 18 year old young men - "being a good example" and "teaching" them . . . last two activities they had here at our house were filled with lots of food, the air hockey table and a couple video game set-ups. I know he really enjoys this responsibility. Plus - he's good at it!

Work seems to be going fine - I mostly hear about it when he's telling friends and I happen to be in the same room. He doesn't go overboard boring me with work details, that's for sure. To be honest, I would like to hear more about the crazy reasons people are suing in the final frontier - some of his cases have been rather interesting. Like plane accidents, oil rig explosions, boating accidents and that sort of thing. I know he enjoys what he does. He also loves the firm and people he works with. We're really glad he found this opportunity - and I'm pretty proud to tell people I'm married to a hot attorney!