The Bionic Man

So today was the day I got my heart monitor, which I'm wearing right now actually. It sounded like a relative non-event: pick up the monitor, it fits in a fanny pack and you wear it for 24 hours. Yeah.....that's just part of it. First, they have to attach the electrodes and wires. But before then, they have to "prep" you. Prepping you means shaving an attractive little patch of hair first, then they scrub it with basically a piece of sand paper until it's raw. They claim it's getting off a dead layer of skin which impedes conduction. My epidermis is just fine thank you very much. At least it was, but after they were done with me, my epidermis was breached in several spots.

On to the pictures!




Good Lord. I look like Dr. Octopus from Spider-Man. Five or six wires were attached to a battery operated monitor. They scrubbed where four of the contacts were going to be made. Ugh. When he pulled out the razor, I thought he was going to shave my entire chest!








With a shirt on, I look relatively normal. The little fanny pack isn't too bad either. I just look like I'm from Wisconsin. :-) Fortunately, down by the lake, it was a bit cooler so I had a jacket on most of the day.






They gave me some slack in the wires as I told the guy I was going to the batting cages for some batting practice. The device didn't really interfere with my swing at all, so that was good. The doctor gave me a log that I have to keep as well. Any time I have a flutter or feel anything else heart related, I'm supposed to note when it happened and what I was doing. They'll analyze the data for a few days after I turn it in tomorrow. Of course I'm hoping it's nothing, but that they find out what it is that I'm feeling. We'll see.