Mexico City Blues

Just got back from a business trip to Mexico City. We went to a trade show in Puebla which is east of Mexico City. We had planned to attend the trade show for two days but it sucked so one day was enough. I was trying to find new suppliers for our factory in Honduras but I was very disappointed at the availability of product that would meet our needs.

Thursday we went back to Mexico City and stayed in a hotel in the Zona Rosa or "Pink Zone" in English. The Zona Rosa is the shopping, dining and party district. We sat in a cafe and drank beers and worked on the laptops for about 3 hours. I mostly just did a lot of people watching.

Later that evening after sushi and 4 bottles of saki and too many beers in two different clubs we stumbled back to the hotel about 4:30 Friday morning. We actually made it to the airport on time and I drank two frozen coffee drinks to try to ameliorate my hangover.

Twenty minutes later I went into Atrial Fibrillation. I have had this irregular heartbeat condition off and on for the better part of 15 years. I had surgery last May that I though had corrected the problem since I had not had any recurring episodes since the surgery. I guess the combination of alcohol, caffeine, and very cold coffee was enough to re-trigger what I hoped was gone forever.

I am so fucking stupid because frozen coffee has put me into atrial fibrillation before. I thought the surgery had solved the problem. Nevertheless, I should be a lot more conservative in my behavior considering the seriousness of my condition.

So I am taking Propafenone to try to put me back in normal sinus rhythm. This drug was successful in converting my irregular heartbeat into normal rhythm several times before my surgery. I just hope like hell it works again.

The big problem is that if it doesn't put me back in normal sinus rhythm within 48 hours I then have to go on the anticoagulant coumadin for 6 weeks then have an electrocardioversion to shock my heart back into rhythm. I hate those electrocardioversions.

I have had at least seven electrocardioversions. Each time it takes more juice to put me back into rhythm and every time they fry my veins a little more from all the hellacious drugs they use to knock me out so I don't feel the jolts of electricity.

Despite all this shit it is good to be home and see the wife and daughter. I missed them both - the daughter was looking for me the whole time I was gone. The wife said that she was calling "Daddy where are you?" That breaks my heart! She kept telling her pre-school teacher that "Daddy on trip"