It’s been quite a week. On Friday after ten days of my heart racing, I finally headed to the cardiac cath lab at the hospital for my, I think, 6th cardioversion since I began this Afib journey four years ago. I had to be there at 7:00 a.m., they had me prepped and ready to go by 7:45 and then we were just waiting for the doctor to show up.

By 8:10 a.m., everyone was assembled in the room; the cardiologist, the anesthesiologist, the endoscopic tech and two nurses. I had to lay on my left side for the tech to put a small round, hollow tooth block in my mouth in preparation for the endoscope that would go down my throat to do my “transesophageal echocardiogram”. Everyone was quiet and I lay there anticipating the propofol taking effect. I couldn’t see the anesthesiologist because he was behind me. He jokingly said he wasn’t sure what med is was giving me, then said he was just kidding. I waited and thought something was wrong and that it wasn’t working. Then about five seconds later, I just slowly went under. It’s slow enough that you know it’s happening, it’s like someone slowly dimming the lights.  A half-hour later, I was awake again. Everything went well. No clots were detected so the cardioversion was done. One jolt of 200 joules to my heart and it was beating normally again. The Great Hunter and I were eating breakfast by 9:30.

My oldest granddaughter turned 21 on Saturday so to celebrate we all went to a social club for dinner and drinks and games. I’m not much of a game player; I have more fun watching and taking photos.

I ended the Labor Day weekend by taking my youngest granddaughter to the theater to see the “Barbie” movie.

  I grew up with Barbie and Ken and Scooter and Midge. When I was really young, my mom would sew Barbie dress collections to sell at Christmas. She would sit at her 1947
Singer sewing machine for hours stitching the little dresses, pants and blouses with tiny half-inch diameter arm holes. She made almost all my Barbies clothes and one of her creations still adorns a Barbie in my curio cabinet.

My daughter-in-law saw the movie and said it was good and my granddaughter said she heard it was not a movie geared for children, so I didn’t know what to expect. The Great Hunter was off to his hunting ground for the day to sight in his new compound bow for the upcoming bow deer hunting season. When he got home, he asked how I liked the movie. I tried to explain what it was about. ..Barbie lives in a perfect Barbieland where all the women are Barbies and all the men are Kens and the men are just additions to the perfect Barbie world. Barbie leaves Barbieland to help a mother in the real world connect with her daughter and while she is gone, the Kens take over Barbieland and make it Kendom. This is very simplistic. One review I read said

“Not only did it showcase the beloved Barbie character in all her glamour and charm, but it also cleverly delved into the complexities of late stage capitalism, making a thought-provoking and relevant film for audiences of all ages.”

Okay, what? Anyway, between the cost of the tickets, popcorn and two sodas, I was $50 poorer. But as they say, time with my granddaughter, priceless.