Hawaii check in- 8/22/10

Hi All!

It's a quiet Sunday morning and I thought I'd check in and share how the trip has gone so far. In a word- Snorktastic!! We snorkeled at Shark's Cove yesterday and I am enamored. We saw TONS of fish, the kind you only see in your dentist's aquarium. Angel fish, puffer fish, this fish that looked like a noodle, clown fish, and about 20 other kinds of rainbow colored fish. And we even saw a Humahumanukanukaapua'a (Hawaii's state fish. Duh).

And the snorkel trip was that much sweeter because the day before yesterday my snorkeling plans were dashed. We had gone to snorkel at Hanauma Bay, the place everyone says is a must see on Oahu. I wasn't feeling all that good as soon as we woke up that day, but I desperately wanted to go to the bay, so off we went. Nick and his parent's were wonderful to me- drove me right up to the entrance, stood in line to buy our tickets, and carried everything. But I still wasn't feeling right. By the time we got down to the beach (via trolley), I was feeling even worse.

My heart was pounding, I was dizzy, I could barely lift my arms. I sat under a tree for about an hour, hoping I would start to feel better so I could snorkel. But I didn't. I couldn't muster the energy to stand up, much less walk down to the water and snorkel. So I just watched and was so disappointed. It was a huge reminder of how my heart just can't make it sometimes, no matter how much determination I have. So we left, and went on a driving tour of the south east side of the island. We still a great time, but I was so exhausted, I could barely hold my head up. It was early to bed that night for sure!

So yesterday, when we decided to go to the North Shore to see the big waves, I was trying to decide to bring my swimsuit or not. And Nick said "hey, we've been planning in case bad stuff for so long, now let's plan in case good stuff happens!". I love him. :) So I brought my suit, and when we got to Shark's Cove, the water was calm and I felt really good, so snorkeling we went! And it was fantastic. : )

In other heart news, I did think I had a little Sparky event 3 days ago. It was late afternoon, and I was super tired. My heart started beating weird, and I almost passed out. I felt a hard thump in my chest and thought it was Sparky pacing my heart. We used my fancy Sparky transmitting machine to send a recording of what happened to my doc, and left her a message to call me back.

She called back to say that Sparky didn't pace me- I had an episode of atrial fibrillation. That's where the upper chambers of your heart beat really fast and out of rhythm. Though scary and uncomfortable, they are not dangerous. Yay for that! Boo for having more weird rhythms. I'll talk to my doc more about that when I get home.

So that's the heart highlights of the trip so far! We are having the most relaxing, lovely time here. The other day, we were going somewhere and I told Nick I wanted to drive. He was about to hand me the keys and then we both realized I'm not allowed to drive right now! We'd both completely forgotten. It's pretty nice to forget. : )

Love you all!
Jana