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PVC/PAC heart rhythm experience


CopyShot

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Had my FC1 at Wright Patt in June.

Quick background: I was a competitive cyclist from age like 14 to 20, riding like 8-10 hours a week for years (a lot).  I also played soccer year round from 5th grade through high school.  I continued to do intramural sports year round at college and stated fairly active.  As far as I've read, PVCs can become common in subjects with histories of endurance sports or high volumes of cardio/pulmonary stress like sports.  

In the months leading up, I joked with my family about how I knew I'd pass my FC1 unless they found "some heart condition I don't know about."  I had never heard of PVCs and had no signs of arrythmia.  

Sure enough, I fail my EKG on the first day with no history of any cardio problems.  I ended up staying 2 extra days.  They said it was like I was a daily monster drinker who continued to drink them at my FC1...  and I've never had any of that gross shit.

Basically, I failed my EKG, and they had me come back in later that day to fit me with a Halter monitor - it's like a 24hr EKG harness you wear.  They try to find the percentage of PVCs you had in a normal day.  24hrs later, they analyzed the data and ordered an echocardiogram for me.  My echocardiogram took like 50 minutes because I had so many PVCs they could not get clean 7-8 second clips of each compartment of my heart without trying over and over and over again in each area.  I put that up to stress.  I eventually could see on the machine's monitor what PVCs looked like and couldn't help but fixate and get freaked out at the frequency, it was hard to stay composed at first because I thought my pilot dreams were slipping away.  

I continued to have a good attitude and treat the whole process like the doctors, assistants, and techs and I were working as a team to get to a goal of having me waived.  I really think this is a key.

Finally, after the echo - they had me do a treadmill stress test.  You basically walk at a brisk pace as the treadmill inclines every 60-90 seconds, with a live EKG on a big screen next to you while a Lt. Col pulmonologist looks on and an assistant takes your blood pressure/pulse manually off your arm before each incline interval.  

After all this - they put me in for a waiver, and I passed.  I'm not certain about the conditions of my waiver yet, but I know that I passed from my recruiter. My PVCs must have settled down on the treadmill test.

The biggest bummer about my FC1 experience is that they weren't able to take the time to teach me about my potential condition.  I didn't get updates day to day on my cardio health in general as it pertains to my day to day life.  It makes sense - they are trying not to disclose anything so you don't become a center of attention among your peers or add to the stress of an already stressful process while dealing with 20+ patients.  So now I have to go see a specialist on the civilian side to learn about what I can do to ensure I continue to pass waiver tests over the next few years as I begin my career.

Again, as far as I know, in order to issue a waiver the docs and techs meet to discuss each case round table style before submitting a waiver to the AFRC SG.  Your attitude has to play some kind of role in making yourself memorable as a candidate that would be able to roll with the punches of future health hurdles in your flying career.

Sorry for the long post - feel free to PM me for more details.

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