Thankful For My Fitbit

I am a regular user of my Fitbit (fitness watch), as it helps me keep track of my fitness activities (or lack thereof! lol). My particular model is the Fitbit Charge 4 Fitness and Activity Tracker, and I like it because it is smaller than most fitness trackers.  It is "smart", but not so smart as to be cumbersome when switching between screens. The particular feature that I am most thankful for that prompted this story is its ability to measure heart rate variability.  Heart rate variability (HRV) is the variation of time between each heartbeat - to see if your body is showing potential signs of stress, illness, or fatigue. 

I sync my watch to my phone app every day and check the results.  On this particular day in April of 2023, I found something disturbing. I included some screenshots of my phone below.  I started getting warning messages in the morning that I had an irregular heart rhythm (see Photo 1), so I dug deeper into the app, and in Photo 2 it said I showed signs of AFib.  AFib stands for atrial fibrillation, which is a type of arrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat. Photo 3 shows that even over the course of 1 minute, my heart rate would range from as low as 42 to over 160 beats per minute. The application told me to contact my healthcare provider, so I did.

Screenshots of my phone's Fitbit application

I called my primary care physician that day and told them over the phone my situation, and the office immediately called in a referral to a local cardiologist.  They ordered bloodwork, and I went into their office for an electrocardiogram (EKG). An EKG records the electrical signal from the heart to check for different heart conditions.  That test alone confirmed my AFib, which lead to more tests because my AFib put me at a high risk of a stroke. That highly concerned me, because of my family history of strokes.

Since that first diagnosis a month ago I received (in order):

• A nuclear stress test - is an imaging test that shows how blood goes to the heart at rest and during exercise.
• An echocardiogram - which uses sound waves to show how blood flows through the heart and heart valves. 
• Cardioversion therapy - treatment to restore a normal heartbeat when your heart is beating too fast or with an irregular rhythm.
• A TransEsophageal Echocardiography (TEE) - a test that uses sound waves to make pictures of your heart’s muscles and chambers, valves, and outer lining (pericardium), as well as the blood vessels that connect to your heart. Doctors often use TEE when they need more detail than a standard echocardiogram can give them.
• A catheter angiogram - During a coronary angiogram, a type of dye that's visible by an X-ray machine is injected into the blood vessels of your heart. The X-ray machine rapidly takes a series of images (angiograms), offering a look at your blood vessels. If necessary, your doctor can open clogged heart arteries (angioplasty) during your coronary angiogram. An angioplasty was not needed.

All this took place last week from the writing of this story, and I feel so much better.  My blood pressure is now in the normal range, and my resting pulse is steady in the 60's.

In summary, I believe my Fitbit might have saved my life. I am so grateful for the technology it can provide to the average person, and I will never ever be without one again.

Jan. 3, 2024 Update

This is turning out to be the story of my AFib journey!  Since I posted this story, I have had two cardioversions, a brain MRI to check for previous strokes, and a catheter ablation. Today I am AFib-free.  A downside is all the blood thinners I am taking. Before this diagnosis, I was on ZERO prescriptions, now I am on nine. In May of 2024, I am scheduled for a Watchman device that will help prevent blood clots from forming and going to my brain. See Left atrial appendage occlusion.

Acknowledgments: I am so thankful for all my doctors, nurses, and staff who have helped me through this, thus far. Especially I wish to thank Dr. Ravindran Palaniyandi, Cardiologist, Dr. Randal Davis, Family Medicine, their office staff and nurses, and the staff and nurses of Melbourne Regional Medical Center, and Holmes Regional Medical Center, Cardiac Center.

I also want to express my love and gratitude to my wife, children, siblings, friends, and church family who supported me with their prayers, offers of help, and support during this scary episode.

Gus Koerner

June 2023

The Lord’s Prayer and Its Significance for Me

Growing up in the LDS Church, we never said the Lord’s Prayer in personal or communal settings. I remember being told it is because we should not say rote (memorized or repetitive) prayers.  I never really understood that, but an article I found below by author Jana Riess, explains what I have always understood. I do not agree with the LDS viewpoint on it, because the Lord’s prayer has always brought me comfort.  Sometimes I cannot pray because of my spiritual state of being at that moment.  If I then recite the Lord’s Prayer, it usually brings me back to a state of gratitude and humility.

Below is the traditional prayer, and a version I adapted just for me.

The Lord's Prayer (traditional)
Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive them that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil. 
For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory, Forever and ever.
Amen.

My Lord's Prayer
Dear Father in Heaven,
Blessed be your Name.
Your Kingdom come.
Your will be done on earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give me this day my daily bread.
And forgive my sins,
As I forgive those that sin against me.
Help me resist temptation,
And deliver me from evil. 
For yours is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.

Note about this article. Normally I would quote the title and author and include the hyperlink.  Links fail over time, and I did not wish to someday lose the text of it.

Why Don’t Mormons Recite the Lord’s Prayer? By Jana Riess, October 14, 2013

Sources:
https://religionnews.com/2013/10/14/dont-mormons-recite-lords-prayer/
https://religionnews.com/category/opinion/columns/jana-riess/

Sometimes I get asked which of the spiritual practices I undertook for [my book] Flunking Sainthood I still observe regularly. I’m certainly not fasting every day anymore. But there are several practices I keep doing, including Sabbath-keeping, the Jesus Prayer, and the Lord’s Prayer.

Reciting the Lord’s Prayer each day is an unusual practice for a Mormon. But why is it so unusual?

The Encyclopedia of Mormonism says that rather than being a prayer that Latter-day Saints are to memorize and recite in full, the Lord’s Prayer offers a general “pattern” for our own spontaneous prayers. It speaks of cultivating a relationship with a divine parent who meets our daily needs, grants forgiveness, and can help us resist temptation.

That’s fine, but it does not explain why there is power in reciting the prayer’s words exactly as written (either in the New Testament or the Book of Mormon, where it also appears in a slightly different version). The Encyclopedia’s approach does not do justice to the transforming power of saying these particular words, no matter how we are feeling or what we are thinking about that day.

Perhaps it is true that Mormons unconsciously use the words of the Lord’s Prayer as a pattern for prayer, but somehow I don’t think so, especially because most Mormons are never taught it. In fact, the manual for the Gospel Principles class, which teaches new members the foundations of a Mormon spiritual life, not only omits mention of the Lord’s Prayer in its lesson on prayer but goes out of its way to caution against repeating “meaningless words and phrases.”

If Mormons don’t even learn the Lord’s Prayer, how can it be a pattern for prayer or spiritual formation?

The Gospel Principles manual reveals a Mormon suspicion of traditional, rote prayers, a suspicion that is sometimes justified by appealing to 3 Nephi 13’s warnings about “vain repetitions.” I once had a conversation with a woman in Relief Society who was highly skeptical that she could ever feel the Spirit through someone else’s words. Prayer should be extemporaneous, she felt; anything impersonal would be a violation of her own relationship with Heavenly Father.

I asked her to think about the temple ceremony and how it is exactly the same every time—and wasn’t she just saying that she learned something new each time she went to the temple?

And what about our sacrament prayer? That’s a prayer that has to be recited precisely as written every single Sunday. Any alterations will result in a red-faced teenage boy having to start all over again. And yet many Mormons reflect that the familiar words of the sacrament prayer have sunk into their souls so deeply that they can conjure them in any situation, often to their great benefit.

So the argument against rote prayer is not a valid one in Mormon tradition; our two highest ritual forms in fact rely upon such sameness as a tool for spiritual growth. Mormonism has always blended personal, spontaneous prayer with the repeated formal liturgy. Often, we just don’t realize that is what we are doing.

I’m puzzled that Mormons don’t do more with the Lord’s Prayer. I think it is our loss. This is the prayer that Jesus himself taught us to pray—the only one. For that reason alone we should be all ears. Mormons in particular should pay attention because the Lord’s Prayer is explicitly mentioned in the Book of Mormon from Jesus’ time among the Nephites. If Jesus thought this prayer was important enough to teach in two different settings when many of his teachings in the New Testament were apparently not given the same emphasis elsewhere, why would we not make the prayer a top priority?

In addition to its multiple appearances in Scripture, this is the prayer that the earliest Christians were taught to recite, as evidenced by the spiritual practices recorded in the Didache in the late first century. At that time, followers of Jesus said the Lord’s Prayer three times a day.

I usually manage once a day. But when I do recite the Lord’s Prayer, it offers a powerful connection to the God I’m addressing, the Savior who taught me how to pray, and the global community of Christians both past and present who have drawn strength from this prayer in every kind of circumstance.

What also strikes me is how this-worldly the prayer is, how quotidian, how very Mormon. It is practical, not ethereal. It’s not about eternal salvation or theology. It’s about manna for today—just today—and the strength to move forward. And I need all the manna I can get.

End of Jana Riess article.

Additionally, the LDS Church has this explanation and discussion of the Lord's Prayer
Lessons from the Lord’s Prayers, by Elder Russell M. Nelson

The Lord prefaced His prayer by first asking His followers to avoid “vain repetitions” and to pray “after this manner.” Thus, the Lord’s Prayer serves as a pattern to follow and not as a piece to memorize and recite repetitively. The Master simply wants us to pray for God’s help while we strive constantly to resist evil and live righteously.

End of Article