Episodic supraventricular tachycardia
The results from my tests reveal that I appear to have episodic supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). In simple language, my heart sometimes beats too fast for a few seconds, and then returns to normal. The most likely cause is a "wiring fault" involving the electrical impulses that control the heart. There are lots of different faults that can occur, and the exact fault in question is yet to be determined.

The good news is that this isn't ventricular tachycardia which is associated with an increaed chance of sudden death. By comparison, episodic SVT means that I may occasionally feel dizzy for a second or two after heavy exercise. Damn.

SVT isn't a true diagnosis. Instead it's a more accurate description of the symptoms I've been showing. Episodic SVT has been known to disappear by itself, and sometimes may end up being nothing more than an annoyance. On the other hand, SVT may indicate a much more serious problem, or may be a problem in conjunction with other factors, so ignoring it may be a Very Bad Thing. I've arranged for a consultation with a cardiologist this Thursday, at which time I expect to learn a lot more about my condition.

In the meantime, my doctor has recommended that I constrain my intake of caffeine. Apparently filling the heart with stimulants can make everything more excited and induce episodes of SVT. So instead of two large coffees lovingly prepared with my espresso machine each day, I've been insteading having two cups of tea. As expected, I'm getting all te classic symptoms of caffeine withdrawal; irritability, difficulty in concentration, and mild headaches.

The worst thing is, it's working. Since giving up coffee I've experienced no cardiac symptoms whatsoever, so the whole thing may have a really simple fix. I should be thrilled, but I don't really want to give up coffee permanently. Drinking coffee is very high on my list of enjoyable activities.

The good news is that I may be able to resume my old caffeine intake if I have a proceedure that involves burning out parts of my heart with microwave radiation. Hmmm.... tough choice. I'm glad I discovered this before I went and purchased a new espresso machine.

Bloodwork
Bloodwork came back normal. I'm remaining cautiously optimisitic, but have defensively booked a cardiologist appointment anyway.

Irregular heartbeat
Woke up the other day with an awareness that I had an irregular heartbeat, with my heart occasionally skipping or adding extra beats. While I've had the sensation of my heart 'skipping a beat' before, usually during a moment or excitement or surprise, this was a lot more frequent, and hence more concerning. To make sure I wasn't imagagining things, I had Jacinta take my pulse, and after a positive confirmation I headed off to the doctor.

Like a heisenbug in software development, the syptoms completely failed to present in front of the doctor, although they reoccured both before and after my visit. I was given a referral to a cardio lab that would fit me with a Holter monitor, which is essentially a portable ECG machine. Blood was also taken for testing.

Fitting the Holter monitor came with a few surprises, the largest one went like this:

Mushrooms!
Went mushrooming on the weekend with friends. We were looking for chanterelles but all our regular spots had none; probably because it was too early in the season, and a lack of rain in general.

In exploring for new places we discovered a number of pullball mushrooms. We didn't have any identification guides in the field, but having a vague recollection that Australia has no dangerous true puffballs we collected all we could find, with the hopes that we'd succeed in a positive ID back at base and find them edible.

To our great joy, we identified them as gem studded puffballs (Lycoperdon perlatum), using independent references in both English and Russian, with no communication between researchers.

After slicing each one carefully to ensure we hadn't accidently collected any immature destorying angels accidentally (a potential lethal mistake), we hesitantly fried and consumed our first puffball. They're absolutely delcious fried in a little olive oil. We sauted the rest in a wok, which produced good results, but not as good as the individually fried slices.

I think next time pan-frying with a sprinkle of garlic salt would produce a most acceptable dish.

Wii-mail
I have a Wii. It's Wii number is 3314 5838 4748 5210 which you can use to send me Wii-mail.

Of course, you can't actually send me wii-mail until you send me an e-mail containing your wii number, since the console requires both parties to independently establish contact.