Sitting in the next seat over on the Chargers’ plane returning from Denver, Jim Harbaugh elbowed Ben Herbert. Harbaugh wasn’t in need of help from the team’s executive director of player performance after the head coach had suffered a worrisome issue with an irregular heartbeat during the 23-16 win.
The Chargers coach just wanted Herbert to watch a spectacular third-down play quarterback Justin Herbert made during the game.
Shaking off a scary incident that required paramedic help in Denver, Harbaugh got straight back into his normal groove right after the win. A cardiologist appointment Monday confirmed the 60-year-old experienced a third episode of atrial flutter, a heart rhythm disorder he first faced in 1999.
With treatment underway, Harbaugh doesn’t anticipate slowing down with the Chargers facing the Arizona Cardinals on “Monday Night Football” on Oct. 21.
“It would take my heart stopping for me to not be out there on the sideline,” Harbaugh said Monday.
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Harbaugh, who left the field Sunday with medical personnel and got an electrocardiogram from paramedics in the locker room before returning, will wear a heart monitor for two weeks while taking a blood-thinning medication and a separate medication that keeps his heart rate from spiking or going too low.
Getting another ablation procedure, which could help treat irregular heartbeats by destroying tissue that causes abnormal electrical signals, remains an option after the initial monitoring period.
“As always,” Harbaugh said, “we’ll trust the doctors.”
Harbaugh had ablation procedures done in 1999 and 2012 to address his previous arrhythmias.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
