The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered a scare last month when Kenley Jansen saw his reoccurring heart issues arise during a road series at Coors Field. An irregular heartbeat prompted him to miss the entire matchup and resulted in a 10-day disabled list stint.
Jansen recovered much sooner than anticipated, however, missing all of 11 games before reprising his role as closer. He was prescribed heart medication, to which he ditched after feeling groggy in his initial few outings off the DL.
Though, Jansen’s cardiologist recently recommended that he resume taking the medication for precautionary measures, and he recently resumed doing so but at a lower dosage.
The 30-year-old additionally detailed the effects of needing to have his heart shocked back into proper rhythm, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN:
“The doctors put a patch on my right side of my chest and on my left side of my rib cage. Then they just press a button, and it just hits. Oh man! It’s a shock. It’s really strong. But you feel better immediately because your heart’s not racing and you can breathe again. But the next day you feel pretty bad. And the day after that, you feel terrible because of what your body has been through. It’s a real trauma.”
The effects required Jansen and the Dodgers to proceed with caution as he was working toward coming off the disabled list. He steadily increased physical activity after passing the previous marker without issue.
Jansen didn’t travel to Denver for the Dodgers’ latest three-game series with the Colorado Rockies, but is nevertheless confident he could make the trip should the two teams meet up in the postseason.
Beyond that, Jansen nonetheless is due to undergo a second heart surgery during the offseason. He would be expected to make a full recovery in time for the start of Spring Training.
