Fifty and Holding:ER Trena Style

Hello my friends, I've missed you. I've had computer problems and you know me and yellow lights. I've also just not felt well. As it turns out, I think I'm alright, but I'm getting older and I'm outta shape and.. and.. better safe than sorry. Let me explain.

Week before last I noticed a "funny" feeling in my chest. It wasn't a pain, or heaviness, just a funny feeling. It would go away for a while and then reoccur. I was concerned, because my husband had a heart attack last year, and I really do not take care of myself like I should. In any event those two little words "chest discomfort" strike fear in the hearts of 52 year olds who are out of shape. I hoped that the problem would go away, and it did, but it came back, this time in my back. I thought that I'd just pulled a muscle or something. In any event I had back pain, it wasn't severe, but just enough of a pain to be an annoyance. I slept ok that night, but the next day I found that the chest discomfort had returned. This was about the third day of this issue that I'd had. I thought maybe I needed to go to the emergency room. I just did not want to take a chance and ignore what could have been a heart attack. I knew that my husband actually had an appointment with his cardiologist (who was also my cardiologist) the next morning. I figured that I'd wait till the morning and tell the doctor of my discomfort. That was a horrible night for me.

My chest bothered me all night, and I think that anxiety over the situation made it even worse. I was afraid to go to sleep, thinking about all of the stories I'd heard about people who'd died in their sleep. Again, I wasn't in any pain, but my chest just didn't feel right; it felt bloated. Once more, I thought about stories that I'd heard throughout the years about people who had suffered from what appeared to be indigestion, only to be found dead the next morning from a massive heart attack. "Lord" I prayed "I know you don't mean to take me know, take care of me Lord." Finally I slept for a few hours. I awakened, glad that I had actually awakened. I was anxious to get to the cardiologist. I couldn't get there fast enough. So, we got to the doctor's office and found out that he had been detained with an emergency procedure, aaaaaargh! My husband was able to go ahead and do his stress test, but there was no one for me to confer with. My husband, in an attempt to help me out, asked the nurse if she could give me an EKG. I told her all of my symptoms and of course she said "No not without an appointment." I kept hoping that the Dr. would show up, but he didn't. On the way out of the office, I scheduled an appointment that was two weeks off. I was scared that I'd had a heart attack. I still didn't feel well, so I decided to stop by the office of my primary doctor to get checked out.

My doctor also takes urgent care patients. I walked in and asked the receptionist if my doctor was there. She replied, "She is, but she isn't taking any urgent care walk-ins, just patients." I left dejectedly, convinced that for some reason, I was not going to be able to see a doctor.. I wasn't thinking straight, because if I had been, I would have insisted on seeing my doctor. I am actually one of her patients. Well after dropping my husband off at work, I went home and googled my symptoms, once again. This time it seemed that all of my symptoms pointed to a heart attack. Without a moment's hesitation, I jumped into my car and drove myself to another urgent care clinic. Once there, I told them about my chest discomfort, and they hurried me to the back and hooked me up to an EKG machine. The nurse was very kind; she ran the EKG and then told me that the Dr. would be in to discuss it soon. At this point I was pretty calm, for some reason I thought that the EKG was probably alright. The nurse hadn't gasped in horror when she looked at it, but then again they are trained not to show emotion before the doc gives you the results.

After a few minutes, a young looking fellow came in, introduced himself as the doctor, and proceeded to tell me the results of my EKG. He told me that he didn't like the way that some of my EKG looked and he wanted me to get checked out. I said "Ok, but I have to pick up my husband first." He said "No, I can't let you do that. I'm going to call an ambulance to take you right now." I was stunned, had I had a heart attack? After I picked my bottom lip up off of the floor, I asked him if I could call my husband to see if he could get a co-worker to bring him over to the urgent care. He said yes,and I made the call.

As I waited for my husband I spoke with a very nice nurse who comforted me like " We know you don't want to be here. "she said "We're going to take good care of you." She gave me four baby aspirins and a nitro glycerin pill. It seemed like I felt so much better then. By this time my husband had arrived and for some reason I began to tear up a little... just a little. Soon after, the paramedics loaded me onto the gurney.

As the paramedics rolled me away the doctor said "God Bless You." Now if he'd just said that in passing I’d have been ok, however to say it as I'm being whisked off to the ER....hmmmm you must know that I was a bit concerned. The ambulance folks were kind, and we joked on the ride over to the hospital. It was a little embarrassing for me to look out of the window when we were at a stop light and actually see someone behind the ambulance looking at me. I tried to sink into the gurney mattress so that no one else could see me. (Why does sickness embarrass us?) When I got to the hospital I was rolled into a room, and two women started pulling off my clothes. One of them put a gown on me, another started and IV, while yet a third woman asked me questions about why I was there. Someone came in and took several vials of blood from me. I was nervous about what the tests would show. One heart attack indicator is the presence of certain enzymes in the blood; and I was praying that those particular enzymes wouldn't be there. They had allowed my husband to come back into the triage room with me;soon we'd get the results of all of my blood tests.

I was hooked up to a monitor that showed all of my vital signs, and they were good. Blood pressure, pulse, all that was good,so I turned on the TV in the room to take my mind off of things. After a while the doctor came in and he told me that there was no evidence of heart attack. Whew! What a relief, they were going to keep me overnight to run tests, and the following morning they were going to have me do a stress test. I was ok with that. I even began to think about the benefits of having a night at the hospital where somebody else would take care of me for just once (pitiful just pitiful). I wondered what they were serving for dinner, I had a taste for a ham sandwich and milk (hey, I was hungry!) So I began the waiting game, waiting for them to put me in a room. I turned to Jeopardy and began to play along.

After a few minutes a gentleman came in and introduced himself as a hospitalist. He explained that his job was to decide if I needed to stay in the hospital. He told me that he thought maybe I could go home for the night. Hmmmmm, I thought, not a bad idea, going home, after all it's really hard to get a good night's sleep at the hospital. The hospitalist put in a call to my cardiologist, and long story short, they allowed me to go home. They also scheduled me for a stress test the following day. I passed the stress test with flying colors. There is no denying the fact that I'm horribly out of shape, but my stress test didn't kill me. The doctor told me to make sure that I take an aspirin a day, and sent me merrily on my way.

I slept well that night. I think that my chest discomfort was the result of a pulled muscle. I'd moved a bookcase by myself earlier in the week (I know, I know, I'm no super woman.) Yet, as I said before, better safe than sorry. The take away from all this is that I was fortunate, blessed even. I'm overweight, with high blood pressure and other ailments, and I so need to get myself together. It could have been a heart attack. Sisters if we don't have our health, we don't have much of anything.

We all know the deal, exercise and eat well. It's easy to take care of everybody else. Why is it so hard for me to take care of myself? It's a struggle, but I simply must do better. I promise we'll talk again soon. I've been a little out of it lately, but that's life. I've left you with a few links for websites relating to heart attack symptoms. Hopefully, you'll never need them. Live long and prosper! Later..

Click on the following Links for more info:
Mayo Clinic
Web MD