![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
johnstonmrGah.
I went into the Student Health Center Tuesday morning around 10 (right after leaving history class early, thanks to the teacher's policy of classes after tests). Within 45 minutes I was surrounded by paramedics; apparently the doctor found something on my EKG she didn't like.
So I get to the hospital, and after answering the same questions over and over and over again, and then doing it again, and laying in a hospital bed hooked up to five different monitors for two and a half hours, the cardiologist comes to talk to me.
He says that the pain in my chest is probably an inflammation of the sac around the heart. It's called paracarditis. At any rate, that's a minor and pretty common malady. He's going to do an ultrasound examination of my heart later today (as I write this, on Tuesday 10-19), and if that's definitive, then he'll put me on anti-inflammatories and I'll be on my way. If it's not conclusive, then he wants to do an angiogram tomorrow. Basically, because of my family history, he wants to make sure I'm ok and also that I'm not, in the back of my mind, terrified now of having some kind of heart condition when, despite my family history, my heart's always been pretty healthy.
On the good news, I no longer have chronic high blood pressure. It's still something I'll need to watch, but it's not generally high any more. A few years ago, it was borderline dangerous. But my lifestyle changes have done a good job on that front, at least.
So I called Karla to let her know what's going on, and she's coming to see me. Silly, but ok. And I called Elli, and I hope she's not as freaked out as I'm afraid she is -- I should have waited until she was off work, but I didn't think about it. Gah.
So here I sit, with no 'net access. Thank god I took my iBook to school today or I'd be even more bored than I am -- I sat in a bed in the Emergency room from 11am to 2:30pm with nothing to do, hooked up to so many wires I couldn't get to my bag to get out the computer.
And I haven't had a thing to eat since last night. I am HUNGRY.
The echocardiogram did indeed show I have paracarditis, but the cardiologist decided to do the angiogram anyway, just in case.
All Tuesday night was a nightmare. When Elli and my aunt finally left at 10:30, a nurse came into the room to get me to sign consent forms for the heart catheterization (which is what they do to perform an angiogram), explain the procedure to me, and shave my crotch. The embarassment factor soared, ladies and gents. Once that was done, a guy from the lab came and took a third blood sample.
Then I tried to sleep as best I could. Just as I was falling asleep, the new night nurse came in and spent twenty minutes making sure I still had circulation to my feet. Then I tried to sleep again. Just as I managed it, someone came in to weigh me again, take my pulse and pulse/ox ratings, and get my temperature again. Then I slept ... until 3am, when the lab monkey (a different one this time) came to get blood again. This one I only know about because when she came back at 8am to get more, she told me I'd been talking to her when she drew blood at 3:30, but I have no real memory of that one. I do, however, remember being poked, prodded, and weighed again at 6am. Damn shift changes.
At 9am I was taken away to the Cath lab, drugged, and catheterized. The drugs made me talkative but I don't recall what I said to the doctor; I do remember that the machines and other solid objects didn't really seem all that solid while I was under. I recall a metal tube on the X-Ray machine distorting and lengthening for several seconds. "Is that normal?" I asked the doc, and he grinned and said "It is for you. Told you we gave you the happy drugs."
Anyway, the angiogram showed that my only problem was the paracarditis. My arteries are healthy, clear, and there is no damage to my heart whatsoever. So I went off to recovery, where I was forced to lay still for six freaking hours.. I was finally released at 4pm, and went home to my aunt's house. I'm staying here tonight, then tomorrow Elli will take me home after work (once I've passed through the 24-hour danger zone). Then I'll take it extremely easy for the weekend, finish that English term paper, and go back to school on Monday.
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words. Liz and Ralph, you chose the perfect quote for the card; you rock.
* The title of the post is a line from Stargate: Atlantis
I went into the Student Health Center Tuesday morning around 10 (right after leaving history class early, thanks to the teacher's policy of classes after tests). Within 45 minutes I was surrounded by paramedics; apparently the doctor found something on my EKG she didn't like.
So I get to the hospital, and after answering the same questions over and over and over again, and then doing it again, and laying in a hospital bed hooked up to five different monitors for two and a half hours, the cardiologist comes to talk to me.
He says that the pain in my chest is probably an inflammation of the sac around the heart. It's called paracarditis. At any rate, that's a minor and pretty common malady. He's going to do an ultrasound examination of my heart later today (as I write this, on Tuesday 10-19), and if that's definitive, then he'll put me on anti-inflammatories and I'll be on my way. If it's not conclusive, then he wants to do an angiogram tomorrow. Basically, because of my family history, he wants to make sure I'm ok and also that I'm not, in the back of my mind, terrified now of having some kind of heart condition when, despite my family history, my heart's always been pretty healthy.
On the good news, I no longer have chronic high blood pressure. It's still something I'll need to watch, but it's not generally high any more. A few years ago, it was borderline dangerous. But my lifestyle changes have done a good job on that front, at least.
So I called Karla to let her know what's going on, and she's coming to see me. Silly, but ok. And I called Elli, and I hope she's not as freaked out as I'm afraid she is -- I should have waited until she was off work, but I didn't think about it. Gah.
So here I sit, with no 'net access. Thank god I took my iBook to school today or I'd be even more bored than I am -- I sat in a bed in the Emergency room from 11am to 2:30pm with nothing to do, hooked up to so many wires I couldn't get to my bag to get out the computer.
And I haven't had a thing to eat since last night. I am HUNGRY.
The echocardiogram did indeed show I have paracarditis, but the cardiologist decided to do the angiogram anyway, just in case.
All Tuesday night was a nightmare. When Elli and my aunt finally left at 10:30, a nurse came into the room to get me to sign consent forms for the heart catheterization (which is what they do to perform an angiogram), explain the procedure to me, and shave my crotch. The embarassment factor soared, ladies and gents. Once that was done, a guy from the lab came and took a third blood sample.
Then I tried to sleep as best I could. Just as I was falling asleep, the new night nurse came in and spent twenty minutes making sure I still had circulation to my feet. Then I tried to sleep again. Just as I managed it, someone came in to weigh me again, take my pulse and pulse/ox ratings, and get my temperature again. Then I slept ... until 3am, when the lab monkey (a different one this time) came to get blood again. This one I only know about because when she came back at 8am to get more, she told me I'd been talking to her when she drew blood at 3:30, but I have no real memory of that one. I do, however, remember being poked, prodded, and weighed again at 6am. Damn shift changes.
At 9am I was taken away to the Cath lab, drugged, and catheterized. The drugs made me talkative but I don't recall what I said to the doctor; I do remember that the machines and other solid objects didn't really seem all that solid while I was under. I recall a metal tube on the X-Ray machine distorting and lengthening for several seconds. "Is that normal?" I asked the doc, and he grinned and said "It is for you. Told you we gave you the happy drugs."
Anyway, the angiogram showed that my only problem was the paracarditis. My arteries are healthy, clear, and there is no damage to my heart whatsoever. So I went off to recovery, where I was forced to lay still for six freaking hours.. I was finally released at 4pm, and went home to my aunt's house. I'm staying here tonight, then tomorrow Elli will take me home after work (once I've passed through the 24-hour danger zone). Then I'll take it extremely easy for the weekend, finish that English term paper, and go back to school on Monday.
Thank you all for your kind thoughts and words. Liz and Ralph, you chose the perfect quote for the card; you rock.
* The title of the post is a line from Stargate: Atlantis