Visit to ER - without George Clooney

I'm ok really... 

On Tuesday about 10.15am, I had a nasty pain in my chest just under my left breast - very sharp at first for about 5 secs - then a hard but dull-ish ache which radiated up my chest, up my neck, up into my jaw, and down my left arm to my elbow.  I also had pins and needles in my arm down to my elbow.  After about 10 secs, I got very light-headed, at which point I decided to sit on the floor, because I didn't want to fall on the floor.  Ray wasn't home, so I just sat there until the pain and dizziness subsided a bit, and then went back to bed.  I fell asleep and didn't wake until Ray woke me when he got home at 1pm.  He wondered what was going on, because he knew that I had a big ironing job to get done that afternoon, and that I had planned to start it after I had had my morning "fiddle on Facebook".  I explained what had happened, and we decided to go up to the GP to get it checked out, as I still had pain.

The GP did an ECG which seemed ok, and went over me a bit, but decided to just send me straight to Prince Charles Hospital Emergency.  When you get there, you have to tell them if you are in pain and where it is.  If it's chest pain, you get whizzed in really quickly, which is what happened to me.

After spending six hours in the ER, BP readings going through the roof, with people giving me angina pills to put under my tongue, paracetemol, aspirin, and finally a dose of morphine, together with a canula in my arm (for which they had trouble finding a vein and needed two attempts) and another ECG, the doctor decided that I should be admitted for investigation.  At one stage, I had a discussion with one of the nurses, because I had no idea what they were testing me for - I mean I knew that a heart attack might have been on the cards (a serious MIGHT), but otherwise I was quite in the dark.  She said to me, and I quote, "Look, here's what's going on.  We think you may have had a small heart attack or at least an angina episode.  What that means is that you either completely change your lifestyle, or you can start choosing the timber for your box".  I must admit that I was quite shocked and completely daunted. I know I'm a big girl, I know I've got diabetes, but I thought that with my BP and cholesterol under control, that I was out of trouble.  Not so.

I was admitted to a cardiac investigations ward Tuesday night.  By Friday morning, I had had two more ECG's done, two fasting blood counts, a fasting lipids, no caffeine or stimulants of any kind (that was the killer punch for me - no coffee!!!!), and a CT scan of my coronary arteries.  The CT scan meant that the canula in my arm was too small, and that another would have to be inserted (oh, joy).  Three attempts later in my left arm (with no joy), they used an ultrasound to place a second canula in my right arm.  I don't think the contrast dye agreed with me very much, as I felt quite woozy when I got back to the ward.

Friday night, I had my dinner which I didn't feel like (that is sooooo unlike me - even with hospital food), and was ready to watch a bit of telly before bed, when the cardiologist came onto the ward, and said, look, your CT scan was ok, we could only see 3/4 of your heart, the other 1/4 we couldn't see for the fat in the way; there are no signs of blockages in the visible areas, but there might be one in the area we couldn't see.

The other result that came up was that my thyroid is hardly functioning at all.

So they let me come home on Friday night, my head ringing with instructions about my new diet (a cross between the Healthy Heart diet and a diabetic diet), a new exercise regime (initially pure hydrotherapy, which I can add to later if I want), new meds for the thyroid, increased meds for the cholesterol, and instructions to see the GP to get the thyroid checked out forthwith.

So Saturday morning, we sat together in front of the pantry, emptied it of everything we can't eat into the rubbish bin (I have NEVER done that before), and then went grocery shopping with the new plan in mind.  I was seriously dizzy at the end of the 45 min shopping expedition, and had to sit down before we went back to the car.  The dizziness has basically continued with any exertion over the last day or so, so I'm going to have to go very quietly for the next week or two, I would think.  My regular GP will have a hissy fit when she sees me on Thursday (thankfully that appointment was already booked before I went into hosp), as my BP and diabetes readings had been very good.  The cholesterol was OK, but I don't know if she'd checked the thyroid.  So I daresay I will be up for a full range of thyroid tests - whatever that involves.

We've been given a huuuuuuuge fright, and really a big warning about what to expect if I don't change my lifestyle.  So now it HAS to happen, unless I want to kick the bucket in the next five years, ten at most.

I'm ok, really I am... I just have to go slowly and we'll find out where these problems are, and will fix them.