I Know You Were Wondering

I spent all of last week, fussing about my heart.  I saw a cardiologist on Wednesday afternoon.  He was the only one we could find with an appointment available, and we had to travel to the other side of town -- something which he seemed to resent, frankly.

As reported in the last post, he recommended a nuclear stress test, and a 48-hour Holter monitor, but neither test could be scheduled before the 21st, and then no one could see me to interpret those test results before June 4.  It all just seemed crazy, but what could I do?

By Thursday, things seemed to have calmed down, and I had some occasional sense of tightening in my chest, but none of the fluttery, skipped beats that I'd had earlier in the week.  I dared to hope that maybe, things would just settle down on their own.  Friday morning, however, it all started up again.  By mid-morning, I was experiencing continual fluttering in my chest, and lots and lots of skipped beats.  There was a tight, achy feeling just behind my breast bone, spreading across the tops of my boobs, and then under my arms on either side.  I was starting to feel a bit light-headed and sweaty.

I kept thinking, "If I can just make it to lunch, I can sit down and have a bite to eat, and maybe it will settle down again..."  But as I worked along through the morning, it just got worse and worse... and I got more and more anxious and worried.  Finally, I sent a note to the office with one of my kids, asking if someone could cover me so I could go to the emergency room.  It was only a few minutes before the school secretary was in my room, saying that she would drive me to the hospital, and of course, someone would watch my classes.

I grabbed a few things, and some papers that needed to be graded.  Threw everything in the back of my car, and she drove me off to the local ER.  Tom met us there.  After about four hours in the ER, I was admitted to the hospital for further tests and observation.  After 24 hours of monitoring, lots and lots of blood work, more chest x-rays, an echo-stress test, and a standard echo-cardiogram, the official word is that I have not had a heart attack.  There is no damage to my heart, and there do not appear to be any blockages or structural issues.  Whatever is causing all this irregularity in my heart rhythms, it does not seem to be a "heart-problem," per se.  Eventually, the hospitalist prescribed a blood pressure medicine that is sometimes used to treat irregular heart beats.  I am worried about taking it, because my blood pressure is already pretty low, and I have tried blood pressure meds before as migraine preventatives.  Usually, they just drop my pressures so low that I pass out, but this is the only medication that anyone can come up with to help manage this problem.  So, I guess we'll see how I tolerate this one.

I do have an appointment with the cardio guy that Tom has seen on Friday this week.  Not sure what will come from that appointment, but if this is going to be some sort of continuing reality, I probably need to have a good cardio doc on the team.

Anyway, I am home, feeling relieved, if still puzzled.  I am hoping to be able to just finish the school year, and then maybe a summer to rest will help get me back on track.  That's all the news I have for the present.

swan