Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Punishment Postponed.

I had planned to post my update on my Knight's consequences this weekend. The plan was to give my Knight his list of things to accomplish on Friday night after we got home from our Friday night family activity. But, that didn't happen. On the way home I started having an odd pain in my chest that wasn't asthma, and I was pretty certain was not ms symptoms. I didn't really think it was a heart attack, but I wasn't sure what was going on The pain and pressure continued through the night and got worse with any kind of activity. Nothing I did made it any better. Lying down made it worse and so I propped myself up in bed. My blood pressure and pulse were normal and so, while I was concerned I didn't think it was anything serious. Around midnight I told my Knight to take a nap and I'd wake him if it got any worse. We both managed to get a little sleep.

The next morning the pain and pressure were still there. I got up and tried to go on about my typical Saturday morning activities, but movement made the pain worse and I started getting short of breath. I tried using my asthma meds, but  they only made the pain worse. That's the point that we decided I needed to go to the emergency room. My Knight drove me to a hospital about 35 min away in the next town. Our little town has a medical center, but the one time I used them for a severe asthma attack I was unimpressed with the staff and the care. We got to the ER and there was a string of police cars in the patient drop off area, so my Knight had to park in the lot and I had to walk to the door. By the time we got across the parking lot he was practically carrying me because I was out of breath and in a lot of pain. The nursing staff grabbed me and took me right back. They started an EKG almost immediately. The EKG was "questionable" and the dr. ordered baby aspirin  and nitroglycerin. Within minutes after taking the nitroglycerin the pain and pressure dissolved.

The doctor ordered blood tests, and a chest x-ray to check my heart, and called the on-call cardiologist. After talking to me, looking at my tests, and hearing about my family history the cardiologist still wasn't sure what was going on. He decided to admit to the hospital for a stress test, more intensive EKG and an echo cardiogram.

My Knight stayed with me until I finally told him to go home and get some sleep. He went home, but he didn't sleep very well. He had turned the younger kids over to my almost 17 yr old daughter and was back at my side by 7 am. The doctor came into see me around 8. We learned that my heart enzymes were fine, and it was unlikely I had a heart attack, but that my EKGs were abnormal. He explained exactly where and how my EKG was abnormal and then said, "but that's not what caused your pain. This is an electrical issue. Maybe in 20 or 30 years you might need a pacemaker, but right now it's not an issue."

"Okay. So what caused the chest pain?" I asked him.

Bottom line was that he didn't know yet. But hoped the tests he had scheduled would tell him what was going on.

The tests started around 9 am and were finished by 11. After waiting several hours for the cardiologist to look at my test results the nurse came in. My test results were all normal. I could go home.

I spent the rest of Sunday doing a whole lot of nothing. My daughter made dinner and we had a family movie marathon. Monday we went to to the lake for the day and I watched the kids and the dogs play in the water. Last night I told my Knight that I had not forgotten about his transgression and the impending consequences, but that given the circumstances of the weekend I thought it best to put our discussion on hold. I'm planning on having that discussion tonight.



2 comments:

  1. Angelique, I do hope nothing serious is going on with you internally. It seems that the most unnerving times are those when we can't put a name on what is wrong and we are left hanging. I hope for your sake that you find out specifically what happened and that it can be treated or simply doesn't show it's ugly face again.

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  2. Mistress Angelique,

    My wife had similar issues. She had an oblation and also a pace maker installed about two years apart. She is now 38 and has a pace maker, but is fitter then ever. She runs triatholons and eats 5ks for breakfast. Yesterday, she road her bike hard for over an hour.

    If I had to guess, you had arrhythmia which the nitroglycerin corrected. You glanced over getting that. I know from watching my wife get it, that is a PAINFUL expirence. My condolences for having to go through such an ordeal.

    Hope you get a definitive diagnosis and a clear path to recovery. Take care.

    Sincerely,

    -SH

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Incentive..

Knight has a thing for body piercings. I have a couple piercings that he gets to play with and take photos of when he's been really good...