I didn't get a chance to finish my post from last Friday. Bob had dropped me off at school and came to pick me up earlier than I expected him to so I just closed out of it mid-sentence. Poor Barb, bless your heart - I think you're the only one who ever reads my blog, was left hanging thinking I was still in pain and about to pass out in the hallway at school on my way to my car. Well, I did make it to the car and seeing as how I still had the papers I had to drop off at the district office and it's only a block away, I sat there for a minute trying to breathe before I took them over. When I got there I could hardly manage to get out of the car and take them in and by the time I got back to the car I was crying big time. I've had that little pain before but nothing ever that bad.
I called Bob who immediately wanted to know what was wrong as there was no hiding it. The pain had intensified to the point that I couldn't breathe and there was pressure building up in my jaw. I've heard that's nothing to mess with, even though the pain never reached my arm. It did scare me. Bob told me to call an ambulance but I wasn't sure that I needed one and was sure the pain would stop any minute or at least lesson enough to drive home and lie down. Besides that the hospital is only a few blocks away and if I ended up needing serious help, I could surely drive those few blocks. I contemplated going over to the clinic to be seen there but I remember when I used to work there and someone with chest pains came in, all the nurses would whisper under their breath to send them to the hospital. And seriously, I was a little worried that if I went there and they couldn't help me, they wouldn't let me drive then. They would call an ambulance anyway and I'd have to take that little ride that I so didn't want to take.
I told Bob I would just drive over to the hospital and have them check me out. He still wanted me to call an ambulance but I drove anyways. I just walked into the emergency entrance and told them that I needed to be seen and that I had a huge pain in my chest and was having trouble breathing. Needless to say, they didn't like it. The whipped me into a room and threw a gown on me. The started an IV and hooked me up to and EKG machine. The took blood from my IV to run some tests and gave me a shot of deloted. (However you spell it.) I had called Amy on my way to the hospital and by this time she and Cyndi and Brooke had all arrived. The EKG was okay so they sent me to x-ray after giving me yet another shot of deloted. It was bad, I couldn't get rid of the pain in my upper chest.
After the x-rays, they took me for an ultrasound thinking that maybe it was my gallbladder and I had gallstones. Bob had got there by the time I got back from that. While we waited for the results they gave me a shot of morphine and tried to make me rest. Ya, right! I couldn't believe that the pain was still there after all of that but it was. Kade was there too now and he and Bob gave me a blessing. It was one of the first annointings that Kade had ever administered since receiving his priesthood last month. I am so grateful to him and to Bob for the comfort they blessed me with, that comfort that comes from the Holy Spirit.
I told them all along that I thought it was just stress and that I'd had a somewhat stressful day at school. Finally, they listened to me and brought me an ativan and told me to put it under my tongue. I did and I guess it helped a little bit, at least it took the edge off finally. They gave me another shot of morphine and said that they wanted to admit me so they could keep on top of the pain if it got worse again. I told them all I wanted to do was go home. They called my regular doctor and after talking with him, decided that I could go home as long as Bob was going to be there with me. Before I left they gave me another shot of deloted and then I was on my way.
Bob brought me home and made me some Cream of Wheat to eat and I went to bed. I had to check with my doctor the next morning but I felt a lot better when I got up.
I stopped by the clinic thinking it would only be a quick check up but Doug wanted to redo the blood work and the EKG to make sure that nothing had changed since the night before. Since everything looked good, he said he wanted me to have this Nuclear Medicine EKG that would make sure that everything was good and eliminate any questions about my heart. I talked to Bob about it and he said that the doctors in the ER said that my heart had looked good through the whole ordeal and since I don't have any history of heart disease in my family, we decided I didn't need that expensive of a test. If anything changes then we'll do it right away but for now I think I'm safe.
He gave me a prescription for some stress relieving happy pills and told me to go home and eliminate the stress from my life. I need to learn how to relax and not try to take so much on all at once. Okay! We'll see how that goes.
I've had a couple more incidents where I start to feel the tightening coming up in my chest and I try really hard not to have to take anything. You really can relieve stress by sitting completely still and tuning things out! I've found that fresh air helps too so I'm sure there are lots of things I can do when I feel it coming on. Who knows, I think I need a massage again. I'll have to remember to call in the morning. I know that's always good!
