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I'm back, anyone miss me?

4K views 33 replies 25 participants last post by  Philip 
#1 ·
Thursday morning I woke at 4 am feeling really strange. I thought it would pass but just kept getting worse, finally had Mary call 911. Paramedics were there in a few minutes and started treating me. After checking vitals they hooked up the EKG machine and the results showed to be abnormal. Being stubborn I refused transport to the ER. Instead I went to my the health center where my doctor practices to get a second opinion. The second opinion was worse than the first and they did not want to release me to leave unless it was being transported to the ER. Again I chose not to listen. At this point I had 2 sets of contact patches ripped from my chest, there would be many more sets before the ordeal was over. I now have some weird looking bald spots on my chest, abdomen and legs.
So I went home to tell Mary what was going on since she has just had surgery and I was supposed to be taking care of her. Then I drove to the ER against her advice of calling for transport.
After half day of of EKG's, CT scans, blood tests and x rays they admit me. These tests included 2 more hair removal events.
One would think since every nearly patient admitted gets an IV line they would be good about inserting it into a vein. It must have been training day at Northwest Medical Center as it took the girl 2 tries to get the first one in, yeah there would be more. So the nurse comes back in and says the IV was in the wrong spot, imaging could not use it there for some reason so they sent in another amateur to do another one. After 3 tries and a great deal of pain I now have tubes in both arms more stickers on my chest for a wireless heart monitor hanging on me. My arms look like those of a junkie, but they were not done poking holes yet.
It is now 3pm and I have not eaten since 5pm the the previous day. They change status to NPO which is no food or drink until more tests can be run and I see a cardiologist. He shows up an hour later and informs me it is too late in the day to run any tests so I finally get fed. Can't say for sure if the food was any good but I ate it all including the apple pie which I do not care for to quench the hunger.
Finally they are done poking and torturing me or so I thought. About every 2 hours they check blood pressure and heart rate even though they have the monitor hooked up. So 12am I finally fall asleep in spite of the pain from the IV ports and the hair being pulled as my skin wrinkles under the contact patches and an hour later it is time to draw blood. WTF did they do with all the blood they took 3 hours ago. Fall back asleep around 2:30 and at 4 they need more blood.
So my thoughts are my heart must be fine. With all the stress of repeated insertions of needles, no food and no sleep if my heart were bad they would have killed me by now. Nurse comes in and does the vitals check and I ask when is breakfast since I have not had anything to eat or drink since dinner. None for me until after the tests I was told. An hour later I am down in the nuclear medicine department waiting on the heart stress test thinking I'll soon know what is going on when in walks this absolutely gorgeous tech. All the nurses and PCT were good looking but this tech was stunning. Late 20's or so black hair, white skin, emerald green eyes with a body that could easily make playmate of the month, she starts to explain the procedure. Sounds harmless enough so she begins by....you guessed it more patches to the chest and of course as did everyone else in slightly different areas. I think there goal was to wax my entire chest.
The stress test was a chemical injected to enlarge the blood vessels and make the heart and the lungs work harder. No one mentioned that liquid going in would feel like molten lava, make my chest hurt and my lungs burn. She said relax it would all be over in 14 minutes at which time she would inject the antidote (my term not hers) to bring everything back to normal. Well I lived through that obviously and then she reached over and ripped off all the patches that were applied for the tests. next up a guy walks in carrying what looked like a pencil box that was lead lined with a syringe in it. I knew whatever he was going to do would be painless. I had figured out their method of operation, only the pretty girls inflicted pain and the better looking the more pain could be expected. So now I am full of glow in the dark liquid wondering what would be next. Very soon the answer was revealed, first up...yup more patches stuck to my chest and then they were going to slide me into a tube where I had to remain motionless for 20 minutes. Oh I forgot to mention I am claustrophobic. Even though I was only inserted up to my chin there were feelings of anxiety and it was hard to remain calm. Fearing if I moved they would start all over again I made it through the test. This time the patches were left on for me to remove. Not sure if that was any less traumatic or not. No matter who removes them it really hurts. They just get it done a lot quicker.
So back up to my room and hopefully some peace for awhile. Not to be, next up an echocardiogram and as you have already figured out more patches. Which were also left on for me to remove. An hour later the day nurse, also very pretty and well endowed, shows up and hangs out for a while. I ask her about lunch and find out I am still NPO but she doesn't know why. She tells me all my tests are negative and I should be able to eat. After a few phone calls and a short trip out of the room she brings me lunch. Then began the waiting game for test results. What Karla told me was unofficial and actually I should have not heard it. So next up at 3pm a lady from food services comes in to get my food order for dinner and breakfast. My heart sinks, breakfast? another day at least in the hospital and no one home taking care of Mary. Then the angel named Karla comes in and informs me I will be going home as soon as the doctor speaks with me. Well now I have mixed feelings. The dinner I was getting sounded awesome and if I was discharged prior to that I would have to go home and cook my own dinner, which is ultimately what happened.
The results were my cardiovascular and pulmonary functions were all good, not even a small issue. I had no bone lesions which was good but don't know why they checked that. I was released and on the way out the well endowed day nurse gave me a big hug which helped to forget the torture endured for the last 2 days.
The original problem was never addressed, which still comes and goes. My primary care doctor seems to think it is stress related and sent me to see a Behavioral Health Consultant who is young and very pretty, just wondering how much pain I am in for before she is done :grin2:
 
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#3 ·
I know what you mean Phillip. I went through almost all of that in 13 when I had my stroke, except not much in the way of pretty doctors or nurses. The cat scan dude asked me if I was cold before I went into the machine, I said hell no, I'm shivering because I'm Effing starving and they won't let me eat.
 
#4 ·
You're probably just full of crap Phillip! :grin2: Go take a good BM and you'll feel better.
 
#5 ·
Philip, keep this in mind ~ Getting old ain't for sissies!
 
#7 ·
Glad to hear you're out of the pokey, Philip. Due to cardiac issues, I've had many ambulance rides and hospital stays, in the last five years. Due to having deep veins in my arms that are almost a waste of time to get blood samples, I started refusing them in those areas and now tell them my hands and wrists are their only options. As for the EKG patches, lucky for me I don't have very much body hair.

Any cardiac history in your family?
 
#10 ·
Thanks guys, get to see my primary care doc again on the 18th. Probably will be all better by then.

Any cardiac history in your family?
None, dad had absolutely no medical issues except ulcers, died at 96 from failing kidneys. Mom and most of her family died of dementia. That scares me more than heart issues.
 
#12 ·
You had to wait until I left for Good Guys Del Mar, didn't you. Then you call to ask what my heart attack symptoms were.....you trying to give me another one? From now on, I want to go to Northwest Hospital, at least you get pretty nurses there..............
Glad they kicked you out!
How's Mary doing?
 
#14 ·
Well, Well, Some folks will do anything to get out of doing chores at home. You are suppose to be taking care of MARY !:surprise:
From now on Philip be smart, You should set up a schedule when you plan to be sick. It would be very easy to make future plans if you would do this. Also you should not schedule to be ill when you are your wifes main caregiver.
..............................................................................................................
Hey Buddy, Glad you are A-OK ! :thumbsup: Now take care of Mary and yourself................... Consider RE -setting your REV-Limiter from 6000 down to about 4300? Less strain on ALL the working parts. :thumbsup:
All the best to BOTH of you.
Bob
 
#15 ·
Philip,
Sorry to hear about your experience, but glad you’re feeling better. In the future, however, I’d highly recommend that you not drive yourself to the ER if there’s any hint of a serious problem. I had a friend blackout while driving himself to the ER in a similar situation and he’s still paying the price (emotionally and economically) for his stubburn decision because it resulted in serious injuries to innocent people.
Craig
 
#16 ·
Glad to hear you are doing better. That is until you get the bill for hair removal :) My best to you and Mary. Pete
 
#17 ·
Philip, glad everything's good to go. when I got vertigo last year after the initial spin cycle which never came back it sounds like what I went through. have them look check you out for a type of vertigo. I went through the heart doc, cat scan etc. for the first few weeks I was afraid to get out of my car to go into the store because I felt like I was going to faint. jim
 
#19 ·
Philip, glad to hear they didn't find something seriously wrong, but I know it's frustrating NOT knowing what was going on. I went through pretty much the same thing 3 years ago, totally convinced I was having the big one. After all sorts of tests similar to yours, they couldn't find anything. Dr. guessed it was spasm of the esophagus, but who knows. Stay well sir, and don't be so stubborn about transport. It's actually a cool view looking out the back window of an ambulance, you get to see where you've been instead of where you're going.:thumbsup:
 
#24 ·
Vince my wife seems to think it has something to do with my thyroid hormone levels same as in 08 when I was hospitalized with similar symptoms. I don't remember much from that episode. Feels like anxiety to me now and Thursday may have been a real bad attack. Need to find the cause soon, whatever it is it is not pleasant.

David when they took me down for the test my phone was left in the room, so no photos of the Goddess.

Jim Bill took me to St Marys when my foot got smashed under his lift and the staff I saw there was good looking too.
 
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#23 ·
Philip, good choice on the hospital. when my dad was having health issues he was in st Joseph's, tmc, northwest. and the northwest was definitely staffed by the best looking staff, wife even commented on the men there. jim
 
#30 ·
Thanks for the offer Tom, but I'm back home. Saw the pretty counselor yesterday. Her advice is helping. Also saw an RN that specializes in people with prediabetes (A1C is 6.0) to get info on diet changes and exercise :eek: Seems if I take better care of myself it may prevent a lot of issues...radical concept isn't it :D
 
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