Not in my world. I don't lead a "normal" life. Not gonna happen. Never. That's what i am lead to believe as much as I try my hardest to always be positive, something creeps up. But this time it didn't give me noticed and it snuck up...WAY too fast.
Last night Jay and I were hanging out in the living room. At approximately 10:18 ish pm, I get a sudden chest pain. Not the usual, anxiety chest pain. I've had shortness of breath before. But this was different. An elephant, or someone realllllly heavy was sitting on my chest from the inside. It hurt so bad. I had nausea and sweating with it. (and no before you assume, it was NOT a panic attack-I've had those before...like i said, this was different) I was sweating so bad that my hair was dripping wet. I thought I was going to throw up. It felt like a huge clot wanted to come out of my chest. I was stumped on what to do.
Jason said "why don't you lay down a bit". So layed down on my recliner couch and closed my eyes. Boy did it hurt. So weird this feeling. It lasted 20 min's and then i felt ok. But within 10 min's of feeling ok i felt funny again. It was harder to catch my breath and this time i was a bit more scared since this sounded like what my mother had when she had her heart attack.
What do I do? Do i just call the Dr in the morning or do i head to emerg tonight? Do i call my mom to ask what her symptoms were in details or do i not worry her?
I chose to first call and talk to my mom and i tried to be non-chalant about my questions to her, but my mom knows me better then i know myself. And i know she will worry about me, but she's my mom and we're close. If my girls were going through something I would definitely want to know. So right away she said "you have chest pain don't you"? I said "well it kinda went away". She said "Rachelle you've had chest pain a lot lately (approx-4 ish months) and i think u should get checked". I said "yea maybe i will". I hung up and told Jay what mom said. He said "do you want to go"? I said "we'll see".
Phone rings. It's mom. She says "you're not gone yet?" So i promised i would go. I brushed my teeth and got dressed and off i went. I could drive myself. I didn't want the girls to be woken up.
I arrived and told them a play by play of what happened and the time frame but that i was feeling better. I went in right away and the nurse asked if heart problems run in my family. Well, i would say BIG TIME. My mother's father (who i called Pepe) died very young of a heart attack. Golf was his life. He lived and breathed anything to do with golf. One day he told my mom that if he had to go, dying on the golf course would be his ideal way to go. That's what happened. He died on the golf course. (hence the reason I'm SO very superstitious). I was 10 years old and remember it all too well. My mom's brother (my uncle Roberto) had his first MASSIVE heart attack at the age of 38. He was lucky to be alive because this was the biggest heart attack one can get. Not many survive this type. One day at the age of 49 he had a Dr's appointment. On his way home (on his bike) he had a heart attack and passed away. So heartbreaking since he had just seen his Dr. I was 29. Then as most of you know my mother had a heart attack a week before this past Christmas. So to make a long story longer (lol) I have a history of heart disease in my family.
They asked if i have any medical conditions. I said "well nothing except Lupus". Now the Dr i saw in the ER was so amazing and so nice. I really was treated like gold/royalty last night. She said that Lupus can raise the complications with your heart and other parts of your body. She wanted to be on the safe side and said we are going to do some tests.
By this point i felt a bit dumb cause i really did feel better, but knowing what i know about heart attacks at a young age in my family i went along and felt better that I did stay.
I was in the heart room of the hospital for a while. I had an ECG and blood work. I was hooked up to a few monitors and also had oxygen. The Dr said that if the first set of blood work comes back negative she wants to do blood work 6 hours after my "attack", which would bring us to 4:30am. She wanted me to be monitored all night. A nurse then came and hooked up an IV just in case i needed meds. When she poked me it hurt like a son of a B****. I felt liquid poor down. She said "oh your a bleeder". I looked on the floor and there was a HUGE pool of blood-for real. She said "it looks worst then what it is". I said "your trained to say that". She loved my sense of humour. Those nurses who were with me were such sweet woman. I was lucky.
I get moved into an isolation room so that i can have quietness and privacy while resting. (wow eh? not every day you get that treatment at the ER lol). They closed these big glass doors and a curtain and i dosed off while being monitored and on oxygen. (the oxygen felt SO good)
I get woken up at 4:38 am for more blood work. They said, if this comes back negative you can go home after the Dr sees you.
5:32 am comes around and i get woken up by Dr. I get another ECG. Normal. She says what happened was the possibility of a type of indigestion that mimics a heart attack. Although i didn't have heartburn, it doesn't mean it wasn't indigestion and because of the history and my condition it was better safe then sorry. To be honest, i don't feel like it was indigestion. This was true pain and something I'd never felt. But I'm glad (if only for peace of mind) that i got checked.
I can tell you, I don't lead a dull life even when i try too. But i won't let this bring me down. I'm looking forward to a summer of activities, exercise and time with family and friends. When I talk about medical problems I have in my life, it's just to babble and talk about my life. It's not to get pity and for people to say "oh poor Rachelle".
LIFE SURE LIKES TO KEEP ME ON MY TOES.
Here is my VERY unattractive picture of last night
it's a little dark since the isolation room i was in was dark
Amazing what a bit of oxygen can do too
