Sunday, December 4, 2011

Rainy Sundays...

  A warm weird Sunday morning in December.  Rainy, but 55 degrees.  It's 5 AM and I am up because I was in bed again last night at 7:30...exhausted from spending the better part of an otherwise beautiful day in the ER at our local hospital. On Friday night, once again, I was experiencing slight chest pains and was having shortness of breath episodes. Not bad, but enough that it had me so tired I was in bed again at 7 PM and slept for over 2 hours before getting up and staying up awhile.  On Saturday morning, when I got up looking like hell, the Irishman said "Enough." and made me go to the hospital.  I know he was worried about me, and thinks that I don't think I'm worth taking care of...but it isn't that at all. I very much think I'm worth taking care of, lol.  I just don't always think that doctors are the ones who can do it.

  I swear to you...the pains never subsided, though they lessened some. Naturally, even though we got there and were one of maybe 3 people in the whole place, we apparently opened some cosmic floodgate, and within an hour there were 4 major emergencies and maybe 20 other people filing through the emergency room.  We were there for almost 8 hours.  

  The good news is...the ekg showed a very healthy normal heart, banishing any fears I had that  my genetic anomalies were worming their way out of my genes and into my reality.  That is something always in the back of my mind, since both parents had heart disease and their parents too. (Side note: my mother died at 55 and my father died at 60). In 33 days, I will have lived to the ripe old age of 59...so I'm closing in on being a winner in this race.  The blood work they did showed every single thing they test falling right smack in the middle of their range. (I've always been super good at taking tests, even when I BS my way through things). *grin*   My blood pressure was high, 169/78, but for heavens sake, I was in the hospital ER , surrounded by dead and dying people.  Plus, my knee hurts so bad, I'm sure that is part of the deal.  

  My dear Irish husband sat through the entire ordeal with me, holding my hand, making jokes and generally annoying the nursing staff.  

  The upshot of this is that there is something wrong, hence the SOB and pain, but they don't know what.  The charming old doctor, (who, it turns out was raised on a farm near here, and sounds just like an old Marlon Brando) says he thinks I should go and have a complete thyroid workup, and wrote an order for such.  I think I should go to my regular doc and have him write me a prescription for Zantac again, as I'm thinking maybe the anti-inflammatories  that I take for my knee are wreaking havoc on my digestive system and maybe this is all a bad case of acid reflux rearing its ugly head again.  After I got hurt, back in 2001, I was on so much medication (pain meds, A-I, bladder meds, and muscle relaxers, that I nearly died from the acid reflux they caused. lol  (You have to understand that I am not a pill taker, and at that point I had been sober for 11 years with nothing stronger than an occasional; aspirin in my system--so it was kind of a chemical holocaust in my gut).  At any rate, they put me on Nexiuum for a year, which solved the problem.   And I will have the thyroid workup done as well, just because.

  I felt very foolish yesterday for taking up space in a busy ER, wasting money I could easily spend on something else, and being so afraid of having heart problems. And I really was afraid that I had had a small heart attack the night before Thanksgiving. Because here's the deal: I have lived a very different lifestyle than my predecessors. I have never smoked. I have eaten healthy food, lots of whole grains, since the early 70's.  I eat little red meat. I am not a nervous, crazy person.  I live a pretty quiet comfortable life.  And I know all this has to balance out whatever genetic evil lurks within, to some degree. And I don't care what a study from some University says about attitude not making a difference. I know better.  I know it matters, and a LOT.

  So...there you have it.

  On a brighter note, lol, last night I slept from 7:30 until 4:30 this morning.  HOLY CRAP BATMAN !!!!  And this morning my back hurt so bad I could barely get my butt out of bed. And I was sweating like the mayor at election time. I felt like I must have slept the sleep of the dead and not changed positions all night. lol


   We went to the movies on Friday, a matinee, and I was appalled at what it cost (went to the movie in the city).  Our little small town movies are 4 dollar matinees, and a popcorn combo for like 5.50.  In the city, it was 6.50 for the matinees (each, people!!!!)  and almost 11 for 1 medium popcorn and a large drink.  We shall certainly confine our movie going to our little theaters from now on...just on general principle. AND they had bagged up the popcorn ahead of time, and put it under a light, so it sucked. Nothing worse than cold old movie popcorn. I am a shameless popcorn afficionado, and if I could take my own, I would.  Anyway, we saw the new Adam Sandler movie, Jack and Jill. It was a hoot, with a wonderful performance by Al Pacino. 


   Not sure what's on my docket today in the hours before I go to MissB's, but it might include taking it slow and easy today. A tiny bit of straightening the house and maybe finally giving Roxie the bath I've been meaning to do for a week.  Maybe. I'm already starting to yawn and thinking of lying down a bit....there are all kinds of sappy Hallmark and Lifetime movies on tv about the holidays and miracles and god-knows-what-all. Maybe I'll get another cup of coffee and lie around like  a bum and just ease into this new, healthy hearted day.  lol  I don't watch a lot of television, except when I'm [rarely] sick...then I indulge myself in the stuff.

  Hope everyone is having a great weekend. No sign of snow here, lots of rain though.  Looked at the weather channel a minute, since the Irishman is driving up north about 2.5 hours from here. I see that some of you are getting mucho snow...you can keep it, thanks!  lol 


    Namaste.

13 comments:

DJan said...

I know that feeling of wondering if you had a heart attack because of your genetic history. Same story for me and my parents, who both died in their sixties of heart disease. I am doing my best to stay healthy, too.

So sorry to hear of your awfulness. Something is definitely not right, but going to the doctor is usually unproductive unless it stands right out to them. It was worth it to find your heart is healthy, though. Hope you get back to your old self soon. I'll be watching and waiting to hear how you're doing. :-)

Rita said...

So glad it wasn't your heart. I'm with the Irishman--don't want anything to happen to you. But I totally understand your not believing that the doctors are the ones that can take care of you. Rock and a hard place--LOL! Hope they find out what the problem is.

I'm glad you slept well.
It's getting too expensive to even go to a matinee anymore. Sad!
Hope you have a relaxing day. Take care of yourself. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you are feeling better, but your episode is worrisome, nonetheless. 8 hours in ER is tedious for sure and so glad you had good company.

Linda Myers said...

I wish the doctors would say, "Ah, we know what this is, and we know what to do about it."

My doc told me on my last visit he spends half his days with two kinds of patients: (1) he knows exactly what's wrong with them but can't do a thing about it (like a cold or the flu) or (2) he has no idea what their problem is.

Oh, well!

Annette said...

Glad your heart is ok... but a day of lounging on the couch watching Lifetime movies, sounds in order. Go for it and enjoy every second! Tomorrow is a new day.

Rubye Jack said...

I've found that sometimes when I have to take pain pills that I get this horrific chest pain and even break out in a sweat it is so painful, but a good antacid takes care of it. I used to think I was having a heart attack and one time also had an EKG but they said my heart was fine. So now I always make sure to have antacids in my purse even though it only happens occasionally. I really can't imagine a heart attack being much worse than a couple of my heartburn episodes. I'm glad you check out as healthy.

When I left California movies were $10 and $7.50/senior and more in SF. The matinees were $7.50 also. I decided Netflix was a much better deal. :-)

Beth said...

Annie, I am so glad you went to the ER to be checked out.
I do know what you mean by acid reflux. I have been on so many new meds the last few weeks that my stomach is a mess right now.
Do take care of yourself! you are worth it!

Akannie said...

DJan--you are so right. It was worth it to find out that the old ticker is in fine shape....lol

Hi, Rita!-- I know, the cost of everything has skyrocketed. I am taking it slow and easy...for me. lol

Kristin-- Tedious barely covers it. lol I am more sure by the minute that it's the mega dose of naprosin...

Linda--OMG!! An honest doctor!! lol


Annette--I tried, really I did. But the movies were too sappy for my taste and I get bored so easily :)


Sister Rubye--I'm thinking the same thing. As for the matinee crap, I had netflix until they tripled my fees without telling me. So, we got rid of it after 2 years, but we have satellite tv now, so there's plenty of movies. HOWEVER--there's nothing like the big screen and that nasty movie popcorn...

Bethie--you take care...meds will eat your stomach. :) The nexiuum saved my life the last time. I hope I can use something less expensive this time...maybe generic Zantac...

Thanks everyone...you all make my life so rich...

Mary LA said...

So glad you got checked out -- I agree with you that attitude makes a difference but I hope they find out what is causing the pain and problems. Love to you Annie.

LindaM said...

I'm so happy that the Irishman made you go to E.R.! Equally glad tht its not your heart. I hope you find time to rest more. You seem to always be on the run.
Pease take cre of yourself and keep us posted!

Anonymous said...

Been reading your blogs for some time now Annie - although I am not qualified it sounds to me as though you are what is known as an A type personality - please slow down on a daily basis and take a look at the liver cleansing diet I was on it for 18 months as it certainly sorted my multiple gall stones and in turn my reflex been free of that kind of pain for the last 15 years now Wendy F xoxo

Petit fleur said...

ER's suck! I'm so sorry you had to spend so much time there.

I always get these weird anxiety attack like symptoms during the winter because of the dry heat. I'm not saying that's what's going on, but it may not hurt to have a humidifier in your room..?

As you said it could easily be side effects from another medication or a combo of things. If it is acid reflux, you can try sleeping on an incline. Sometimes that helps.

No snow here. Thank goodness! They sure are getting hammered in Ohio though.
Take care,
pf

Petit fleur said...

PS I was giggling at the part where you tell about the Irishman annoying the nursing staff. My hub does that too... but he thinks he's being entertaining! Men. Funny critters.