I went into the ER this weekend by ambulance. That’s right. Wha? Totally unexpected..
I have some really sick kids, so I decided to head into my doc on Fri just to make sure I was clear before the weekend. After checking me out and giving me the okay, I mentioned offhandedly that I’d had a few chest tightenings with exercise lately. Nothing major, I was just curious what that might be about. The nurse said she couldn’t release me until we went through the motions–EKG, etc just to make sure I was cool.
I knew it would be nothing. At least, I thought it would be nothing. The young nurse took three different EKG readings, all of which came up abnormal. My heart was skipping beats. She kept thinking she was doing it wrong, she told me. Shortly thereafter, a team of four nurses and doctors walked into my room, none of whom I’d seen before. It felt so strange, they spoke to me in too-calm-of-voices, like I was a child. Like when I was told I had to have a c-section with Cora.
“Something just isn’t reading right. We need you to get over to the hospital. Please lie down, we don’t want you to pass out. We’ll call an ambulance. We need to monitor you the entire way. We don’t feel safe with you in a car even if you’re not the one driving.”
WHAT. THE. FUCK.
And I had come in for a cough.
I went into shock. The news made me light-headed and almost pass out. I started to cry a little. I felt sick and scared shitless.
Luke and my family rushed around to get everything in order–the kids, the dog, work, my clothes, my pump–all of it.
I spent the rest of Friday in the ER on oxygen, with an IV and wearing heart monitor stickers, going through various tests. They let me go late that afternoon saying it was nothing emergent at this point. “No exercise, even hikes, careful in hot showers and baths, no drinking, no caffeine.”
But I’m young, only 31, I feel like running. And drinking..
So now the search begins. More testing this week.
I’m still hoping and thinking it is nothing. How on earth could it be something? It just doesn’t add up. I really do believe I’ll be just fine. And going through all of this really gave Luke and I the chance to talk about the things that really matter. Bigger things. I so frequently live my life forgetting that it won’t last forever…
Updates when I get them..
