I suppose a little background is in order. Periodically I get attacks of what I call killer heartburn, which involves rather intense chest pain in my left shoulder, back, and arm. The symptoms can mimic a heart attack; it is occasional and intermittent but can last for a few minutes to a few hours. It has bothered me on and off since my early 20’s and I have a few techniques and medication to deal with it. Lately it has flared up again with the added symptoms of sweats, nausea and shortness of breath. This really scared the crap out of me, and added anxiety as another symptom! After suffering thru a few hours of this Thursday night that the usual remedies didn’t seem to cure, and then having another ‘attack’ on Friday morning at work, I called my Dr. He felt that he couldn’t get a cardiologist to see me so suggested that I go to the emergency room. Fortunately Mrs. had a half-day at work, so I drove home and she drove me to the hospital, which is located a short distance from the house.
And so the adventure begins.
Stepping up to the desk in the emergency room and saying ‘chest pain’ immediately whips them into action. Within a moment or two I was lead to an examination room for a brief interview, electrodes were pasted to my chest, (these resembled little snaps backed with foam adhesive tape) and I was connected to an EKG machine. A few beeps and printer output followed, and in a few more minutes the results were determined to be ‘normal’, meaning that I wasn’t in the midst of a heart attack. Still concerned about the chest pain, which it was felt might be related to a heart problem, it was decided that I should be sent to the emergency suite. With that I was escorted thru the big double doors to the other side of ‘emergency’ and because all of the examination bays were full I was directed to lie on a gurney along the wall. I was again instructed to remove my shirt and once more my electrodes were connected to a heart monitor. Little did I know that I would not be free of that tether for many hours. Over the next hour or two a couple of doctors and numerous nurses stopped by to check on me talk to me and generally take my medical history. Mrs., who was still in the emergency room lobby and I were texting back and forth on our cell phones as I appraised her of the developments. Eventually they allowed her to join me in the back.
At one point a nurse came up and inserted an IV in the back of my hand. Remembering what a friend had told me years ago, ‘once they get an IV in you. You know they are gonna keep you over night.’ I figured my fate was sealed. I was thankful for it on one level, as they seemed to need blood samples from me on an hourly basis, and it beat the hell out of having needles stuck in one each time. Following one of the blood taking episodes the nurse asked me if I was in pain. Feeling a slight stabbing pain in my side, which may have been the result of sitting oddly on the gurney, I said 'Yes. a little'. With that he promptly dosed me with morphine, saying something the effect of ‘We want to dull those pain receptors.’ It wasn’t a big dose, and it gave me a nice buzz and nicely took care of any pain I was feeling, physical and emotional.
Doctors continued to come and look at my chart and one decided that an ultra sound of my heart was in order, I think as much as there was an ultra sound machine parked next to me. That required removing two of the electrodes firmly glued to the center of my chest along with them went tufts of chest hair. After he ultrasounded me for a few minutes, he said ‘Well I was just taking a look, this isn’t an official ultrasound or anything.’ He instructed a nurse to paste two more electrodes to my chest and wire me up again. He then walked off, and that was the last that I would see of him. Some time later another doctor or nurse or physicians assistant came by looked at my charts asked a few more questions and said I think we want to keep you over night for ‘observation’ and then have you take a stress test in the morning.
With that they found me a room in ‘observation’ and wheeled me over. I got situated on the bed and they once more reconnected me to the heart monitor. I settled in, fortunately I had my iPod and I had brought a book with me, knowing from experience having taken others to emergency that the stays can be long. I ordered food and settled in, tethered as I was to the heart monitor I wasn’t really going anywhere. Mrs. kept me company for a couple hours until it was time for her to go and tend to the boy. He was not please that I would be spending the night in the hospital, and I assured him that I was ok, but they were just wanting to check on me for a while.
The ‘observation’ area consisted of a dozen or so patient bays around a central nurse / doctor station. There is a constant buzz of activity as patients are coming and going. The medical staff is in constant motion as well, and the lights are always on. Trying to sleep with all that activity going on was like sleeping on someone’s sofa while the whole family is going about their everyday business. I read until late in to the night, with the nurses stopping in every so often the check my vitals and take blood. It was well after 1:00am before I fell asleep and even at that is was fitful sleep, and the monitor wire prevented me from really moving about on the bed. Morning finally came around; I pretty much finished my book, and heard almost every tune on the iPod. Contrary to the evening before it seemed that the nursing staff was ignoring me. It seems the call button had not been connected when they put me in my bay, and had drawn a curtain in front of the bay sometime overnight. Finally hollering from my bed I got a nurses attention so I could get some food and a restroom break.
Eventually they informed me that I would be ‘going upstairs’ for a stress test, and a three young women with a wheel chair disconnected the wires one more time and wheeled me thru the labyrinth of halls and elevators, ‘under the street’ and up in the ‘tower’. Upon arrival, One more time the electrodes were removed from my chest, taking with them more chest hair, and a new set were attached to me, this time at least they shaved the really hair parts. And this time even more wires were attached to those. They terminated in a sort of fanny pack affair that fit around my waist, and from that one lead went to a computer that was also connected to a treadmill. After the now usual ‘5 minute’ wait that turns in to 20, I climbed on to the treadmill for my test. For the test they work in 3-minute increments, increasing the speed each time, taking ones blood pressure while monitoring the heart on the EKG. The first setting was a moderate walking pace, certainly no slower than I usually walk, and while my heart rate went up, I didn’t break sweat. The next segment was a very brisk walk, when asked to rate my exertion on a scale from one to ten, I gave it about 4.5 to 5, I was working harder and starting to sweat. The third setting was a very brisk walk, but I felt fine, I dropped my breathing into my full chest, and walked on and my heart rate was up to 172 bmp, I was ready for the next increment, and they shut me down! ‘Wow, you did great! My thought was, ‘That was it? Gimme the next 3 minutes, I got more in me.” Instead, they made me lay down on a cot, no walking it off; they wanted to monitor my heart as it returned to it’s resting rate. That resulted in a headache, but other than that I felt fine. Once I was cooled down and the wires again disconnected, the three young women returned with wheelchair and trundled me back to my bay in ‘obs’. Within 15 minutes of returning they told me I could get dressed, and a physicians assistant came in and said “You can go, your heart is fine, but talk to your Dr about treatment for GERD.” (Gastro esophageal reflux disease.)
Needless to say, I was out of there like a shot. I called the Mrs. while buttoning my shirt and she was there in the car at the curb waiting as I walked out. When we arrived home I pored myself a nice hot cup of coffee, something that I had been denied at the hospital, and hopped into the shower. But not before pulling off that last batch of electrodes, along with even more chest hair.
It made for an interesting 24 hours. This was the first time that I have spent any time in hospital except for having my tonsils out when I was 6, and I am of mixed feelings about the experience. The medical staff were all very thorough, and generally concerned about my health and comfort. They were not always good about communicating to me what they were thinking and the reasons for doing some of the procedures however. I am relieved to know that my heart is healthy, and I will be contacting my Dr to seek treatment for the GERD. Just knowing what it is though is a relief.
Now if I can just get the adhesive from those electrodes off my chest and stomach, it has been 4 days and as many showers; tenacious stuff.
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