So I thought turning 50 wasn't a big deal. I accomplished that task in early August and didn't think much of it. I'm extremely healthy, tons of energy and still feel like I have at least 40 more good years left.
That notion got slammed Friday night when I got my first health scare. I have been experiencing rapid heart rate all week. The first time it happened I was at work and I couldn't get the rate to go down, other than that I felt fine. I went home and laid down for about 20 minutes and finally it went away. Stirling and I went to the movies and saw ParaNorman (which was a cute film BTW).
All week I noticed that my heart would start quickening up but it went away pretty suddenly as well.
So on Friday when my heart started quickening I thought "that's odd" and went to get something to eat. I'm sitting in my car eating my PB&J when I notice that the heart rate isn't slowing down and I'm starting to faint. I was totally aware, and awake at the same time that it went totally dark. Odd feeling, like someone turned out the lights but you are aware that the lights are out, not like a real faint.
So I went inside and called my doctor's office (I haven't visited them in 3 years) and they kept trying to get the doctor on call to tell me what to do. Finally the doctor said to go to the ER as it could be serious.
I got to the ER and one of my long-time customers was handing the incoming people. She took my pulse and next thing I knew I was in a wheelchair headed to a gurney. All this time I wasn't taking it very seriously. I laughed because one of the ER people recognized me but could not place me. My customer told him where I worked and he said "hey, you took our family portraits a couple years ago". That was pretty surreal.
I also had a laugh when they put me on the gurney and I realized that my characteristic miss-matched socks probably looked very strange to these people. They probably though that something was wrong with my vision or my mind. I looked at my one dark blue sock next to the hot pink one with pretty hearts on it and laughed.
They put the sticky EKG things all over my chest (I found some on my ankles later) and I got an IV and about 5 people descended on me. One VERY southern nurse came over and asked my religious preference. I said "I'm an atheist" very matter of fact and she answered "An atheist?" like she had never heard that before. I started to get very worried, why would they need to know this? Did I need my last rites?
The ER doctor came over and held my hand and asked me lots of questions about my lifestyle, caffeine (almost none), drugs, medication, alcohol, allergies and so on. The answer to everything is "none." She gave me a drug that shocks the heart into a natural rhythm, she said it is going to make me woozy but it was used a lot and I will come out of it quickly. At this point I really got scared, I thought my son is going to me very worried and Mark will be angry because I didn't tell him I was experiencing this all week.
I started to cry, not the bawling type of cry. The kind that just has tears pouring out of you eyes and running down your cheeks, but you can't wipe the tears away. Everyone was busy around me, and the doctor was holding my hand and telling me everything would be okay. She smiled at me but which helped a lot, she kept asking me questions and I was completely coherent the whole time. Finally the drug kicked in through the IV and I felt really faint again, within seconds my heart was back to a normal rhythm.
They explained that a normal heart rate is about 90, if you are working out then it may go up to 120 or so. Mine was registering at 208 - 220. That was why they were so concerned. My blood pressure was fairly normal the whole time.
They ran a bunch of tests and gave me a medication to keep my heart rate lower, the doctor said that it was something that happens more often that you would think. Probably it had nothing to do with my lifestyle. She wrote superventricular tacycardia on my paperwork and referred me to a cardiologist for further tests.
She said that I held up really well and for a long time (the heart was beating like that for about 90 minutes before I went to the ER) and that I will probably know if it is starting to happen again in plenty of time to get back to the ER.
By this time I had calmed down and was able to text a few people from bed. Stirling called Mark who was upset with me for "being so darn stubborn".
Then something really scary happened, being that the battery was so low on my phone, and having nothing to read and not feeling sleepy at all, I listened in to the southern nurse and the people in ER next to me.
Apparently a daughter (also a nurse at that same hospital) had brought in her mother (about 85) and they were waiting for tests to come back. They were taking about the presidential election, both were agreeing that they were not excited about the candidates. I think they thought Obama was just "too slick" the daughter preferred Romney. She called him a "self-made man" and then said, "I don't know how Obama managed to become President when he can't prove that he was born in the United States." The nurse replied "He was just in the right place at the right time."
Talk about my heart rate elevating again! That was just unbelievable.
So, I'm home today feeling just a little weary. I feel fine other than that. Mark is calling me every couple hours and Stirling was hovering until he had to go to work. I know I'm 50, and before last night I really didn't think much about my age. I also know that probably everyone reading this has had worse scares, this was just my first. I shared many many visits to that ER with my mother. I thought it would be many years before I would be the one on the gurney. Surprise!
I know that I'm doing everything right, weight hovering around 150, keeping myself active and healthy. But even doing the right things might not be enough. Hurry up medical science and start fixing all these things we have no control over. Instead of prayer I think we should combating pseudoscience so we aren't wasting our time and money on areas that have a nil chance of panning out. Instead, we need to support people to go into the sciences, and support science education and good legislature. Make sure we hold our government responsible for making well informed choices, and support our children's teachers (and not just science teachers).
Going to need all your help people. You or someone you love might be next on the gurney and I'm sure you will feel a lot better if they are discussing what Curiosity just discovered on Mars than Obama's nationality. We all need to find our path and passion to helping make this possible. As Stirling was telling me this morning, more people are interested in what's new with Lindsay Lohan than whats happening on Mars. I hope he is wrong, but I suspect he is right.
That notion got slammed Friday night when I got my first health scare. I have been experiencing rapid heart rate all week. The first time it happened I was at work and I couldn't get the rate to go down, other than that I felt fine. I went home and laid down for about 20 minutes and finally it went away. Stirling and I went to the movies and saw ParaNorman (which was a cute film BTW).
All week I noticed that my heart would start quickening up but it went away pretty suddenly as well.
So on Friday when my heart started quickening I thought "that's odd" and went to get something to eat. I'm sitting in my car eating my PB&J when I notice that the heart rate isn't slowing down and I'm starting to faint. I was totally aware, and awake at the same time that it went totally dark. Odd feeling, like someone turned out the lights but you are aware that the lights are out, not like a real faint.
So I went inside and called my doctor's office (I haven't visited them in 3 years) and they kept trying to get the doctor on call to tell me what to do. Finally the doctor said to go to the ER as it could be serious.
I got to the ER and one of my long-time customers was handing the incoming people. She took my pulse and next thing I knew I was in a wheelchair headed to a gurney. All this time I wasn't taking it very seriously. I laughed because one of the ER people recognized me but could not place me. My customer told him where I worked and he said "hey, you took our family portraits a couple years ago". That was pretty surreal.
I also had a laugh when they put me on the gurney and I realized that my characteristic miss-matched socks probably looked very strange to these people. They probably though that something was wrong with my vision or my mind. I looked at my one dark blue sock next to the hot pink one with pretty hearts on it and laughed.
They put the sticky EKG things all over my chest (I found some on my ankles later) and I got an IV and about 5 people descended on me. One VERY southern nurse came over and asked my religious preference. I said "I'm an atheist" very matter of fact and she answered "An atheist?" like she had never heard that before. I started to get very worried, why would they need to know this? Did I need my last rites?
The ER doctor came over and held my hand and asked me lots of questions about my lifestyle, caffeine (almost none), drugs, medication, alcohol, allergies and so on. The answer to everything is "none." She gave me a drug that shocks the heart into a natural rhythm, she said it is going to make me woozy but it was used a lot and I will come out of it quickly. At this point I really got scared, I thought my son is going to me very worried and Mark will be angry because I didn't tell him I was experiencing this all week.
I started to cry, not the bawling type of cry. The kind that just has tears pouring out of you eyes and running down your cheeks, but you can't wipe the tears away. Everyone was busy around me, and the doctor was holding my hand and telling me everything would be okay. She smiled at me but which helped a lot, she kept asking me questions and I was completely coherent the whole time. Finally the drug kicked in through the IV and I felt really faint again, within seconds my heart was back to a normal rhythm.
They explained that a normal heart rate is about 90, if you are working out then it may go up to 120 or so. Mine was registering at 208 - 220. That was why they were so concerned. My blood pressure was fairly normal the whole time.
They ran a bunch of tests and gave me a medication to keep my heart rate lower, the doctor said that it was something that happens more often that you would think. Probably it had nothing to do with my lifestyle. She wrote superventricular tacycardia on my paperwork and referred me to a cardiologist for further tests.
She said that I held up really well and for a long time (the heart was beating like that for about 90 minutes before I went to the ER) and that I will probably know if it is starting to happen again in plenty of time to get back to the ER.
By this time I had calmed down and was able to text a few people from bed. Stirling called Mark who was upset with me for "being so darn stubborn".
Then something really scary happened, being that the battery was so low on my phone, and having nothing to read and not feeling sleepy at all, I listened in to the southern nurse and the people in ER next to me.
Apparently a daughter (also a nurse at that same hospital) had brought in her mother (about 85) and they were waiting for tests to come back. They were taking about the presidential election, both were agreeing that they were not excited about the candidates. I think they thought Obama was just "too slick" the daughter preferred Romney. She called him a "self-made man" and then said, "I don't know how Obama managed to become President when he can't prove that he was born in the United States." The nurse replied "He was just in the right place at the right time."
Talk about my heart rate elevating again! That was just unbelievable.
So, I'm home today feeling just a little weary. I feel fine other than that. Mark is calling me every couple hours and Stirling was hovering until he had to go to work. I know I'm 50, and before last night I really didn't think much about my age. I also know that probably everyone reading this has had worse scares, this was just my first. I shared many many visits to that ER with my mother. I thought it would be many years before I would be the one on the gurney. Surprise!
I know that I'm doing everything right, weight hovering around 150, keeping myself active and healthy. But even doing the right things might not be enough. Hurry up medical science and start fixing all these things we have no control over. Instead of prayer I think we should combating pseudoscience so we aren't wasting our time and money on areas that have a nil chance of panning out. Instead, we need to support people to go into the sciences, and support science education and good legislature. Make sure we hold our government responsible for making well informed choices, and support our children's teachers (and not just science teachers).
Going to need all your help people. You or someone you love might be next on the gurney and I'm sure you will feel a lot better if they are discussing what Curiosity just discovered on Mars than Obama's nationality. We all need to find our path and passion to helping make this possible. As Stirling was telling me this morning, more people are interested in what's new with Lindsay Lohan than whats happening on Mars. I hope he is wrong, but I suspect he is right.
2 comments:
first off, so glad you are doing well. Second, hitting 50 is like hitting a wall. I was "wait what happened?" My doctor assured me that THIS is what happens at 50. My elder brother that rides his bike 30 plus miles a day, and has almost zero body fat...hit 50 and now is on blood pressure and cholesterol meds. Me, my eyes got worse, my blood pressure went up, my diverticulitis became crazy (and I needed surgery). The GOOD NEWS, is it levels off. (so my doctor swears). You've made it to 50. That's the GOOD NEWS. You have good life habits (YEAH!). This oddly happened to Gene Simmons on his reality tv show, and it scared me just seeing his heart unable to slow down. But, he's still alive and making money and being silly. I wish I could come over and sit with you...and laugh and just enjoy the joy that is being around you. You inspire, you care, you are a great example (later I'll tell you in private how I point out to some people "you need to be more like Susan"). Keep us updated, listen to Mark, and stop scaring my Mexican son!
Thanks Kitty. The reason I finally went to the doctor was because I knew I would hear it from people if I didn't. I can be stubborn but really I'm not that bad.
Wish we could hang out more. TAM is always so crazy. Seems like you are near with the advent of the Internet, love your new blog, now I can keep up with more that is happening with you.
Can't wait to hear this private conversation about me. Love to hear who those "some people" are and what they say when you tell them whatever you tell them.
Stirling was just mentioning that a few days ago about how he has another mother figure at work, really neat lady. He said she is super great, I think sometimes I have 3 moms. One real one, one in Mexico and another at work. LOL These kids!
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