A Bump in the Road

After church on Sunday my heart was beating harder and faster than usual. Not the normal flutters after too much caffeine or exhaustion. And a new sensation: Slight, fleeting tightness in the center of my chest.

We stopped at Walgreens for an accurate blood pressure measurement. It was high (161/110) but she suggested we call the doctor and/or go to the E.R. We did both.

When you walk into the emergency room with “chest pain” they have an immediate response of get you in the wheelchair, zoom to the exam room, attach sensors, get vitals, draw blood and conclusions. After the flurry of probes and pages of questions they ruled out stroke and heart attack but because my father had a heart attack in his ’60’s, they insisted I stay overnight and see the pulmonary team.

New to me: A nitroglycerine patch stuck to my chest. It slowly leaked nitro-paste into my system. It is a vasodilator that improved circulation and delivered a headache.

It was a typical, stressful, non-restful night in a shared hospital room. Neighbor’s TV, hall lights, slamming doors, helpful employees checking vitals, drawing blood three times looking for “markers” of heart attack. Hard to sleep with this battery pack/dial instrument like a walkie talkie in the front pocket of the gown, attached to five colorful wires glued to my chest that recorded my heartbeat during my stay. I slept from midnight until 4:00 AM when the alarm went off.

My unseen but clearly-heard neighbor across the hallway was an elderly lady who wanted to leave against the will of her caregivers. So they attached a device that alerted them when she escaped her bed. Loud, high-pitched beeps, four in a row, repeated until they went to her room and told her it’s still bedtime, several times.

Thank God for daylight, but no breakfast. I was under nothing-by-mouth orders in case they had to do surgery. I was the first one down to Pulmonary and four hours of heart exams; CAT scan, MRI, Echocardiogram and the stress test. I actually looked forward to all these analyses. Because of family history I wondered the same thing: How is my heart?

Summary: My heart is in excellent shape but the stress of chemotherapy has elevated my blood pressure. So, my love affair with coffee has ended and daily meds are added. And we’ve added new daily habits of checking temperature and blood pressure. And taking a walk.