Ambulance Adventures

Do you remember hearing about my little "episodes"? If not, look Here.

Well today I had another episode. I've actually had several since I was originally diagnosed back in August, but they haven't been too major. So today I'm working around the office as usual and I'm standing at my boss's door talking to her. In mid-sentence my heart is struck with the sensation as though I had just run a marathon at record speed. Immediately I feel faint and rush to my chair to sit down. My boss obviously realizes that something is very wrong and follows me. I'm sitting in my chair trying to breathe, but I feel as though the wind has just been knocked out of me and I'm starting to get really nervous because I've never had an episode this bad. My boss is getting really concerned and calls the Police Chief in who immediately calls for an ambulance. Within a few moments I have every firefighter on duty sitting in front of my desk, along with the Fire Chief, Police Chief and our Town Administrator....I guess that's the advantage of working at Town Hall....when the fire fighters hear a call go out for "a 30 yr old woman with chest pains and ___ Town Hall" and some of them know my history because I was smart enough to warn them....you get the whole calvary! Before I even know what's going on I'm chewing baby aspirin, breathing oxygen and hooked up to all sorts of machines (actually it was just two, but there were enough wires to feel like it was a million) and then I was in the ambulance with an IV inserted and being hooked up to a 12 lead EKG. Any of you who have been through one of these know where all they have to hook the leads up to...if not, just imagine sticky things being placed all over the upper part of your body that a bathing suit hides....and this by guys that I know, some of whom I've worked with for several years! Luckily they were EXTREMELY professional and assured me that everything would be kept confidential (I know this is required, but it's nice to hear). But, this being a small town I work in, I know that it's only a matter of time. It's not really that big of a deal to me, the only thing I kept thinking is that the guys were probably wondering how much I actually weigh as they lifted me into the ambulance!

Obviously I'm home so I'm doing well. They ran some tests and it was just the same old tachycardia as before. I'm going to go follow up with my cardiologist on Wednesday. Last time I went to see him in January I was told that I really need to increase my dosage of my medicine, but they couldn't because my blood pressure was already too low. The only other alternative is to have some procedure that basically involves shocking the heart (I think it's electro cardioversion) which I'm not too excited to do....it might help if I take my medicine more regularly. It just makes me so sleepy!

Anyways...that's my adventure for today!