Heart Healthy Diet - My Crazy Few Days In The ER
Updated: Jan 3, 2021
The hospital I was in here on Long Island is a small community hospital and everyone was fantastic. From security, administrative, nurses, Physician's Assistants, doctors and specialists, to sonogram techs, Radiology, CAT scan and phlebotomists (I'm a hard stick).
I wound up needing a Cardiology team. Not fun. Everyone on the team was excellent. I told them why I no longer eat meat. They said that what happened to me previously was a blessing in disguise! No meat is a good thing. That was a plus.
So what happened:
The week before my niece's wedding - September 12th - I wasn't feeling well. I thought I had the Flu or Covid. This lasted three days. I kept saying, "Tomorrow I'll go get tested." I never ran a fever.
I felt better. The wedding was fun, though I didn't dance, my legs were killing me and my body was still sluggish.
The week of September 21st, I took the dog to the vet for pre surgical bloodwork. As I was driving, I felt ill and dizzy. I pulled over. I felt better and continued on.
In the wee hours of the morning of October 1st, I woke up at 12:30 a.m. not feeling right. I fell back to sleep at 4 a.m.
I woke at 7 a.m. gasping for air, dizzy and clammy. barely able to stand.
I sat in front of the air conditioner thinking it would pass.
By 8 a.m. I woke my husband. I had to go to the Emergency Room.
ER staff had to take me out of the car with a wheelchair.
Because of Covid, no one was allowed with me. They rushed me to the back, and six people surrounded the stretcher they put me on. Everyone was talking to me and doing things at once.
They did vitals and an EKG and immediately stared an IV and gave me medication to bring down my heart rate which was 185. Later it went up to 215.
I had a battery of tests including a chest x-ray, tons of bloodwork, OVER AND OVER, and a sonogram of my legs (I've had blood clots before) and my heart.
They called in a team of Cardiologists who admitted me with AFIB. Staff did a COVID test and brought me to a room upstairs where I was isolated and the door had to remain closed until the Covid results came back yet.
I had THREE COVID tests throughout this ordeal and an antibody test. All negative, thankfully. If you walk out the door, turn around and walk back in, you get another Covid test. Better safe than sorry?
The getups the medical people were wearing gave us all a good laugh. Best to have a sense of humor, right? Staff appreciate patients with a good attitude and who make fun out of a bad situation.
After IV and oral medication, I was sent home Friday and told to see the Cardiologists in the office. Yay, I get to go home. For a little while anyway.
Saturday I started to get terrible pain in my back. I wound up back in the ER.
This time they did a CAT scan with contrast and more blood work.
They starved me for over 12 hours. I had a morning smoothie at 9 a.m. They didn't let me eat until 9:30 p.m.
They discovered fluid around my heart and called in the cardiology team again. I was kept again.
Sunday morning they did another echocardiogram (sonogram of the heart) They compared it to the first one.
One of the cardiologists from the team came to see me. He said I could go home but he was leaving a message for his office to call me Monday morning.
Throughout the entire ordeal, they took enough urine from me to fill a lake!
Monday morning, before 9 a.m., the Cardiologist's office called and gave me an appointment that day at 1:15 p.m. My husband drove me. I'm scheduled for a stress test and some other testing.
THEN: The left side of my face and my left arm started to go numb. I was sent back to the ER. This time was even crazier than on Thursday.
Immediate, I mean IMMEDIATE IV, and rushed into CAT scan in lightening speed. They did a scan of my brain and neck to rule out stroke. Yet more more blood tests and chest x-rays and other tests I can't remember. Thank God, no stroke or blood clots. They sent me home. Crazy right. But at least I didn't have to stay yet again in the hospital. Ugh. No matter how great they are, I hate the hospital.
I'm home now, not feeling the best and awaiting more tests at the cardiologist's office. I am on heart medication and a heart healthy diet, not too different from the diet my nutritionist from my Endocrinologist's office already has me on.
So there's my tale.
