Monday, July 6, 2009

ER Visit

Thank you for all your kind and concerned words in the guest book concerning my recent dash to the ER. It's nice to have my very own Circle of Caring around me!

I still had some pain yesterday and was kind of "slow," to the extent where I took three naps. (Which is definitely not my usual speed of life.) So whatever is going on is still "there."

Some of you mentioned in the guest book that it might have been heartburn caused by the hot dogs. Hmmm. I've never before been bothered by a hot dog and was told by my ENT (after one of my happy throat scopes) that he saw no sign of reflux damage on my vocal cords.

Others of you wrote that a hot dog can trigger a gall bladder attack. I suppose that's a possibility although I know that gallbladder attacks are many times accompanied by nausea and vomiting which I haven't had. And I HATE the thought of spending more money on a gall bladder ultra sound unless all symptoms are pointing in that direction.

It's such a complex sort of decision to make. When you have chest/left arm/heart pain, the first temptation is to say, "It's heart related." And then the next thing is to think, "Oh, you're just over-reacting; it's probably nothing serious."

And that's what Steve and I did for twenty four hours, vascillated between the serious and the non-serious. But the bottom line is that so many people wait on going to the hospital and then it IS a heart attack and things are much worse for them because they waited so long.

But THEN you also hate to run to the ER for no reason and end up paying lots of money to be told, "You're fine."

Poor Steve. If I'd had a heart attack at the house and he'd said that I'd been having chest pains for a whole day, everyone would have said, "Well, why didn't you take her in earlier?"

But then to go into the ER and have it be nothing, I tend to think, "Well, why did we go in at all?"

Sigh.

I know heart and chest pains can be caused by stress and we've had stress of many varieties over the past months/years. (Some I've written about; some I haven't.)

The past eight months have been especially stressful for me personally, because of having so many things undecided. Everything is in the throes of change--Steve's job, my job, Sarah's school, our house, our neighborhood, our town, our church, our circle of friends, our financial situation, etc. The only thing that is remaining unchanged is Nathan's college.

And, people, that is STRESSFUL!

So I may just chalk this whole thing up to stress and kind of monitor things for a few days; if things stay the same or get worse, I'll take a few more medical steps. But at least I AM assured that I won't drop dead of a heart attack in the next ninety seconds.

And that's always nice to know! :-)

Again, thanks for your concern. I'll do a more "regular" update later in the day.

15 Had Something To Say (Just click here!):

Sue G said...

Thanks for the update. I didn't want to bug you yesterday, but you know me...I would definitely have written today, bugging you or not.

It is tricky trying to self-diagnose to determine the severity of the symptoms. Three naps implies fatigue. And fatigue could be caused by a heart problem, by stress, by the simple fact that constant pain is quite tiring. A tricky wicket, to say the least (and to say it in such an ambiguous way at that!).

Please follow through with your cardiologist even though you are feeling better. The fact that you have had heart problems in the recent past plus this new pain indicates that you be somewhat proactive. I know finances are always a concern, but can you really put a price on your precious life?

Those of us who love you would be the first to tell you that your life is priceless to us.

Marysienka said...

Oh Becky, I hope this pain goes away soon. Maybe you should follow up with your GP or cardiologist?! As Sue G said, your life is priceless to us.

Take care of yourself!

R.

Pam D said...

I always hate having to follow a comment from Sue G, because darn it, I just can't write that well. SO... I shall just say "hear, hear!" and agree that you are a treasure that we aren't willing to give up!
Love,
a faithful "Smithereen"....

Anonymous said...

Okay, Sue G, you said it all perfectly and I agree! Err on the side of caution, Becky - we all want to keep you around!

Ciao!

Guerrina

Nancy said...

Becky
Please know that with my gallbladder attacks I had no nausea of vomiting. Also PLEASE do not let anyone tell you "its nothing". Remember God gave us pain for a reason. PLEASE be OK :(. We love you here and we want you to be happy and healthy. I hope you feel better soon. My gallbladder attacks would last for days. But I still think it could be heart related too. :(
Love
Nancy

Sue G said...

Actually, I just say nice things so people will agree with me and compliment my writing.

:-)

Lizz said...

Backy, I'm so glad you are feeling a little bit better. Unidentifiable pain is so frustrating and irritating & any other bad "ating" word there is! In my experience gall bladder pain is HORRENDOUS! I had mine taken out at the age of 17 after 10 doctor's visits with 9 doctors! The gall bladder is on the right side of the body so I don't know how gall bladder pain could be on the left side?? But everyone is different. I think you are right to monitor things, but please really pay attention to your body! I always look forward to reading your blogs and to hearing about your family! I feel like I know you personally and I care for you! You will be in my prayers just as Sarah is all the time! Even if I start to pray about something totally unrelated to Sarah, somehow she creeps into my thoughts and I just have to say a prayer for her too!
Love & Hugs!

becky in buffalo said...

don't feel bad my mother walked around for four days with chest pains when she would walk, sitting and laying she was fine. she thought maybe she pulled a muscle pulling the heavy hospital doors open. what made her decide to go to her dr, mind you her office is in an er, was she was walking from her office to the mail room and the pain got really really bad. so she told her boss, called her dr and drove like 30 minutes to her dr. he did a heart thing and it was totally different then last time she came so he said go to er but you can't drive. so my mother called me and my brother drove me there so i could drive her car. turned out she had a mild heart attack and needed a stent in a partially blocked artery. i shook my head that she dealt with it for four days and that she left the hospital to go all the way to her dr when she coulda just went up one floor.

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