Another life experience.......not good but useful!!

On Tuesday morning we went out to breakfast. At a little cafe in Albany that serves excellent french toast and the like.

We were there about 10 minutes, had ordered our food and just got our coffees (iced for me of course) when I started to feel a bit off colour. I got a strange pain in between my shoulder blades and then started to feel sweaty and clammy. Then I got dizzy....very dizzy.

I told 'eL' that we needed to go as I felt crook and she went to sort out the bill and cancel the food. I went outside for some air and then I started to feel really ill. The pain in my back wasn't very bad but I was now feeling nauseous and in serious danger of passing out. I made it to the car and sat in the passenger side. When 'eL' arrived I was worried and told her to take me to hospital....now!

We got there in about 3 or 4 minutes during which I lay flat on my back with my feet on the dash (naughty I know but at least I didn't pass out). I was able to stand an walk in to ED where the triage nurse took one look at me and said "you'd better come straight through". Good service but that made me very worried!! I lay on a bed in a cubical and had a couple of nurses arrive within seconds......pads stuck all over me and connected to an ECG.....I don't even remember taking my shirt off but there you go! The nurse nearest me asked how I was feeling and I said "not good"....I obviously looked pretty bad too because she the said those scary words "just quietly I think your having a heart attack!".....to which I said "I was afraid of that". She kept asking another nurse where the doctor was.....well that was comforting....NOT! Then a nurse started looking for a vein in my hand or wrist but was told "no, further up, we need a big one". I started to feel cold and told the first nurse who said to another nurse "get the thing" and then had to add "the defib!". Oh bugger.....I don't like this......I'm now progressing nicely from scared to abject terror So the nurse jams this bloody great needle into my arm and the other one starts the ECG. The doctor arrives and introduces himself......then he looks at the ECG and says....."well that's alright, he's not having a heart attack".

Well......that's alright then....hang on.....everyone seemed to think I was....including me! Then I realised he had said I'm not having a heart attack....okay back to just worried now....in fact relieved.....no bloody relieved!!

I said to the doctor and nurses how stupid I now felt.....they all looked at me strangely and a nurse said....."it would have only been stupid if you ignored it and it was a heart attack!" Okay....point well made!

So after all that I spent a couple of hours lying in ED interrupted occasionally by x-rays, blood tests (well they did put that bloody big needle in, might as well use it!), etc.....the final conclusion a vaso-vagal fit or spasm! So nothing really......and we missed breakfast too! Then I got to go home. Thankfully.....

What did I learn.......well firstly trust your instincts....if you feel really bad go to hospital. Secondly....don't be afraid to tell your nearest and dearest when you think something is very wrong....none of the silent brave crap....it can get you killed. Be grateful that your job taught you advanced first aid....signs and symptoms of heart attack!!! (well mine did anyway:-)).

It also made me think about diet, exercise and relaxing........I need to concentrate on all of them more.....no point having a scare and not getting a benefit out of it!

That was my Tuesday................I can laugh about it now......well a little....maybe......