heart attack

I was shocked and saddened, as the rest of the country was, to hear about Tim Russerts death this week. I felt especially vulnerable when I heard about his ongoing medical condition. His doctor said he was a model patient, followed a modified diet, exercised and took his medication. After our house fire in February of 2007 we moved into a rental for almost a year. In mid July of last year, on a Monday evening around 8pm I started to get mild chest pains with some mild pain in my shoulders. The pain gradually got more intense and Robert (the boyfriend from previous blogs whom also is the person I rented the house from while my house was uninhabitable) insisted on taking me to the hospital. I went kicking and screaming and only went after I ran into the bathroom and sucked down one last cigarette knowing the hospital wait would be long!!

We arrived at the hospital around 9:30pm and they ushered my ass right thru the doors (complaining of chest pain moves you to the head of the line). I was trying to tell the nurses and the doctors that although I had not formally attended medical school (nor did I even make it to the 3rd semester of college) I was stung by a bee a few days prior and when I researched online about heart attack like symptoms it stated that an allergic reaction to a bee sting could trigger side effects similar to a heart attack. I just wanted them to confirm my diagnosis and then I could take a pill, go home, have a good night smoke and go to sleep! Well they hooked me up to ekg's, took a mri, checked vitals and were a bit dumbfounded. I was far from the typical heart attack victim,  42 yrs old, 5'10" tall weighing in at a whopping 121lbs.  The female doctor on duty that night came in with the nurse and informed me that she thought it could be premenopausal but wanted to take blood tests to rule out other possibilities. Doing the blood work would mean keeping me overnight which was never going to happen. I mean for gods sake I was felling better and was dying for a smoke! The premenopausal comment also put me over the edge and I thought I would have to take down the doctor for it and would end up spending the night in a jail cell. The safest place for me was home so I checked myself out, signed a paper releasing the medical personal and hospital from any liability if I dropped dead. Had poor Robert bring me home as I insisted I was fine and it was the bee that was affecting me! It was 1am by the time we got home and Robert gets up at 6am for work, I felt terrible!!!!

I got up on Tuesday morning and walked Guinness which felt like I ran a 20 mile marathon. I then went to work, went to the grocery store at the end of the day and lifting the bag with a loaf of bread and some pretzels winded me beyond belief. That night I managed to eat nothing and just dove into bed at 6pm. I got up on Wednesday feeling much better. I thought the bee sting had finally left my body and I was getting back to normal. I spent the day in the office with 2 business associates who were down from Canada to visit my company. Myself and Robert took them to dinner that night in Nyack. When we got to the restaurant I was feeling a bit tired and achy, I felt it was just from the stress of the last couple of nights at chez Nyack Hospital. I ordered my norm, steak, french fries and a nice glass of red wine. The first hint that something was wrong was I couldn't drink my glass of red wine, it almost made me sick to my stomach (oh god, how sad that comment is). I can drink a glass of red wine in 120 degree weather on a sandy beach! I was starting to feel out of breath. I cut the dinner short and headed home. When Robert and I got to the house we were sitting on the couch and I was feeling like I was suffocating and didn't want him to know so I tried my best to get rid of him! He left and I found myself slumped over a piece of furniture gasping for air! This happened a few times and I started to get scared so I called Robert down to the house (are you all thinking...oh this poor guy???). He sat with me for a few episodes of not being able to breath with shooting pains down both arms as well as massive chest pains. Then it finally went away and I told Robert I was fine, even though he wanted me to go to the hospital. He went back upstairs to his apartment and I tried sleeping. About 20 minutes later the shooting pain down my arms and chest started again as well as being breathless. Poor Robert, I called again and he came downstairs. He insisted I go to the hospital. I insisted that if it happened 3 times in a row I would go. Oh god, the pain was ridiculous and not being able to breath is one of the scariest things to experience. I was falling apart and knew I needed to go so off we went to the hospital for the second time in 3 days. Of course as soon as we got there I was known as the woman who checked herself out 2 days ago!!!! Well to make a long story short, Robert saved my life by convincing me to go to the hospital. I ended up having a heart attack in the emergency room and fortunately they administered a nitro patch which prevented any muscle damage to my heart. I will fill you in on what happened over the next couple of days in the hospital but I have to get to work now. I am just hoping that we get more info on exactly what Tim Russert's diet, exercise routine and medications were because I have changed my lifestyle and I hope to god it makes a difference otherwise I'm going back to smoking for stress release, eating junk and getting off these meds that throw your body into complete chaos!!!!