And So It Starts.
For this post I need to take you back to a long time ago. Yesterday. It feels like a million years ago. On Friday I woke up with my usual palpitations but quickly that changed to just pressure and tightness. I was used to discomfort but this pressure was quite intense, it felt like something was pushing against my chest, restricting me. Almost as if I was bound all around my body, every time I tried to breathe in my rib cage wouldn't expand enough and believe me... it bloody hurts. Anyway, while it went from intense pain to short periods of no pain, the pain was steadily getting worse. Finally at half past eleven while watching "Children In Need" I gave up trying to deal with the pain and being so unable to breathe that, on my sister's advice, I called NHS24.
They are a strange service, but good. They asked me a number of questions such as my name, date of birth, a number to call back if we got disconnected and briefly why I called. After all of that she relays what I have told her back to me and questions me further, how long have you had this pain, when did it start, do you have any cardiac history and if there was anyone in the house she could speak to. This, of course, meant waking up my mum. I'll just say this now for anyone out there, unless it is an emergency never EVER wake up my mum or Nicole. It will not end well for you. Nicole's postman will testify to that. In fact, add me to that list. Don't wake me up, unless you're dead or dying, or if there's chocolate. Definitely wake me up then. Any kind of food really. Food = wake me up. Okay? Good. So anyway I woke her up, she gave me a look that meant after I handed her the phone I hid behind the door as much as possible. After a lot of "yes... yes... ok... yes" my mum confirmed that my colouring looked fine. Eventually my mum came off of the phone and explained that the woman did not want to send me down to A&E on a Friday night so she would get the doctor at the Royal who works with the NHS24 service to phone me back in the next hour.
At twenty past twelve (midnight) a woman phoned me and spoke to me, I told her everything that happened in the past few weeks; the hospital appointment on the 17th of October, the diagnosis, the constant palpitations, the pressure, the tightness in my body and chest, the exhaustion I feel on a daily basis, the increased breathlessness and the impact all of this has had on my day to day life. After all of this I explained that while I had been suffering from pressure and tightness today with some pains in my arms and body, palpitations had started about 15 minutes before her phone call. She said she would like to see me as a GP at half past one. Best go tell mum, who hopefully hadn't fell asleep. She wasn't. Phew.
So we made our way to the hospital and walked round a dodgy path and finally found OPD 6. After being buzzed in at twenty past one I sat until ten to two when I finally got called. After speaking to the doctor for a wee while she took my blood pressure, listened to my chest and took my temperature, the last of which she said was a little high. Eventually she decided it was best if I was seen by A&E so after waited ages on a porter so we didn't get lost we eventually pulled up to the desk and A&E where I was parked and abandoned by the porter.
After being checked in I was wheeled around to Immediate Care, my mum waited in the main A&E waiting room. I sat there for a little while and just watched, I could only see one part of it from where the porter parked my wheelchair but it was interesting. In particular was a man who seemed very uneasy, he was lying in a bed in the corridor, then he got changed, waited and left quickly with a green bag. The kind of green bag that hospital use to seal something, like a urine sample. It's the weird material like the grey bags you get in the mail from clothing companies, the ones you can only open by ripping it. The nurse was furious when she realised he'd skipped with that although I don't know what happened there.
A man and his girlfriend or sister left after good news and I got a cubicle to myself, and a nurse came with a gown that I apparently put on backwards, because I put it on to open at the front. That's how they do it in Cardiology in my defence. So eventually during some small talk she did an ECG that she didn't tell me the results of, I asked her to find my mum for me as she was leaving. At about three am, a doctor came by, didn't introduce himself and just started asking me question with a face like I'd shit in his kettle. He didn't react to anything I said except with a face that said I was an idiot. Must have been a long night, nothing but sympathy for these guys except when I want to punch them. I don't really, I'm just a moody get but anyway on his way out I mentioned that no one had told my mum yet that she could come round. I know it isn't his job to go get her but I thought he would just remind the nurse who said she would go find her a while before. So his very unamused face was probably justified but who else was I meant to ask? He had arranged for me to take medicine to see if that helped the pain, I didn't like to take medication for chest pains etc. because when it comes to my heart I like to know exactly what I am feeling and when. Call me crazy.
My mum poked her head round the curtain and I told her that the doctor had said I would need to wait until half past five to get blood tests done, this made no sense. He had asked me what time the pain had started and I replied that it had been all day but I had only phoned NHS24 at half past eleven, he said that the test could only be done six hours after the pain began but he had chosen to take the time I phoned NHS24 as the time the pain began. Either way I had a couple of hours wait. And mum went to the car to charge her phone for a little while.
During that time I was moved into the corridor but this time on a bed so someone could have the cubicle, I didn't mind, I had been drifting in and out of "nearly asleep" since the nurse gave me a blanket because I was cold, by this time it was twenty past five and the doctor assured my it wasn't long and I think he was just pointing out that he hadn't forgotten me. Mum came in a few minutes later looking confused but eventually spotted me, she had been in her car and trying to keep herself awake, bear in mind that my mum had been up since three am on Friday morning, at seven am had started her work as a domestic in the sick kids hospital and finished at two pm that day and was still up twenty four hours after waking up sitting in a hospital with her daughter. Just so you appreciate how hard it was for her to drive us to the hospital and refuse to go home. And all without coffee. She had had a cup in the main waiting room but it tastes like bisto and was evidently wearing off, a taxi driver had given her pound coins for a fiver to get more but discovered the sixty pence coffee machine was correct change only. I had realised at this point that the medication hadn't taken away the pain, if anything they had made it worse. I felt like I had been hit by a bus and it was getting harder to breathe.
Then the doctor came and took bloods without any faffing about with a needle with was great, certainly a change as no one seems to be able to get three samples of blood from me in one go. He did. And he even smiled and had some chat, he must have had a sleep or some proper coffee. Anyway, after he had drew some bloods I saw at the end of the corridor where my mum had wandered confused in a while before and to which my mum had her back turned a familiar face. It was in fact a lad that frequents a pub my mum and sister used to work in. And quite rudely of me I pointed him out to my mum while the doctor was talking and then I apologised and let the doctor finish, so rude. After some talking it turned out that Smuggy was in here because he and his pal had got into a fight and his pal had got the worst of it, needing stitches. Smuggy is hilarious and he would stand with us talking then go back round to check on his pal and come back again, we were all laughing and I was worried it would look like I was at it. I was still in pain but it was kind of a relief for my mum to have someone keeping her awake. Here's a picture of Smuggy saving my life, not really.
At seven or thereabouts, the doctor said my bloods were fine and he was quite happy for me to go home if I was or I could wait to see the cardiologist that morning. In retrospect and considering how I feel now (no better) I should have waited to see the cardiologist but at that point I was exhausted physically as well as mentally, I was starving and my mum looked like she could have hit the floor any minute. So I opted for going home with medication to try. As we were leaving it was gradually getting light and I was already regretting and internally justifying my decision.
We were starving so we drove to McDonalds and mum finally got a good coffee and a breakfast, I just had a juice because I didn't like the stuff, I was knackered and, truth be told, I felt so much like shit that it was a terrible struggle to drink the juice and not beg my mum to take me back to the hospital. I felt like and still do, that I need someone to open my ribcage and I'll be able to breathe. I feel like I'm having a claustrophobia attack in my own body, constantly.
Eventually we got home about eight am and we both went straight to sleep, as I was getting ready to sleep my phone alarm went off, I should have been getting up. I woke up briefly with my phone vibrating at eleven with a phone call, I didn't even look at it, I just silenced it, took my phone off of vibrate and rolled over back to sleep. I should have paid attention because it was Josslyn phoning, we had not considered how Josslyn would take the check-ins and comments on facebook when she woke up. She was kind of freaking out, which is sweet. She was filled in by my mum I think who half asleep answered her phone.
But anyway, there is the update of yet another day/night in A&E for me, one which strangely did not end with me being sneaked into a ward and admitted while trying not to waken the other patients. Currently I am sitting watching TV and I took medication. That was not a good idea, it's worse than before I took it. My life. On the plus side, when I tweeted that I had been waiting up to see Example's performance on Children in Need but was sent to hospital just before it, he tweeted his concern:
They are a strange service, but good. They asked me a number of questions such as my name, date of birth, a number to call back if we got disconnected and briefly why I called. After all of that she relays what I have told her back to me and questions me further, how long have you had this pain, when did it start, do you have any cardiac history and if there was anyone in the house she could speak to. This, of course, meant waking up my mum. I'll just say this now for anyone out there, unless it is an emergency never EVER wake up my mum or Nicole. It will not end well for you. Nicole's postman will testify to that. In fact, add me to that list. Don't wake me up, unless you're dead or dying, or if there's chocolate. Definitely wake me up then. Any kind of food really. Food = wake me up. Okay? Good. So anyway I woke her up, she gave me a look that meant after I handed her the phone I hid behind the door as much as possible. After a lot of "yes... yes... ok... yes" my mum confirmed that my colouring looked fine. Eventually my mum came off of the phone and explained that the woman did not want to send me down to A&E on a Friday night so she would get the doctor at the Royal who works with the NHS24 service to phone me back in the next hour.
At twenty past twelve (midnight) a woman phoned me and spoke to me, I told her everything that happened in the past few weeks; the hospital appointment on the 17th of October, the diagnosis, the constant palpitations, the pressure, the tightness in my body and chest, the exhaustion I feel on a daily basis, the increased breathlessness and the impact all of this has had on my day to day life. After all of this I explained that while I had been suffering from pressure and tightness today with some pains in my arms and body, palpitations had started about 15 minutes before her phone call. She said she would like to see me as a GP at half past one. Best go tell mum, who hopefully hadn't fell asleep. She wasn't. Phew.
So we made our way to the hospital and walked round a dodgy path and finally found OPD 6. After being buzzed in at twenty past one I sat until ten to two when I finally got called. After speaking to the doctor for a wee while she took my blood pressure, listened to my chest and took my temperature, the last of which she said was a little high. Eventually she decided it was best if I was seen by A&E so after waited ages on a porter so we didn't get lost we eventually pulled up to the desk and A&E where I was parked and abandoned by the porter.
After being checked in I was wheeled around to Immediate Care, my mum waited in the main A&E waiting room. I sat there for a little while and just watched, I could only see one part of it from where the porter parked my wheelchair but it was interesting. In particular was a man who seemed very uneasy, he was lying in a bed in the corridor, then he got changed, waited and left quickly with a green bag. The kind of green bag that hospital use to seal something, like a urine sample. It's the weird material like the grey bags you get in the mail from clothing companies, the ones you can only open by ripping it. The nurse was furious when she realised he'd skipped with that although I don't know what happened there.
A man and his girlfriend or sister left after good news and I got a cubicle to myself, and a nurse came with a gown that I apparently put on backwards, because I put it on to open at the front. That's how they do it in Cardiology in my defence. So eventually during some small talk she did an ECG that she didn't tell me the results of, I asked her to find my mum for me as she was leaving. At about three am, a doctor came by, didn't introduce himself and just started asking me question with a face like I'd shit in his kettle. He didn't react to anything I said except with a face that said I was an idiot. Must have been a long night, nothing but sympathy for these guys except when I want to punch them. I don't really, I'm just a moody get but anyway on his way out I mentioned that no one had told my mum yet that she could come round. I know it isn't his job to go get her but I thought he would just remind the nurse who said she would go find her a while before. So his very unamused face was probably justified but who else was I meant to ask? He had arranged for me to take medicine to see if that helped the pain, I didn't like to take medication for chest pains etc. because when it comes to my heart I like to know exactly what I am feeling and when. Call me crazy.
My mum poked her head round the curtain and I told her that the doctor had said I would need to wait until half past five to get blood tests done, this made no sense. He had asked me what time the pain had started and I replied that it had been all day but I had only phoned NHS24 at half past eleven, he said that the test could only be done six hours after the pain began but he had chosen to take the time I phoned NHS24 as the time the pain began. Either way I had a couple of hours wait. And mum went to the car to charge her phone for a little while.
During that time I was moved into the corridor but this time on a bed so someone could have the cubicle, I didn't mind, I had been drifting in and out of "nearly asleep" since the nurse gave me a blanket because I was cold, by this time it was twenty past five and the doctor assured my it wasn't long and I think he was just pointing out that he hadn't forgotten me. Mum came in a few minutes later looking confused but eventually spotted me, she had been in her car and trying to keep herself awake, bear in mind that my mum had been up since three am on Friday morning, at seven am had started her work as a domestic in the sick kids hospital and finished at two pm that day and was still up twenty four hours after waking up sitting in a hospital with her daughter. Just so you appreciate how hard it was for her to drive us to the hospital and refuse to go home. And all without coffee. She had had a cup in the main waiting room but it tastes like bisto and was evidently wearing off, a taxi driver had given her pound coins for a fiver to get more but discovered the sixty pence coffee machine was correct change only. I had realised at this point that the medication hadn't taken away the pain, if anything they had made it worse. I felt like I had been hit by a bus and it was getting harder to breathe.
Then the doctor came and took bloods without any faffing about with a needle with was great, certainly a change as no one seems to be able to get three samples of blood from me in one go. He did. And he even smiled and had some chat, he must have had a sleep or some proper coffee. Anyway, after he had drew some bloods I saw at the end of the corridor where my mum had wandered confused in a while before and to which my mum had her back turned a familiar face. It was in fact a lad that frequents a pub my mum and sister used to work in. And quite rudely of me I pointed him out to my mum while the doctor was talking and then I apologised and let the doctor finish, so rude. After some talking it turned out that Smuggy was in here because he and his pal had got into a fight and his pal had got the worst of it, needing stitches. Smuggy is hilarious and he would stand with us talking then go back round to check on his pal and come back again, we were all laughing and I was worried it would look like I was at it. I was still in pain but it was kind of a relief for my mum to have someone keeping her awake. Here's a picture of Smuggy saving my life, not really.
At seven or thereabouts, the doctor said my bloods were fine and he was quite happy for me to go home if I was or I could wait to see the cardiologist that morning. In retrospect and considering how I feel now (no better) I should have waited to see the cardiologist but at that point I was exhausted physically as well as mentally, I was starving and my mum looked like she could have hit the floor any minute. So I opted for going home with medication to try. As we were leaving it was gradually getting light and I was already regretting and internally justifying my decision.
We were starving so we drove to McDonalds and mum finally got a good coffee and a breakfast, I just had a juice because I didn't like the stuff, I was knackered and, truth be told, I felt so much like shit that it was a terrible struggle to drink the juice and not beg my mum to take me back to the hospital. I felt like and still do, that I need someone to open my ribcage and I'll be able to breathe. I feel like I'm having a claustrophobia attack in my own body, constantly.
Eventually we got home about eight am and we both went straight to sleep, as I was getting ready to sleep my phone alarm went off, I should have been getting up. I woke up briefly with my phone vibrating at eleven with a phone call, I didn't even look at it, I just silenced it, took my phone off of vibrate and rolled over back to sleep. I should have paid attention because it was Josslyn phoning, we had not considered how Josslyn would take the check-ins and comments on facebook when she woke up. She was kind of freaking out, which is sweet. She was filled in by my mum I think who half asleep answered her phone.
But anyway, there is the update of yet another day/night in A&E for me, one which strangely did not end with me being sneaked into a ward and admitted while trying not to waken the other patients. Currently I am sitting watching TV and I took medication. That was not a good idea, it's worse than before I took it. My life. On the plus side, when I tweeted that I had been waiting up to see Example's performance on Children in Need but was sent to hospital just before it, he tweeted his concern:
Well if you will excuse me I am away to pry my rib cage open so I can breathe properly. Thanks :)
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