It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a moment to write about things. This past year has been one of, shall we say, adventures. Although I know we’re better off this year from last, it’s still a bit stressful at times.
The last time I wrote was a few months after we moved here from the old house. Shortly after that, I lost my job and no matter what I did, no one would hire me. In the end, I started to donate plasma to help pay some of the bills and to try and buy Christmas for my granddaughter. It wasn’t much but something is better than nothing. My car payment was behind and I couldn’t pay the light bill.
After we put the gifts out, I laid down in bed only to feel an uncomfortableness in my chest. I tried everything, even a heating pad to try and get it to stop. It kept up and I made the decision to go to the hospital. My sister living only six miles from me now, I drove to her house and asked her to take me. My brother in law wasn’t very happy and I can’t blame him since it was Christmas Eve. We go tot he hospital and everyone kept asking me about the pain. It wasn’t a pain but more of a severe uncomfortable feeling that just wouldn’t go away.
As I lay there and they ran tests, blood and scanning, my sister started to fall asleep on a rolling tray. Then several people came in and the doctor told me that I was having a heart attack. The people with her were from the cardiac team. She said that not all heart attacks will show on an EKG but instead shows in the blood. I don’t know or don’t remember if she explained it more, some of it goes a bit blurry. They wanted to do a heart cath but had to get it to stop first.
They had given me four nitroglycerin tablets under my tongue at one point and yet it still hadn’t stopped. So I was taken to a room with a window where someone could see me and they placed me on a nitroglycerin drip that they could adjust the dosage. After a bit, this seemed to help and I was able to get some sleep. Although it truly didn’t stop until the night of the 25th, the were able to do the cath the next day. I had no idea that they could do it through someones wrist but that’s what they did with me.
When I got back in the room, I told them that my arm still hurt and raised it up to show the nurse. The next thing I know she is pushing a button and yelling for help. A lot of people come running in and someone else is saying to get a bowl. It turned out that it was bleeding in my arm and they had to get it to stop. The bruise was huge when it showed up but in the end, they said there were no blockages and that it was a stress related heart attack.
With having no insurance at the time, since I wasn’t working yet, being able to have a follow up visit didn’t happen for several months. They had said that I could be seen at a certain clinic but then the clinic refused to see me because they said that I hadn’t had enough visits to the ER to qualify. It made no sense to me but there was nothing I could do.
I came home from the hospital just before new years. January 1st, I was out begging for a job, literally. A retail job was offered to me and I took it, not telling them that I had just gotten out of the hospital. With not being able to wear a long sleeve shirt at work, an old sock was the only thing I had to cover the bruise on my arm. I made the excuse of working in the yard and that’s how I got the bruise. It was hard physical work putting up the heavy stock but the bills were still coming in.
Although I’ll more than likely revisit some of this and fill in the blanks in future writing, we’re on our way back to recovery. No we didn’t hit the jackpot but I’m at another job now that I can handle and also that has insurance. So I have a cardiologist and a general practiction now and am getting help with my stress. It’s a journey that I haven’t been comfortable with addressing until now and think it could be good to get it out of my head.
This is a start, so many things that have happened and still are but I know we’ll still come out on the other side ot it.