A Rotten Expensive Drive...

So I had an expensive ride the other morning. It was about 6 am and an ambulance had to come to our house. Can I just say that for the cost...that was the crappiest ride I have ever taken! You'd think for that price it would be the ride of a lifetime! Tee hee!

I woke up Wednesday morning from some scary dreams about 4:45ish. My eye was glued shut. Oh yes! Lucky mom caught the Pink Eye ;) . (dern!) I got up to wash it out and felt my heart flip/flopping in my chest. I got teary eyed, but then I was caught up in a wave of nausea. I went down stairs to see if I could take some Tums to make my tummy feel better. My heart was going erratic. I got to the kitchen sink, got a drink, and my heart did a hard "flip" and then it felt like it stopped. I stood there counting the seconds...it seemed like an eternity...it was likely less than 20-30 seconds. I felt my body screaming for air (like when you are under water too long) and I started to go numb everywhere. I pounded on my chest with my fist and felt my heart "flop" really hard, and then I blacked out. When I came to a moment or two later I crawled upstairs. Jess' alarm was going off so I went to his side of the bed, hit snooze and started crawling in. He was startled and confused so I took his head and laid it on my chest so he could hear and feel the crazy way my heart was acting. It was sweet...he pulled away and looked so sorrowful and said "oh no sweetheart!" He tucked me into bed next to him and I told him what happened downstairs. We decided to wait a little bit and see if my heart would calm down on it's own. I couldn't even lay there long enough for the alarm clock to ring again. It was so violent in my chest and I was scared to death remembering my experience with this in June. Jess gave me a Husband's Blessing, saying something to the effect that the facilities will know how to help me. We knew I had to go to the ER. :( (with no insurance...)

We called my sweet MIL to come sit with the kids, and I went and laid under the Christmas tree waiting for her, and for Jess to get his shots, meds & something to eat. He skipped eating and came to check on me. He sat on the couch and asked how I was. I sat up and leaned against his legs and told him this one was bad & way out of control. My heart did the really hard flip thing again and didn't flop. I waited much less time this time and started pounding on my chest. It flopped and I passed out on Jess' knee, then to the floor. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called 911. He was done! LOL! I was breathing and laying down again, fighting the urge to puke, so the ambulance was kind and had no lights and sirens going when they pulled up so the kids did not get woken up. (or my poor neighbors either) MIL pulled up right behind the paramedics. They came in and checked everything out and brought in the lovely bed thing. It was lowered as low as they could get it and they asked me to crawl onto it. This sweet older paramedic took my hands to pull me up to sitting position and I passed out. They said my heart rate went from 160 beats a minute to 260 and I was out. So I wasn't allowed to sit up any more! LOL! My little ticker was just too tired.

After I was loaded in the ambulance, the older paramedic and Jess gave me a blessing. Then we were off. It was the worst ride of my life!! I was facing backwards & strapped to the bed with my arms down. My heart was out of control. I wanted to puke. They kept tying off my arms in hopes of finding a vein for an IV with no luck because my extremities were slightly numb (and then the cut off of blood that they were doing was making me even more ill) They put a huge oxygen mask on me and it was thick and stunk horribly. My eye was still glued partly shut and running down my cheek into my ear. The driver kept yelling "right!" "left!" "bump!" "stopping!". It was LOUD and rattley and the lights were blinding above me. And wouldn't you know my nose was itching. The female paramedic kept me talking, and I had to yell so she could hear me...which took air...which was wearing me out...blech!. (I finally asked her about her kids and grand kids and luckily got 5+ minutes to just concentrate on my breathing and not puking...bwahahaha) We arrived safely with Jess just behind us...and OH! was I glad that was over! Sheesh!

I was rushed into the ER and straight into a room and I had my own little crash team there waiting. I had an IV attached (they hadn't done it yet because they couldn't find a decent vein that they trusted on such a bumpy ride), an EKG done that was so not pretty, they stripped my shirt off (which was funny cause I had put a bra on and it got caught on my chin, I had to try and unhook the front latch while telling the two nurses pulling it off to hold on! hold on!...it was humorous to say the least!) but I got to flash the whole room...and they had been so quick to get me in that the curtain was not closed to the door out into the ER either! oh well...life or modesty...I mean really right? Bwahahaha! They were really concerned about the hives all over my body to which I laughed and said....I take zyrtec everyday to prevent hives...my body attacks itself for no real reason...and they are always worse when I exercise! LOL! (too bad my workout was doing nothing for my figure!)

Luckily I had the same ER Dr. that saw me in June and he double checked my records and was sweet enough to say (if it is sweet to offer such a thing) that he would forgo all the med courses that failed so miserably last time, and just de-fibrillate my heart. I was not happy about the thought of it again, and yet I didn't care because I wanted my heart to quit what it was doing. I kissed Jess goodbye (he looked so scared...and I wondered if I was looking brave enough for him) and he left the room. They injected my IV with the meds to slow my heart way down and put me to sleep...and as I felt myself swirl into nothingness I heard the nurse say "should we start with 50?" :0 What the heck? That was not so nice....LOL!

It was hard to come out of the sleep this time...and I was terribly nauseated, but I survived! My heart was back to a normal rhythm. YEA! The ER doc gave us a strong talking to. He thinks we should let go of our upset with Dr. Hwang and get my surgery re-done since the wrong electrical impulses are breaking through. He told us that being de-fibrillated twice within 6 months of each other is not really acceptable. He said that the type of Afib/de-fib my heart was in will cause blood clots in the upper chamber of my heart and that they can cause strokes. And he was worried, I think, because I am *on* meds for it and it was this severe this time. *sigh* We will try to talk to that Dr. at Timp Hospital that does the new "Mini Maze" procedure first...simply because it is suppose to be a better procedure that will last longer, but if not, I am not too bullheaded to not consider enduring Dr Hwang to keep this scary experience from happening ever again...

I was home by 9:00 am. It was nice. I am really sore (electricity will do that to ya! LOL!) and I get tired easy, but I am well. (To be completely truthful I am very scared that it could happen again, but I am taking it easy for now and holding onto the blessings I was given.) It could have been the Pink Eye that set it off...Dr. F (the cardiologist I love) said that infections might do that, but we don't know for sure. (and I think the bad dreams were because my heart was struggling...) I told Jess it was because I ate Chocolate Cake before bed! Bwahahaha!! He laughed and said "no more chocolate cake for you!" Who really knows... All I do know is I am glad it is over. I am SO glad for modern medicine....and even for rotten ambulance rides to the hospital. :)

p.s. I guess I get to slow down now whether I want to or not! Bwahahahaha