The rest of the story

First, I'm not certain what happened,
but I'm pretty sure I did not have a heart attack.
Altho' I had, what the docs and nurses are calling,
"classic symptoms of a heart attack in women."

Details:
Monday night,
as I was going to sleep,
I turned to my Mr. W and said,
"I'm not doing so well."
He asked if he could do anything,
and I just said 'no'.
I was really tired,
but I couldn't sleep--
my arm was hurting,
so I got up and stayed up
until around 1am.
Tuesday:
Worked all day at the showroom,
then went to a friend's house (hi Wendy!)
to give her some home staging tips,
as their family is preparing to move.
THEN,
took all the yahoos to Church
for mid-week activities.
Mr. W and I were sitting in the lobby
chatting about our day,
when there began shooting pains
up and down my left arm.
I tried rubbing my arm,
and even commented to Mr W that
my arm really hurt and I had no idea why.
Just at that exact moment,
we overheard the Scout leader in the other room
tell his scouts
"pain down the left arm is a common symptom of a heart attack."

Now, I'm thinkin' no way this is a heart attack,
because I'm not feeling like it is--
I'm not anxious,
my chest is not pounding,
I'm not sweating like a stuck pig in Mississippi in July--
I'm just sitting
and my arm is killing me.

I overheard the Scout leader tell his audience
that the first aid thing to do is take an aspirin.
Mr W and I look at each other,
and since there's a Walgreens literally across the street,
he goes over and buys some aspirin.
Just in case.

The hour passes,
the pain stays the same,
only it travelled up to my neck and jaw.
Still,
I'm able to talk and walk around,
so I'm not too concerned.
After classes are all over
and we're leaving,
I caught the Scout leader
and told him what's going on
and ask him what are the other symptoms of
a heart attack.
He looks at me very seriously and tells me to go to the ER.

I'm still thinking I'll just go home and take an ALEVE
and go to bed.
We pack up the yahoos into the car
and just before we get home,
my arm is hurting so much,
I can't ignore it,
and can't talk or think over it.

So we dropped the yahoos off at home,
and headed over to the ER.

Did you know that when you present at the ER desk
with the words:
"I have shooting pains down my left arm,
and into my neck and jaw."--
that they whisk you right into the triage
and you are inducted right then into the
"hospital army of patients".
No kidding.
There's no turning back.
The powers that BE
sorta own you for the next few hours of your life.

EKG, Catscan, Chest x-ray, blood work.
I was really wishing for an ALEVE and a nap.
At 10 pm I looked at the clock and thought,
"Darn, I missed NCIS."

Morphine.

Morphine is crazy stuff.

I was a morphine virgin...
I told the nurse that I'm super-sensitive to drugs.
But she didn't really understand how sensitive--
and to her credit,
how could she, right?
When she told me the doc had prescribed 4-8 units,
I suggested two. or less.
She said we'd try two.

An hour and a half later,
I was told to never never never
allow that to be given to me
ever ever ever
again.
I was given just 1/4 of one unit
and I was rendered completely incapacitated--
but I could still hear the people in the room.
Weird.
Couldn't talk,
or move
or open my eyes,
but I could hear people
saying,
"Are you still with us?"
"Dawn! Don't you leave!"
And in my head I was thinking,
"I hear ya knockin' but you can't come in..."
Totally weird.
You know how they say comatose patients can possibly hear,
I totally get it now.

Anywho, after all the tests were done,
turns out my heart is fine.
I still have to see a Cardiologist,
and have to slow down (yeah right),
but we don't know what caused my body
to express those symptoms.
I do get to take a baby aspirin every day.
There's a plus.
I like the orange-flavored kind.
But Mr W bought the kind you swallow,
300-count,
so NEXT year,
I'm buying them my self.


The fall-out at home was interesting.
While we were very calm about going to the ER,
the Boofus was not calm at all.
He called Nana in Provo--
though his details were sketchy:
"Dad took Mom to the ER."
Nana: "Why? What's wrong?"
Boofus: "I don't know."
Nana: "Let me speak to Daisie."
Daisie: "Yeah? Oh yeah, nuthin'. Her arm hurt. She's fine."
Nana: "Let me speak to Bee."
Bee: "Mom had pain shooting up her left arm. Brother S. told her she could be having a heart-attack and to go to the ER to check it out."

In the words of the oldest girls, our ten year old is smarter than the rest of 'em.
I've been saying that a long time.

Anyway,
we got a ration of cr*p the next day,
when the oldest kids heard what had happened
and had gotten no phone calls:

Dani: "I can't believe I had to find out Mom was in the Er with a possible heart attack on FACEBOOK!
What's wrong with you people? I'm an hour away!Why would the kids call Nana--she's 8 hours away!"
--and other ramblings of her concerns about communication.

The truth is, we didn't know what was going on so there was nothing to tell.

I did get a blessing from Mr W and our Home Teacher while in the ER, and I was good.
Maybe that's what kept me from going towards the light
when I had too much morphine? who knows.

Wednesday was a blur.

I stayed in bed all day long.
I think I had a morphine hangover.

I went to work for a few hours yesterday.
And I was super tired last night.
I think it's due to all the hospital-induced adrenalin,
ya know?
That is one wild ride.

My visiting teachers brought over dinner last night,
for which I am so so so grateful.
And you know what else they brought me?
A beautiful hand-made quilt.
For me.
I bawled when I saw it the first time.
A loving gesture that I will not ever forget.

Thanks to everyone who expressed
concern and good thoughts.

Also,
if you ever have to go to the ER for say,
something like the flu
a sprained ankle
or the like,
here's a suggestion:
Present your self there and say,
"I feel lousy--my head is stuffy, my throat is on fire AND
I have shooting pains down my left arm
that's radiating up to my jaw."
They'll get you right in,
they won't even let you sit down
in the waiting room.
No kidding.
No really, I'm kidding.
Don't do that.
That would be wrong on so many levels.
But wow! if you do have those symptoms,
lemme tell you,
those ER people move their bahooeys
STAT!


Okay, so that's over with,
here's what's really important:
PUH- LEEZ don't forget to enter the giveaways
for the Josh Wright cd
or the Hilary Weeks' book and cd.
They are really wonderful!