The rest of the story

I uploaded my last post at 4:30am yesterday from my room in the cardiac observation unit. I never did get back to sleep. I tried, but all I could do was toss and turn and go from being too hot to being too cold.

I turned on the television and found that there was a "relaxation" channel available. You could choose from relaxing music, calming scenes or guided imagery. I decided guided imagery might be a good option, thinking it would give me a chance to settle down and maybe do a little praying. Unfortunately, the program wouldn't load. So I opted to check out the movie channel instead.

"Up in the Air" with George Clooney was one of the choices. I hadn't seen it yet and decided that watching George for a few hours might be just as relaxing as guided imagery. Good plan, if the movie had not been the most depressing movie in the history of forever.

Shortly after the movie was over, the morning shift tech came in to take my temperature, blood pressure, etc. Then the doc arrived to let me know that the stress echo was scheduled first thing and by about 8am, I was in the treadmill room. In case you've never had the privilege, let me just share that the prep for a stress echo allows for about as much modesty as childbirth, except it's not your hooha that's on display. I just looked straight ahead and tried not to think about the fact that my girls were just hanging out there. The nurse and the echo ultrasound tech were both friendly and very professional. Once all the leads and wires were set, I could cover up again.

If you have personal space issues, you should take care of yourself so you're never lying on your left side on a table with an ultrasound tech literally draped over you. After the initial pictures of my heart were captured, the cardiologist came in, reviewed them and said we were a go for the treadmill. I walked on the treadmill at a slight incline for 6 minutes. Starting out, I was all chatty. After about two minutes, there was no more chatting because I was trying to conserve my oxygen for simply breathing. The cardiologist stood there during the test and said the EKG was looking good.

He also offered that I look much better in person than I do on paper. I guess that's a good thing, right? After 6 minutes, when I was breathless and sweaty, they quick stopped the treadmill. I dropped right onto the table and the ultrasound of my heart was repeated. Then it was back to my room to wait for the results.

As I anticipated, the results came back and everything was good. Of course I was happy about that, but a little frustrated that I'd spent 24 hours and who knows how much money to figure that out.

So what happened? It's likely that I was dehydrated, which caused the low potassium. My blood pressure was low and that started the blacking out that kicked off the whole episode. In hindsight, I feel kind of stupid for all the drama. But if the outcome of the test had been different, I would have felt justified. Since I don't have a crystal ball, I'll stick with the better safe than sorry line of thinking.

And hopefully, that's where the drama ends.