I Spent the Afternoon in the ER

Relax, I'm fine. I was sure it was a near death experience, but the doctors have assured me it wasn't a heart attack or a stroke. I was at Walmart and suddenly I felt very odd. Not dizzy, not faint, I just simply felt like I couldn't walk anymore. I didn't feel like I was going to pass out, I just felt like I was going to fall down. I thought, "Well maybe this is because I haven't had any lunch?". So, off I went to Burger King to sample one of their new salads. Standing in line at Burger King it just kept getting worse, my left arm and hand were tingling like they were waking up from being asleep. I got my food and went to the car and decided that I was going to drive myself to the ER. Well, as I was rounding the corner from Burger King my workplace is right there and I decided that I was NOT driving myself to ER. I pulled into the parking lot and walked into the HR Directors office and asked her to call me an ambulance. She did, immediately, without asking a single question. I love her!

The ambulance arrived and the HR Director was watching out her window. I said, "Please let at least one of them be big Bo Hunks." She said, "I'm not exactly sure of your definition of "Bo Hunk", but I'm saying no." Turns out, to my definition, both of them were Bo Hunks...SCORE! They assessed that I wasn't in immediate harm of dying so they strapped me to the stretcher and off we went to the hospital.

Do those numbers prove I really do have a heart? I think not!

Once we arrived at the ER they did all kinds of tests. I had blood drawn and a CT Scan. The scan was interesting, I'd never had one before. There is a soothing male voice that talks you through it. It says things like, "Take a deep breath and hold it....now breath" and "Relax, you're going to be just fine." Then the attendant says, "I'm introducing the contrasting fluid" and suddenly this warmth invades your body. I thought for sure it felt like I was peeing myself, but it was just the fluid going into the blood vessels in my legs.

In between the tests the doctor was trying to convince me that I had had a panic or anxiety attack. Well, I have witnessed plenty of those sorts of attacks first hand...Hello! The Hubby!!! So I knew I hadn't had a panic attack. I mean, what at Walmart could cause anxiety...besides the clothes people were wearing. That and I have perhaps the least stressful job imaginable. So he wanted to give me some Adavan, an anti-anxiety drug...this before any of the tests had come back. I refused it and I think it pissed him off a little bit.

After all the tests, when he was assuring me that I was fine and that none of the test pointed to heart attack or stroke he said, "So you refused my Adavan." I said, "Yes, I did. I saw no reason for it since I know it wasn't an anxiety attack." I don't think he liked that answer. He said, "Well if you had allowed it to be administered and you felt better it would have proven it was." To which I responded, "Yeah, and if it wasn't, I'd be all drugged up now and out of it." "You aren't throwing a pill in me as a test!" He said, "Well most people come to the ER looking for something as simple as a pill to treat them." Well, that aint' me! Now if he'd offered me a Rum Punch, that would have been a totally different story.

My disrespect for the medical community surfaces often in this blog. But I've seen too much in front and behind the scenes to just say, "Hell Yeah! I'll take that pill!" I think it's important for people to question what their doctors tell them. In most cases those doctors are just making educated guesses and while it may be a level  of education that I haven't attained, it doesn't mean that it's the right guess.

So, if I'm found dead within the next 48 hours you all will know why.