November 26, 2013

  • Yesterday's Drama.

    We did NOT go to Pittsfield yesterday as we had planned.

    I had got a nice card for my friends and scribbled a few memories of the friendship as was instructed by the children.

    I usually wake up very early to perform my meditations and worship at dawn. Yesterday there was a brick, like a heavy ten pound brick, on my chest, and that heaviness woke me up. My eyes flew open, even though it was earlier than my usual time to get out of bed.

    “Breathe” I commanded myself. I was able to breathe. I moved around in bed to shrug the slab of weight off my chest, and it moved with me. Took my pulse, and it was about 120 or 130 per minute.

    Dang, dang and dang! This is a wrong time to have chest pain Zakiah, I reprimanded myself. My daughter needs me. I need to go to Pittsfield. I want to make a meal for my daughter’s family tonight and take it over there. Oh, I need to get out of bed and start getting busy, and then I can shrug this heaviness off my chest. So I headed to the bathroom and took a good hot shower. The tightness remained like a band and I thought, since it is not progressing, let me finish my worship and the meditation. That should improve this feeling. May be it is indigestion. I tried to burp, nothing happened.

    I kept thinking to myself that because I am a physician, I am reading too much into this discomfort. See? I am not even diaphoretic, (sweating), and like a token of surprise and good gesture, I felt the beads of sweat on my forehead. Okay, I am not nauseous, or am I? Because just as I thought that, I felt the nausea. It was all association of the thought process. Little knowledge is too dangerous!  After a couple of innocuous and well-chosen cuss words, I walked into the breakfast area where Mohamed was having breakfast. It is now 8:30.

    “Hmmm, maybe we shouldn’t be driving to Pittsfield.” He looked at me and pushed his chair back. He knew. He MADE me call Irv Schwartz the cardiologist friend that early, in the morning. Irv said, “You know Zakiah physicians are the worst patients. Go on to the ER, and I will meet you there. I reached there at 9 in the morning. I kept thinking, ‘God, I hope there IS something wrong, otherwise all these people tending to me would have wasted such precious time, and I would feel so silly for coming to the ER for some vague and silly symptoms. I know, I know, I would have told my own patients that they would be silly if they didn’t go to the ER to check themselves out, and to be safe than be sorry yaadi ya!  Any way the computer read the EKG as abnormal with a possible infarct. I saw the EKG and said, “Oh crap!”  BUT, all the labs including the Treponins, which are the Hallmark of a cardiac event were normal.

    Irv was with me the whole time till 3:30 in the afternoon. After checking the previous EKGs, and the lab results, it was concluded that while the current EKG is abnormal, the computer read it wrong for the infarct. I have a bundle branch block, an electrical problem with the conduction of the impulses, and not a block in the blood vessels, and therefore the ‘puter read it wrong. But, he said that this week he would put me through various tests including a scan of the heart to check for calcium deposits, along with stress echo and possible angiogram etc. He has started me on some medication, including a low dose aspirin, a statin and a blood thinner. ME, who has NEVER taken any pill for my physical wellbeing for all these decades, started taking pills this morning. DANG!

    I need to let the children know what happened. I didn’t want Saadi or Sayeed to start fretting and get worried. So perhaps tonight I will tell them how good I feel. The best part was that by about 2 in the afternoon, I had no chest discomfort, and felt super good.

    Listen to what happened then----- We left the ER close to 4 in the afternoon. At 4 p m, a drunk driver drove his car into the ER Lobby, which was full of people. No one was hurt, but can you imagine? We had just walked out. Here is a link to that along with a photo.

    http://www.wgem.com/story/24057562/2013/11/24/car-crashes-into-blessing-hospital-er

    Courtesy: Cress Hope

Comments (37)

  • I'm speechless! I'm thinking that even though it was a horrible day, you were lucky! You got to the ER and the cardiologist was able to make a diagnosis, put you on medication, and start you feeling better, and you got out before the drunk driver got in! I hope you will be right as rain asap. (hope that you have no more symptoms and don't need a pacemaker!) I'm adding you to my prayers!

    • Love you Val! You are such a precious friend. I am fine now. Really. Please pray for Dave. I have had a wonderful life by God's grace. I want the rest of my family to have my age and health. I don't think I need a pacemaker. I don't have an irregular beat or atrial fib. I have had a rapid pulse for years, and I have had that tested with thyroid tests and other heart tests. I will let everyone know when I have my tests done. Thank you for your prayers Val. Have a great thanksgiving.

  • Oh no! :-(
    I'm so sorry to hear about you going through all of this, Zakiah! :-(
    But, I'm glad you were/are safe! I'm glad they will be able to check things out and get you feeling well and staying well! :-)
    You are in my thoughts and prayers!
    HUGS!!!

    • Thanks Carolyn. I think I will be getting some studies done soon. I appreciate your prayers. But please think of Dave more than me. He needs the prayers more than I do. I have enjoyed excellent health for so many decades. I am grateful for that.
      Hugs to you too. Have a great thanksgiving.

  • Oh, Zakiah, NO! Please remember your own words: I know, I know, I would have told my own patients that they would be silly if they didn’t go to the ER to check themselves out, and to be safe than be sorry." Get those tests done, and do what the doctor tells you! There are so many things that can be done now to keep you healthy -- you do need to tell Saadi and Sayeed, and take care of yourself a little differently, but otherwise this should be just a blip in your well-being. The next thing is to take it easy and let your family pamper you over this Thanksgiving weekend -- and give thanks for your continued good health (and that you were not in the ER with that car!)!

    • YUP! you and every one else around me is right. It's just that I have too many things going on and it is really not a convenient time to be suffering with something and having everyone cater to my needs. I cannot stand people fussing about me. I want to melt away into oblivion. But I totally understand what you are saying and appreciate your concern. I was in the ER and was thanking God that it was me there and not my children or their family. Anyway, I will get these tests done, and take care of anything that needs be done. Thank you Janet, love you lots. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving too.

  • Have you considered with all that is going on with Dave and such you were having a panic attack...what you described is just how panic gets me...The first time it happened when I was in my mid 20's I had a boat load of tests wow I remember that well I still get checked for heart stuff just encase the panic stuff does make problems with my heart...but so far that is one part that is still good...God bless you Missy Zee I hope they find that you are just right as rain

    • Sorry to throw water on your theory Mae. I don't have panic attacks, and panic attacks do not have abnormal EKGs. I am sorry you have them though.

  • I always tell my pts.(retired nurse here)that heart attacks happen between 6-8am and I said to one fellow;well, there goes my theory cause it's after 9am now. He said,"you're right, I've been hurting since 6am and it hasn't let up."
    Well, I understand that that is because our blood pressure goes up in the morning and that's what wakes us up in the morning.
    You be careful and do what the dr. says.

    • I don't know if that is a hard and fast fact about MIs happening between 6 and 8 a m. I have seen patients who had them while getting their hair done in the afternoons and in the middle of the night and any time of the day. Heart attacks are a funny kind of malady...they have their own schedules.

  • Oh Zakiah, I am so so glad you are all right!
    Sorry you didn't get to do the things you had planned, but glad that you did what you had to. Praying for complete healing for you. I never took any pills either, until I had the stroke.
    I had a test recently called a Heart Smart test. A hospital in a small town near here is doing them for $50. cash, no referal necessary. It's an MRI that shows whether there is plaque in the blood vessels. My test was good. The only thing that still bothers me is very occasional A-Fib.

    • I am glad your Heart Smart Tests gave you good results. Taking pills is a pain in the neck. Thank you for your prayers. Pleaase continue to pray for my son in law David's full recovery. You know Gracia in the ER I was thinking "better me here than my children or their family.

  • Wow! That was a scary morning you had!I've known people who have gone to the ER and felt foolish when it was nothing, but what if it had been SOMETHING, I ask them!The tests are a pain in the rear, but at least, when they are done, you know what's going on, good or bad.
    I hope you stay well and on your meds and have a good rest of the week!

  • I am relieved that you are OK tonight. Then the auto crashing into ER--what a 'could have been' type of day. I bet it shook you up a bit, but know you have family and friends.

    Blessings

    frank

  • I know -- you'd rather be pampering everybody else! But it's your turn now -- that doesn't mean you have to sit and be good, but it does mean you need to pay attention to your body, eat a little differently, and rest when you get tired. It's never a convenient time to be sick -- but I'm glad you were already planning to go to the Club for Thanksgiving dinner -- that will take some of the pressure off you! I'll be in Santa Barbara from tomorrow till Saturday -- I expect I'll log on on Sunday and find that you're feeling just fine and had a wonderful Thanksgiving :-) ! Enjoy it!

    • We will be going to the club for the brunch. Saadi and Dave continue to hold their membership and have asked us to join them. I think I told you that we gave up our membership there after almost thirty five years. I shall do what you ask. I think I have Mohamed breathing down my neck checking on my every move. I informed Saadi what happened. She was furious that I didn't call her. Have a grand time in Santa Barbara dear friend.

  • oh geez!! thank goodness you walked out of there harmless. talk about coincidence. and i'm so glad you are feeling better now. keep taking the pills. you need all the support you can get in order to keep being a sturdy brick for your family.

    • Yeah really! it was such a horrible accident. And we had just left the ER, and there were so many people there. How fortunate that no one was injured. thank you for your kind and wonderful words Rudy.

  • Be sure to keep regular check ups with your cardiologist. You shouldn't have to be told this, but sometimes we can all be a little stubborn about taking our health issues seriously.
    As always you are in my prayers, even when I am nowhere near a computer!

    • Thank you John. Your prayers for Dave obviously are working. My head is lowered in gratitude.

  • Don't worry Dr Z... I was born with a "Right Bundle Block" and I'm working through my 88th year... Get plenty of exercise to keep that Left Bundle working hard to keep the Right one ticking...

    • Thank you Mr. Manos. I hope to do that. Have a horrible family history though. Every thing will happen in its own time. Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week. Best regards to you and family.

  • Somehow I feel safe with your careful eye giving a second opinion on the EKG etc. And of course I strenuously object to any medical incidents coming your way. Until perhaps age 120, when I'll allow the occasional 24-hour flu.
    So interesting to compare your own 'possible false alarm' to mine about 5 years ago. I keep the EKG printout as a momento of what happens when a busy(?) nurse fails to connect the ground lead. No one else caught it either and I was treated to an expensive and terror-filled ambulance ride.
    Oh and it does seem, in my experience, that merely reading about a 'warning sign' signals the body to phantom that pain.
    Once again, take care of yourself, Zakiah♥

    • How cool are you!! Till age 120? ha ha ha. I have lived a good life, and when anything happens to me, all I say is, "better me than my children and their family"! Period! How awful that a nurse had failed to connect the leads properly.
      It was a question and answer session of phantomizing and fantasizing the symptoms. I will keep you posted of how things go next week. The country is ready to close down all its doors, (except for the shops) waiting for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday. The hospitals all run on a skeleton crew, and so no tests will be done until next week I am sure.

  • Thank god your husband had the good sense to have you call the cardio. specialist! I am also glad you figured out what is wrong and that you will get further diagnostics this coming week. I read about that ER incident somewhere else on the internet! Glad you have left before that incident. A woman from near here was killed while paying her bill at a restaurant last summer because a driver crashed into the front of the establishment.

    • I am glad it is behind me now. Yeah the ER incident was really terrible. Oh what a terrible tragedy about the lady at the restaurant. I think I remember reading about it.

  • I'm really glad you went to the ER. I hope the tests don't find anything else wrong with your gentle heart. And I'm glad you left before the car accident. What a day!

    • They called me from the Cardiology Center and are trying to get me to have a CT_angiogram done next week. Will know something then.
      Yeah it was a hectic day to say the least.

  • Sorry to heear this , zakiah but your are in good hands . I would avoid all travel giving emotions .
    In 2003 I got suddenly a speciala arythmia; The heart atrials had not the same rhythm as the ventricles. The meds ( cordarone ) was inefficient and had to get an electric shock for a immediate return at the normal. Symptoms : curiously I had a sharp pain in ...the abdomen!!
    Please take care of you . I believe the stress caused by Dave health may be a cause among possible others .
    Love
    Michel

    • I am sorry you had to get shocked to get you into a sinus rhythm. My own rhythm is fine, I think because of the LBBB, the pulse rate is high. All the thyroid results are normal, which in most cases are abnormal with such a high rate. It's possible that stress played a part. I am glad it was me and not my daughter. May The Almighty Lord bless her and her little family.
      Love,
      Zakiah

  • You and your family are in my thoughts and prayers today!!!
    (((HUGS)))

    • Thank you Carolyn. Hope your family is with you now and that you will have a grand day tomorrow. Thank you for all you do for every one, including prayers for my family. Blessings to you.

  • It would be cool to have your cookbook! We did go to an Indian restaurant yesterday, but I didn't care for the food, except for the very good naan. Hubby said he thinks it is southern Indian cooking, whatever that means. I have a feeling that I don't like fenugreek.
    They have a little grocery store next door, so I went in and bought some garam masala which I can't find at our grocery store.
    I hope you are feeling better and are able to enjoy the holiday!

    • I have just sent you an email to you. I hope you will like the book. it's nothing fancy. Just some of my favorite dishes and recipes from my mother and grandmother.

  • Oh my, Zakiah... I am so thankful that you are ok. I know (my mom, older sis, grandma, and other family members & friends were or are nurses (or doctors), and I've always heard it said that they are the worst patients of all! As I began reading your post, I knew it was your heart!
    God truly spared you, and I'm so very thankful for that, my friend.
    Adding this new situation of your health to my prayers for Dave and his family.
    Have a wonderful Thanksgiving ... there is so much to be thankful for indeed!
    Hugs,
    Carolyn

    • But Joyce, like I told others, I was kind of grateful it was me and not my children. I think next week they are going to schedule a CT Scan-angiogram. That will put everyone's heart at rest. (pun intended).
      I hope all of you will have a grand Thanksgiving. So happy that your mom is with you now. Dave is improving by God's grace. I pray that he continues to be in complete remission.

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