Not a Momma

This is part 2 of a 4 part series about my health related issues. You can read part 1 here. Please be sure to check back to read more.

At this point I should mention that Matt and I were married in April of 2006, and this part of the story is from June of 2006. I was finally insured and able to be seen by actual doctors. My day started out innocently enough, spent a couple of hours watching TV and chatting with Matt. It was a Saturday I think, and we were going to go grocery shopping. As I was stepping into the shower I felt a sharp pain across the front of my chest. My first reaction was to hurry in the shower, just in case I needed to go to the hospital. I mean honestly, who thinks that way? So, I jumped in, and jumped right back out, the pain so was intense.

I have a slight tendency to overreact and when I told Matt about the pain he said I probably pulled a muscle. I ran to the bedroom and laid down, the pain was constant, but it was across my entire chest and I was feeling sick to my stomach. I decided to take some aspirin, just in case, and I tried to calm down. I got back into the shower, did a quick 3 minute scrub down and jumped back out.

Matt was getting annoyed with me at this point, did I want to go to the hospital or not. It’s just a pulled muscle, you need to calm down. He sat on the couch with me, and I did my best to relax. My body was a jumble of nerves by that point, and so I couldn’t sit still. After a few minutes I got up and went to my dear friend, Doctor Google.

I typed in my symptoms… chest pain, vomiting, shoulder pain… and Doctor Google confirmed my fears. I was having a heart attack. I told Matt what I thought, and we decided it was best to go to the hospital. We lived about three minutes away, so we drove. I was taken back right away and put through a myriad of tests.

After about eight hours of waiting, Matt went home to get some rest, and I was put in a bed and given pain meds to help me sleep. Two hours later I was woken up by the doctor on duty that night, this was now about 6:00AM. My tests had all come back clear, EKG, CT Scan, my blood pressure was fine. Everything came back clear except one blood test. One blood test, creatine kinase, or CK-MB.

The doctor told me I had, had a heart attack. Here I was, alone in a hospital room, and being told that my heart had failed me. I called Matt, I called my mom, and I sat there alone. Matt was asleep when I called, and I don’t think it quite registered what I had told him. My mom was on her way to be with me.

My nurse that night was male, and not very kind. I buzzed him in, and when he came to my room I asked him to get me a female nurse. When she came in I broke down. I asked her to hold my hand, to just be there with me. I was 25 years old, and had just been told I had a heart attack. I was scared. She stayed with me until my mom got there. I wish I could thank her, for being with me that morning.